thoughts on emptying or lack of a septic tank

babyblade41

Davesnave wrote: »

While I agree, the OP was already sailing close to the wind if they met with an overflow within a month of the supposed emptying.

The OP had prior experience and could also have checked the situation by looking in the tank, which is certainly something I'd have done if the lorry had disappeared within 20 minutes. They're always with me for an hour or more.


Of course, neither of these things removes the ultimate blame for the spillage from the disposal company, but they have plenty of 'wriggle room.'

The difficulty is now that no one will be sure how much the drainage field has been affected. It could be several months before a problem shows up clearly.

The guy inspected the drainage field and made a note on our receipt, thing is we never checked emptying last year, stupidly assumed it was done.

First time my husband was here to oversee as he worked away so was left to me to do it ..with just 2 of us once a year has always been adequate .. trusted the company to do it properly

babyblade41

Doozergirl wrote: »

Septic tanks should need emptying around every year. I can't imagine what the OP was doing over the course of a month for it to overflow if it had been emptied initially.

My concern, OP, is that by allowing the tank to overflow, it's possible/probable that the drainage field has been contaminated and stops working as it should, resulting in it needing replacing.

I would be writing a clearly worded letter to the company explaining that your tank overflowed after you believed it had been emptied. There's no way you could have created 1000 gallons of sewage in a month and the only method you would reasonably have of knowing they hadn't emptied it would be that inevitable overflow. It will be a case of watching and waiting to see if the drainage field is affected.

My OH and new chap inspected the treatment plant and he did note it down . so hopefully that will be OK.

I will write them an email this morning covering everything all of you have said ..really helpful .
Even just to cover my rear and the new owners ,

The house here is not very old so in that respects everything is relatively new