I am not doing it

[KnotRight]

I have never lived in a house that was not on a city sewer systems. The lake house does have a septic system and after closing we stopped by the house so the previous owners to tell us about the house. One of my questions was about the septic tank and where was it. He pointed that it was under a palm tree. I asked when it was last pumped and he said a few years ago but after pumping it they found a leak in the pipe going to the system. Besides that, they have never had a problem with the system in 26 years.

My questions, are you suppose to have a couple clean out ports for the tank? If so, I could not see them from the balcony and below the pine straw. And, what do you treat your system with and how often?

 

[Johnny]

I treat mine by not pouring bleach, drain cleaner or antibacterial soap down the drains. No clean wipes, q tips or tampons. Most tanks will have an inspection cover on the top at each end.
I usually have them inspected pre closing but it might be worth the nominal charge for you to have somebody come out now and do an inspection with you present. Then you'll know a bit more about what you've got.

 

[LeeMajors]

I let a gallon of milk clabber. And pour a whole gallon down the drain every other month. My first house I had built and was in it 17 years and never had it pumped. the new owners had it pumped when they moved in but was told it wasnt necessary

 

[beamernc]

My house was built 22.5 years ago with a septic tank and we have never had to have it pump and we do not treat it.

 

[yard mongrel]

Older friend of mine swore by flushing horse crap down his commode once per month. My parents have been on septic since forever, and as Johnny said, don't flush anything down that doesn't fall out of you and TP and you'll be good.

Never heard of the clattered milk thing, that work better than Rid-X @LeeMajors ?

 

[Cowboy]

I had to have a pump system put in my first house. So we had to get it pumped about every 4-5 years. We found the best thing was Scott's TP.

 

[J R Green]

Yep, remember it's not a garbage disposal and you'll be fine.

 

[LeeMajors]

Older friend of mine swore by flushing horse crap down his commode once per month. My parents have been on septic since forever, and as Johnny said, don't flush anything down that doesn't fall out of you and TP and you'll be good.

Never heard of the clattered milk thing, that work better than Rid-X @LeeMajors ?

Works much better. rid-x floats back to the top and crusts over. My gf house hadn't been pumped since it was built 45 years ago till last fall. She took a roommate about 4 years ago and she flushed EVERYTHING


The gf used the.milk as well

 

[Schattenreiter]

I had to have a pump system put in my first house. So we had to get it pumped about every 4-5 years. We found the best thing was Scott's TP.

Single ply TP is the key. We had constant problems with the septic system. Even added more lines. Problems pretty much went away when we switched to single ply TP. My plumber told me about using it after cleaning the lines one day.

 

[Chdamn]

To answer your original question there are two ports on top of the septic tank but they are buried. They always are.

When the guy comes out to pump the tank he’ll use a rod to prod the ground until he finds the 4 corners of the tank. From there he knows how deep the tank is and where the ports are.

He will then dig down the foot or so to the port, pull it off, pump the tank, put it back in place and cover it back up.

As far as maintenance is concerned there are a lot of good suggestions in here. Mainly as long as you don’t flush things that kill bacteria and as long as you don’t over tax that bacteria (large number of guests for a prolonged time or a disposal in the kitchen sink) you should be fine.

Since this is a vacation home just flush a packet of yeast every time you come to visit.

 

[LeeMajors]

Yeast is a good one as well. Activate it with warm water before flushing it. Also look for a cooler temp yeast as the water in the tank will be colder and regular yeast stops "working" at a certain temperature.

 

[Tim]

With a clueless wife and 2 kids....I figure it's cheap insurance to spend $300+/- every couple years on having it pumped.

 

[Stobie]

We have a disposal designed for septic systems. It squirts a solution of crap-eating critters into the disposal drain every time you flip the switch. August will make 23 years in this house, and we've never needed to have the tank pumped.