Septic Pump Out

[Belmont Resident]

Originally Posted by NoBozo

We have our septic tank pumped every three to five years wether it needs it or not. We are an elderly couple who don't have a dishwasher. We wash our dishes by hand.

SO: It's time to pump the tank out again..it's cheap insurance.

I dig out the old receipts for our past 3 pump outs (which have always been satisfactory) and find the latest website for this business is now only IN Spanish... Not speaking spanish I go to a more local place which has a pretty impressive fleet of trucks out front.

SO: Today I visit this NEW place first hand. They have very nice equipment parked outside. The price to pump 1200 gallons will be $256. (It took well over a minute on a 1960s "adding machine" ...with the paper tape... to come up with this figure. OK: I am Still COOL.

I make the appointment for Friday. THEN.. the nice lady tells me there "May Be" an EXTRA fee to uncover (digging) the manhole cover to the tank. I inform her that I know Precisely where the manhole cover is. ...No searching required. I ask what that fee may be and she tells me that the "Technician" who comes out to the house MAY assess a fee of $75 to uncover the manhole cover.

I inform her that I have Never been charged to "Uncover" the manhole cover. She said she will get back to me on Wednesday.

I LOVE Free Enterprise....BUT I think I will be going elsewhere. NB

Have you thought to ask just how much solids they are taking out? My wife and I, no children, washer, dishwasher, and have had ours pumped out once in about 10 years. This wasn't done because we needed it but because it had been 10 years.
Our camp in Maine has never been pumped out in over 10 years but I have had to open it and remove roots that blocked first in input then the output lines. I added root killer and while in there took a long stick and ran it around the bottom of the tank, there was no solids at all that I could detect.