How Does a Septic System Work?

By Nick Marine

DexKnows Home Improvement

Septic tanks are storage units for waste that must be installed by a licensed plumber. Have a septic tank installed correctly with help from a third-generation master plumber in this video on septic systems.

My name is Nick Marine, a third generation master plumber located here in Marietta, Georgia. I want to talk a little bit about septic tanks. In the Cobb County, Marietta, Georgia area we don't have a lot of septic tanks but some of the areas North of us in Dawson County do. What a storage tank is, or a septic tank is, it's either cast iron, steel or some kind of plastic material that is usually ten feet from the home. You'll have a sewage pipe that goes from the home that dumps the contents into the tank. Then from the tank the next part of it is the actual drain fields or leach fields, which will be arms if you will. The big thing about septic tanks I will tell you is they have to be installed by your local master plumber that is licensed to do so. The health department also gets involved with it, and also The EPA, depending on how far or how close you are to the nearest stream or waterway. In some areas in North Georgia or real Southern Georgia you have to have a perk test done to show that the leach fields can actually drain. One big reason a septic tank fails is once the waste or the fluid and the matter goes into the tank, the sludge drops to the bottom and the effluent or the liquid goes to the top and rushes out and it goes out and evaporates naturally. The sludge if it's not pumped out every five to seven years out of the bottom of the tank, then you'll actually take some of that sludge and it will go and start clogging your drain fields. So you do have to maintain, and every five to seven years, have your tank pumped. I've had people say, well I've never had it ever ever pumped, well guess what, those are the people that have to spend thousands of dollars to have a new one put in. So, don't get caught up in it. Make sure you get it pumped. How to locate a plumber out there in the area, call your local PHCC Plumbing and Heating and Cooling Contractors in the area. You can go to elocalplumbers.com and do a Google search for licensed contractors and septic tanks, and they can help you. If you contact your local plumber, they can also lead you into the specialty of septic tanks because not every plumber does septic tanks. There are specialty companies, like here in Georgia we've got one company that is nothing but septic. We have one person that does nothing, but you know, leak location of pipes under a sewer. I mean, every company has a specialty. So, make sure you contact a septic plumbing company that has a specialty in septics. If you call a master plumber, most of the plumbers in the area know who the good people are that do the septic work, so that would be your number one place I would suggest.