If you’ve never lived in a home with a septic tank before, it can be a bit of an adjustment. In a home connected to a municipal sewer system, you only have to worry about maintaining your toilets, as the sewer system itself is the city’s responsibility. In a home with a septic tank, on the other hand, maintaining the septic system is your own responsibility as the homeowner. An important part of that maintenance is regular septic pumping. Our team at American Waste Septic has put together a brief overview of how septic pumping works to help you know what to expect from this service.

In a septic tank system, wastewater flows out of your home through your pipes and into the tank. Once there, the waste separates into liquids and solids. Liquid waste passes through the tank and flows out through the drain field — a series of pipes and filters — where it is slowly released back into the water table. Meanwhile, solid waste sinks to the bottom of the tank, where it is broken down into sludge by bacteria. Rather than flow out into a sewer system, this sludge remains in the tank until it is pumped out by septic professionals like ours at American Waste Septic.

You need regular septic pumping to prevent the sludge from exceeding the capacity of your tank. When you enlist our team at American Waste Septic, our technicians will connect a hose to your tank and pump the sludge out and into the tank on our truck. We then cart the sludge away to a disposal facility, leaving your septic system empty once more.

Most experts recommend septic pumping once a year, though this may vary depending on your tank’s capacity and the number of residents in your home. If you have questions about how often you need septic pumping, call us to consult one of our experts.