The county health department says every 2 to 4 years, which seems
like an awfully long time to me. I know when I rented a house my
landlord had the tank pumped every year.

I'm one person, and the tank is 500 gallons. Any guidelines?

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to: it's
been my life work." -- Marie Dressler, in /Dinner at Eight/

"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t...
The county health department says every 2 to 4 years, which seems
like an awfully long time to me. I know when I rented a house my
landlord had the tank pumped every year.

I'm one person, and the tank is 500 gallons. Any guidelines?

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to: it's
been my life work." -- Marie Dressler, in /Dinner at Eight/

We pump ours every 3 years (2 people). Every 3 months we add two cakes (or
packets) of yeast in one cup of sugar water, The latter keeps the "beasties"
happy. This all is per the recommendation of the installer and pumper.

On Oct 16, 12:22 pm, "free-0-fat" wrote:
Every 3 months we add two cakes (or
packets) of yeast in one cup of sugar water, The latter keeps the "beasties"
happy. This all is per the recommendation of the installer and pumper.

Adding anything other than literal crap to the tank isn't needed,
won't help, and might hurt. From the University of Minnesota:

Septic Starters, Feeders, Cleaners and Other Additives

There is no quick fix or substitute for proper operation and regular
maintenance. Do not use starters, feeders, cleaners and other
additives. Many of these additives suggest they work via "enzyme" or
"bacterial" action.

! There's no such thing as a safe AND effective septic system
additive. !

Starters: A starter is not needed to get the bacterial action
going in the septic tank. There are naturally occurring bacteria
present in sewage.

Feeders: It is not necessary to "feed" the system additional
bacteria, yeast preparations, or other home remedies. There are
millions of bacteria and plenty of food for them entering the system
in normal sewage. If the bacterial activity level is low, figure out
what is killing them (for example, household cleaners) and correct it.
High levels of activity will return after the correction.

Cleaners: Additives effective in removing solids from the septic
tank will probably damage the soil treatment system. Some additives
may suspend the solids that would normally float to the top or settle
to the bottom of the tank in the liquid. This allows them to be
carried into the soil treatment system, where they clog pipes and soil
pores leading to partial or complete failure of the system.

Other Additives: Additives, particularly degreasers, may contain
carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) that flow directly into the
groundwater along with the treated sewage.

Many state regulations ban the use of septic system additives that
contain hazardous materials. In addition, they specify that additives
must not be used as a means of replacing or reducing the frequency of
proper maintenance and removal of scum and sludge from the septic
tank. EPA or USDA approval statements on labels only mean that the
product contains no hazardous material. It does not mean the product
is effective at what it claims to do.

! Additives and cleaners are heavily promoted to homeowners through
direct mail and telephone. Don't be misled! !

The county health department says every 2 to 4 years, which seems
like an awfully long time to me. ...

We pump ours every 3 years (2 people). Every 3 months we add two cakes (or
packets) of yeast in one cup of sugar water, The latter keeps the "beasties"
happy. This all is per the recommendation of the installer and pumper.

I used to get industrial plant trade journals
and was amused by the ads for custom-modified bacteria for waste treatment
and how "our bugs are better than theirs".
I'm unsure if they're available for home use.

I eat yogurt with active cultures to keep my "personal bacteria"
healthy and replenished, so it sounds reasonable to me to
aide/maintain the septic tank's bacteria too.

--

-- mejeep deMeep ferret!

"Jeff Jonas" wrote in message
...
The county health department says every 2 to 4 years, which seems
like an awfully long time to me. ...

We pump ours every 3 years (2 people). Every 3 months we add two cakes (or
packets) of yeast in one cup of sugar water, The latter keeps the "beasties"
happy. This all is per the recommendation of the installer and pumper.

I used to get industrial plant trade journals
and was amused by the ads for custom-modified bacteria for waste treatment
and how "our bugs are better than theirs".
I'm unsure if they're available for home use.

I eat yogurt with active cultures to keep my "personal bacteria"
healthy and replenished, so it sounds reasonable to me to
aide/maintain the septic tank's bacteria too.

Would you not think that the bacteria best suited to your tank would be the ones
that naturally flourish in it with the nutrients regularly added?

Bob

Stan Brown wrote:
The county health department says every 2 to 4 years, which seems
like an awfully long time to me. I know when I rented a house my
landlord had the tank pumped every year.

I'm one person, and the tank is 500 gallons. Any guidelines?

According to this link, every 5.8 years:

http://rps.uvi.edu/CES/SEPTIC.overview.htm

Google had 324,000 hits on 'how often to pump septic tank'. The lookup
tables do not seem to agree real well on 3 tables checked at random.

I forget how big my tank is, but it is sized for a 3 BR house, so I
assume at least 1000 gallons. Suppose I oughta dig up the Big Box of
House Purchase Paperwork, and see if it is listed, or call the company
that did the inspection. But I live alone, there are no regular female
visitors, and I try to be real careful what I put down there. So I
figure I might bother to get an inspection in year 5 or so. Note that
size of finger system and local soil types are a big variable.

One of many items on the long list of stuff I never got around to doing
was to set a marker (paver block flush with the turf) where the septic
cleanout is, and now the grass has grown back in so well I can't find it
by eyeball. Some people actually put a hunk of concrete pipe with an
insulating plug, and a manhole cover, over the cleanout. That makes
cleanouts trivial.

aem sends....

In article ,
Stan Brown wrote:
The county health department says every 2 to 4 years, which seems
like an awfully long time to me. I know when I rented a house my
landlord had the tank pumped every year.

I'm one person, and the tank is 500 gallons. Any guidelines?

Presumably you had the tank pumped when you bought the house? What you
could do is pump it at two years, and then look at the report from the
pumper. That report should tell you the depth of the various layers,
and the amount of clear space you had. From that, you should be able to
figure out about how frequently you should need to have it pumped.


--
--Tim Smith

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:35:26 -0700 from Tim Smith reply_in_group@mouse-
potato.com:
In article ,
Stan Brown wrote:
The county health department says every 2 to 4 years, which seems
like an awfully long time to me. I know when I rented a house my
landlord had the tank pumped every year.

I'm one person, and the tank is 500 gallons. Any guidelines?

Presumably you had the tank pumped when you bought the house? What you
could do is pump it at two years, and then look at the report from the
pumper. That report should tell you the depth of the various layers,
and the amount of clear space you had. From that, you should be able to
figure out about how frequently you should need to have it pumped.

Thanks to you and the others who answered.

Yes, the tank was pumped shortly before closing. I agree that it
makes sense to see how nearly full it is at first pumping and
extrapolate from there. My concern was how long to wait for first
pumping.It's been about 15 months now, and based on what I'm reading
that sounds like it's way too soon.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to: it's
been my life work." -- Marie Dressler, in /Dinner at Eight/