Emptying the septic tank

[Donna Paget]

Hey Big Pocketers!

I need some advice on what to do with a problem with my tenant and the septic tank. When this renter moved in last year, I had the septic tank emptied. I usually only do this every 3 years or so. She just left me a message that the septic was backing up, so she called the septic company to find out what was up. They told her the tank was full and charged her to empty it, which she wants me to pay. 

I feel it is a consumption issue (she has a big family) and she should pay it. I have nothing in my contract specifically about the septic (I will add it next time, though!). I am unwilling to pay this bill after I paid almost $300 to have it done last year.

Advice? Opinions?

Thanks, Donna

[Jon Holdman]

@Donna Paget  sorry, but if your leach field has failed it needs to be fixed.  A septic system is a somewhat complex system.  If properly used, it should never need to be pumped.  They do need to be pumped periodically because solid junk ends up in the tank, reducing its capacity.  

The tank is not a storage device, though.  Its a reactor.  The sewage runs into the tank, gets broken down by bacteria in the tank and the effluent flows out of the tank and into the leach field where it, theoretically, flows down into the water table.  The combination of being digested by the bacteria in the tank and percolating through the soil down to the water table is what turns sewage into fresh water.  The leach field is an essential part of this process.  If its failed, the effluent from the tank is still going somewhere.  But its not perc'ing properly.  Before installing a septic system, you do a "perc test" on the area where the leach field goes and determine if it water will properly perc(olate) into the ground.

I used to have a house in TX, south of Houston, which is known for clay soils that don't perc at all.  In that area, they use evapo-transportation systems that rely on plants growing in the leach field to pull the water up into the plants and then evaporate it out of the plants into the air.

Tanks do need to be pumped periodically when heavy, non-dissolving material ends up in the tank. This stuff fills up the tank and needs to be cleared out to make the tank work.  Best to avoid putting these stuff into the tank.  Non-digestable solids are also what cause leach fields to fail.   They clog up the pore space in the dirt and it no longer percs.  

Also, certain things are really bad for septic tanks.  Fortunately, they're almost always labeled.  They're  called "antiseptics".   They kill that bacteria, making the tank no longer function properly. 

If your leach field has failed, the septic tank is really acting as a cesspool and not a septic system.  The sewage just accumulates there until you pump it out.