We were contacted recently by a licensed Master Plumber who was having work done his house and the contractor involved while having a regular conversation withthe Plumber passed on some terrible advice. The contractor told the Master Plumber that his pumping company told him it was OK for them to leave the sludge at the bottom of the septic tank because “it jump-started the bacteria process in the tank after pumping”.
English Sewage disagrees with this strongly and we strictly adhere to the NJ Dept of Environ. Protection’s guidelines which say, paraphrasing, septic tanks should be completely emptied on a periodic basis. The NJDEP recommends frequent pumping and while they have never specified the time frame involved in “frequent pumping”, we have learned, with 40 years of experience to back it up, that pumping a septic tank or cesspool should be done every 18-24 months depending on the number of people living in the house and the number of bedrooms.
There was a recent article in the January edition of “Pumper Magazine” written by Roger E. Machmeier, Ph.D., which addresses the particluar point of having the septic tank pumped out:
“As we know, the purpose of pumping a septic tank is to remove the accumulated solids. The sludge on the bottom of the tank and the scum on the top of the tank are put into suspension by back flushing or with a mechanism that stirs the tank contents. I suggest as much as possible of the suspended solids and liquid be removed from the tank. There are still plenty of bacteria in whatever material remains on the tank bottom and sidewalls. In addition, we often forget the septic tank started working when the home sewage was deposited in a clean concrete tank. After installation of a new system there are no bacteria, other than those in the toilet wastes being deposited into the tank.”
This is the consensus opinion of most professional, licensed and experienced pumping companies.
You are correct, the advice that the Master Plumber received was totally incorrect. The primary purpose of pumping a septic tank is to remove the solids in the bottom, so they do not build up enough to be swept into the leach field.
If and when that happens, the soil pores will clog and the leach field will cease to be able to carry away the liquid. And that means, septic tank failure!
The Master Plumber does not need to worry about re-stocking his tank with bacteria, because millions will be left no matter how well the tank is cleaned.
By: Miles Abernathy on February 4, 2009
at 4:13 pm
That’s right the main reason leach fields stop working is because of those solids getting up the t piece
By: septic tank man on December 2, 2010
at 5:18 am