While many homeowners have gone many years past the recommended maintenance period without a problem, damage is slowly being done. The purpose of the tank is to hold the solids that natural bacteria can not break down. Those solids accumulate over time to a point where the tank no longer has room to contain them all; therefore, the solids make their way to the drain field, where they plug up the pores in the ground, causing poor drainage and eventually septic system failure.
All septic systems have a finite life, meaning they will eventually fail. How long a system will last from its first day of usage depends on a lot of factors, starting with proper sizing and installation, soil composition, water table or water table change throughout the years, trees, and subsequently tree root intrusion, amount of use and/or abuse, and last but not least, proper routine maintenance and pumping.
Although there are no laws requiring maintenance and inspection just yet, the NJ EPA and local health departments highly recommend proper routine inspection and maintenance to help prevent groundwater contamination and water resources due to the nitrogen, phosphorus, and disease-causing bacteria and viruses found in household waste water.
No, the homeowner does not have to be home. Our service professionals are able to locate the tank and pump it. When we are finished, our office will send you an invoice.
Our professionals can locate the tank/lid with various methods, including probing the ground. Years of experience and thousands of septic jobs also help.
Our service tech can dig up the lid for you. There is usually not an extra charge for this service if it's only a few inches or takes just a few minutes. If your lid is deep or takes some time to access, there can be extra charges for digging. If your lid is more than a few inches in the ground, we recommend having us install a septic riser.
Some septic systems have PVC inspection pipes around the drain field to monitor the liquid level in the drain field. Also, sometimes the inlet and/or outlet baffle is piped up to ground level to inspect the level or to gain access in case of a clog.
It is not a good idea to pump the tank through the inlet and/or outlet pipe. To properly remove all liquid and solids, and to inspect the baffles, it is recommended to remove the main access lid.
Effluent is the term used for the wastewater produced from your household.
It is a filter made primarily of plastic placed on the outlet side of the septic tank to help catch the larger solid particles that would otherwise have gone out to the drain field. Its purpose is to help prolong the life of the septic system. Not every system has a filter.
The DEP recommends replacing or cleaning the filter annually.
While it's not terribly difficult to clean or replace the filter, it can be a messy job that is best left to professionals.
A septic tank is a pre-cast concrete tank that is brought on site and installed along with a drain field (leach field). A cesspool usually consists of individual curved blocks stacked on one another to create a cylindrical hollow in the ground. Cesspools receive and treat both solids and liquids, and usually do not have a drain field. Cesspools can no longer be built by law in the state of NJ.
The mound is actually a way for your drain field to be moved further from the water table. In some areas, the water table is just too high for a conventional gravity system, so a mound system is used to gain more distance from the drain field pipes to the water table to ensure that the effluent passes through the proper amount of soil before returning to the water table.
It is recommended that during the pumping of the primary tank, the secondary tank(s) should be inspected to determine if pumping is required. Usually, the secondary tank(s) will not need to be emptied as often as the primary tank.