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How often should a septic tank be pumped

How Often Should A Septic Tank Be Pumped?

How often should a septic tank be pumped to avoid frequent clogs, backups, and overflow? Acme shares the details with you today!

Your new septic tank just passed inspection, and you’ve received approval for its operation. One question you may have now is, “How often should a septic tank be pumped?” The Environmental Protection Agency recommends that traditional septic tanks receive pump-outs at least once every 3-5 years. If you have another type of septic tank, such as an ATU, the frequency of pumping increases to once every 1-3 years. Keep reading to learn what factors affect how often your septic tank needs to be pumped and how this crucial service keeps your septic system running well for years. 

Tank Size

Traditional septic tank sizes range from 1,000-2,000 gallons. A 1,000 gallon tank would be appropriate for households with up to four people, a 1,250 gallon tank would be appropriate for homes with up to six people, and anything larger would be necessary for homes with more than six people or multi-family setups. 

For those with smaller tanks, you may be able to wait up to five years for a pump-out, but this depends on how many people reside in the home and how much water your household regularly uses, which we will talk about in the following section. 

Water Usage

What should a septic tank pump schedule look like if your home uses a lot of water? Great question. The amount of water that is used in your home directly contributes to how often your septic tank will need to be pumped. Larger households generally require higher levels of water usage for tasks such as laundry and dishwashing, and because toilets and showers are used more frequently. 

Households with any tank size can benefit greatly from the use of energy-saving appliances and fixtures. Even if you have a fully-occupied five-bedroom home, energy saving washing machines, toilets, sinks, and showers all reduce the volume of your home’s water usage. Additionally, if you notice there is a slow leak in any of your fixtures, prompt repair will reduce overall water usage, as well. Each of these measures helps reduce the load that is placed on your septic system and the frequency of pump-outs.  

Waste Composition

While learning about how to care for your new septic system, you may have heard that there are certain items that should not be flushed down the toilet or disposed of down the drains in your sinks. Items that should not be flushed include:

  • Dental floss
  • Paper towels
  • Baby wipes
  • Diapers
  • Feminine hygiene items
  • Facial tissue

While this list is not exhaustive, these items are commonly used in households, and you may be more likely to forget or not realize that they should not be flushed down a toilet. Septic tanks are made to break down human waste and toilet paper. Anything else compromises your septic system’s ability to function, can lead to clogs, backups, and breakdown, and leave you with an expensive repair bill. Trust us when we tell you these items do not belong in your septic tank! 

Grease is another potential culprit of septic clogs and backups. Chances are that you learned early in life not to dispose of grease down the sink. If you’ve ever worked in a kitchen, you are probably aware that there is a specific process required for cleaning greasy dishware. Commercial kitchens are also required to have a device called a grease trap installed, which prevents excess fats, grease, and oils from entering the establishment’s septic or sewer system. These guidelines and code regulations exist because of the serious problems that grease buildup can create.  

If you are cooking with fats, oils, or grease, take care to clean dishware in a way that prevents clogs in your septic system. An accumulation of items and substances that cannot be digested by your septic system may not just increase how often your septic tank needs to be pumped, it can also create the need for an immediate pump-out to avoid further damage or system failure. How often should a septic tank be pumped

Pumping Your ATU

Aerobic treatment units, or ATUs, are a more modern style septic system that use oxygen to break down septic waste. The presence of oxygen in the treatment process helps ATUs break down waste more efficiently and in an eco-friendly way. 

While ATUs produce cleaner effluent (the final product after wastewater has been treated), they do not fully break down solid waste. While this may sound like a drawback, let us take this opportunity to point out that no septic system can fully break down solid waste. Even following the treatment process that takes place in your septic tank, solids build up over time and stick to the interior of your septic tank. This is why septic tanks need to be pumped by a professional once every few years. 

Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late – Call Acme!

How does a septic tank need to be pumped? A whole lot less often if you maintain a consistent septic tank pump schedule, watch what you flush down the toilet, and schedule repairs when necessary. 

Contact us for professional septic tank pumping today. 

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