Outside the sewered villages and the denser parts of Rockland County, plenty of houses treat their own wastewater in a tank buried in the yard. A septic system that is looked after lasts thirty years or more. One that is ignored fails, and replacing a system is one of the most expensive repairs a homeowner faces.
How it works
Everything from the house drains flows into a septic tank, a buried concrete or plastic tank. Solids settle to the bottom, grease floats to the top, and bacteria break down what they can. The liquid in the middle flows out to the leach field (also called the drain field or absorption field), a set of perforated pipes in gravel trenches, where it soaks into the soil and is filtered as it goes.
The tank fills with sludge over time, and that is the whole reason for pumping. If it is not pumped, solids reach the leach field and clog it, and a clogged field is the expensive part.
The pumping schedule
Every three to five years for a typical household is the usual advice, sooner for a large family or a small tank, later for one or two people. A septic contractor pumps the tank and can tell you how full it was, which sets the interval for next time. Keep the receipts: buyers ask for them.
Find your tank's access lid and know where it is. If it is buried, have a riser fitted so that it can be reached without digging every time.
Habits that protect the system
- Only toilet paper goes down the toilet. Wipes, even ones marked flushable, do not break down.
- Keep grease out of the sink. It floats in the tank, then clogs the field.
- Go easy on the garbage disposal. Ground food adds solids the tank has to hold. Many septic owners do without one.
- Spread laundry across the week rather than doing it all on Saturday. A field can only absorb so much at a time.
- Fix leaks and running toilets. A toilet running for a week can flood the leach field.
- Skip the additives. The bacteria the tank needs are already there. Products that claim to reduce pumping do not, and some harm the field.
- Bleach, drain cleaners and solvents in quantity kill the bacteria. Ordinary household use is fine.
Protect the leach field
- Nothing heavier than a lawnmower on it. No cars, no sheds, no pool.
- No trees or large shrubs within reach of the pipes. Roots find them.
- Keep downspouts, sump pump discharge and driveway runoff away from it. A saturated field cannot absorb anything.
Warning signs
- Drains that are slow throughout the house, and gurgling
- Sewage smell in the yard or the basement
- Wet, spongy ground or unusually green grass over the tank or the field
- Sewage backing up into the lowest drain
- Standing water or a smell after heavy rain
Slow drains and backing up are sometimes simply a full tank, cured by pumping. Wet ground over the field means the field is failing.
Buying or selling
Rockland County requires an inspection of the septic system in certain circumstances, and a buyer should always ask for one. A septic inspection is separate from a general home inspection and includes locating the tank, checking its level and the condition of the baffles, and assessing the field.
When to call a professional
A septic contractor for pumping and inspections. A licensed plumber for the pipes inside the house and the line out to the tank. For anything involving the tank or the field itself, a septic contractor, and for a failed field, an engineer's design is usually required before a replacement is permitted.
For plumbing on the house side, find a licensed plumber near your town.