Preventing Plumbing Problems

Primary Variables That Determine Septic Tanks Pumping Frequency

5 April 2021 by Calvin Simmmons

If you're building a home on a site without a municipal wastewater treatment facility nearby, you may need to find a private solution to your wastewater disposal needs.

Installing a septic tank system is the next viable option for disposing of your home's wastewater in an effective and efficient manner. Because the solid layers of your waste (scum and sludge) are not meant to flow out of the septic tank along with the effluent (liquid waste), your tank will need to be pumped out periodically to maintain its volume or capacity.

How often you'll need to get your septic tank pumped out depends on a variety of factors. Here are some of the primary variables that determine the frequency of septic tank pumping.

Septic Tank Size

To understand how septic tank size affects the frequency of tank pumping, consider a water storage tank. The larger the size of the tank you have, the more water you can store for the dry days. 

Septic tank sizes determine the maximum amount of solid waste that can be left to accumulate in a tank before pumping will be required. The larger the size of the septic tank you have, the longer it will take before you have to pump out the built-up solid waste.

Household Size

How many people live in your house? Typically, a large family uses more gallons of water and produces more waste than a smaller family. As a result, they will exhaust the waste-holding capacity of their septic tank much quicker than smaller families that have a tank of the same size.

When installing your septic tank system, it's imperative to choose a tank that won't fill up too quickly.

Domestic Water Usage

Water consumption patterns vary from home to home, even for same-size households. Consider two average-sized households that have similar-sized septic tanks. If the daily water usage of one household is higher than the other, then the household that uses more water will require more frequent septic tank pumping.

More wastewater going into a septic tank means that the solid layers that need to be pumped out will build up in the tank much faster.

Residential septic tank pumping is a normal part of septic system maintenance. Skimping on it can result in drain clogs and even wastewater backing up in your home. To determine how frequently you'll need to get your septic tank pumped out, discuss your needs with a septic tank system specialist.

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