[fintstone]

Originally Posted by masraum

I've heard lots of folks talk about "hasn't been pumped in years (decades) and works just fine" (RF911 - the thread starter). So these places that have rules that mandate frequent pumping (3yr, 5yr) seem silly. Most home owners only need/want the receipt to get the city/county/whatever off of their back and therefore don't care what was actually done. If the home owners don't care, then the guys doing the work are equally unlikely to care. Hell, those rules probably keep them busy. You would think that pumping in those sorts of places should be cheaper than places that don't have the rules, especially if the guys aren't really doing the work correctly.

I would the folks that make a living doing this sort of thing have little trouble swaying the county board of a small rural county in their favor...ad it provides a guaranteed income/clientele. Just the same, if you have to pay a few hundred to get your tank pumped, you would want them to do the right one...as that is what will back up into your home if it fills too full. If you have a well or are in an area considered a watershed, the rules are usually tighter as failure affects ground water.

I have a home where the septic system has not been pumped in at least the 9 years I have owned the home. So far, no troubles...but it gets little use (vacation home).

I did find out that my conventional system had failed in one of my homes when it was pumped as the fellow pointed out the pipe exiting the tank to the drain field laying on the bottom of the tank. It had rusted off. The system was built in 1960. The rest of the system was fine, but had to replace the pipe with PVC.