A Full Moon Septic
Then it leaves your septic system into the ground where it eventually filters back down to the aquifer, and gets pumped back up by someone else’s well. But that’s just a little TOO unpleasant to discuss.
So we are going to talk about the septic tank. All the water that drains out of your house goes into the tank before it flows into the leach field. If it were only water there would be no problems but solids move into the tank with the water.
If a septic system were working absolutely perfectly all the solids would be disolved in the tank and flow “harmlessly” into the leachfield. But this is Alaska, our ground is cold, and the bacteria whose job it is to disolved the solids just are a little too sluggish to get the job done in a timely manner. We have to help them get those solids out of the tank and that is where the pump truck comes in.
There are many septic pump truck businesses in the valley. You will find a list of many of them at the bottom of this post. For $200 or so, depending on the size of your tank, these kind people will come to your house and pump those solids out of your tank. I saw a sign on one truck that said, “It may be @#$% to your but it’s my bread and butter”. Many of these businesses have been around for years and know what they are doing.
How often should you pump your tank? Well that depends on how much it is used and how well it is working. Most people advise a family to pump their tank every two years. Sometimes it should be pumped every year if it’s getting a lot of use or it isn’t working well.
If you don’t pump your tank often enough it will allow solids to flow out into your leach field which will eventually plug it up. You can imagine the unpleasantness then.
For more info on septic systems in the Mat-Su Valley go here.
Here are a few of the local pumpers:
A Full Moon…357-9111
Apline Septic…373-2120
Shamrock Septic…376-7448
A2 Septic…745-7867
Tom’s Septic…745-8662
