DIYbanter - View Single Post

Al Bundy

wrote in
oups.com:

Ether Jones wrote:
wrote:

Pumping out a septic tank is CHEAP.

Is $140 cheap? That's the going rate around here, if the owner does
the digging to expose the access cover. It's all relative I guess.

One other thing to consider. There IS a downside to pumping the
tank. If there's a heavy rain when the tank is empty, and the soil
gets saturated from the heavy rain, the tank can actually push its
way up out of the ground, like a boat. Big time repair bill. Major
$$$

An obvious way to prevent this is to run the water in the house to
fill the tank with water after it's pumped out. But at 10 gallons a
minute, it takes two and a half hours of constant running of your
well pump to fill a 1500 gallon tank.

Another thing to consider is that some tanks are not well designed to
keep scum out of the tank's exit pipe during the transition from
empty to proper operating level. At proper operating level they do
a great job, but during the transition they do not. Depending on the
position and design of the exit baffle, a lot of scum can get into
the exit pipe as the water level rises during use after pumping.
Tanks with down-pipes and on the exit are MUCH less susceptible to
this problem. So, if you are a frequent pumper, and you don't have a
downpipe on the exit, ask to have one installed.

You need to shop around for a company that charges less and knows what
they are doing! You're going to scare this poor guy back into using
the city sewer.

$140 can be dirt cheap. In one place I lived it was ridden with granola
heads. They had state "Acts" and heavey impact fees. Other areas dump
your **** wherever long as it's not on the road with an open valve.