Don’t tell anyone but I have a cesspool. I had to have it pumped once about 2 yrs ago and after that I have treated it w/ pequa cessflow about 3x/year and changed some other things to be easier on it.
In a local flyer I see this company advertising cesspool aeration it claims to ‘restore bottom drainage, 18 month guarantee available’.
So I’m wondering what exactly this entails and if it really works. I figure I have a compressor and can get a pipe that I can stick all the way to the bottom (how deep are these things anyway) and hook it up to the compressor and blow air into it all night - will that help anything? Is this what they want to do? If so how long do they expect to blow air into it?
Well, having absolutely nothing else to do, I’ve been puttering around on Google under “cesspool management aeration cesspit” and combinations thereof, and all I can tell you is that they do use aeration in municipal wastewater treatment plants–but it’s to encourage the breakdown of “sludge”, rather than to deal with the original waste.
So I dunno. I’d have to suspect, if not a scam, then at least an unnecessary service.
All a cesspool does is store it for you. It’s not like a septic system, where it’s expected to break it down and filter it through the soil. So why would you need to aerate it? It’s just gonna sit there until you call the pumpout truck.
What do they mean, “restore bottom drainage”? Is there drainage in your cesspool? Is it a septic system after all?
DDG always there with the google search (thanks again 
)- I looked too but didn’t find anything.
A cesspool is not a big holding tank it is a concrete tank with square holes to allow side drainage and IIRC a dirt bottom to allow bottom drangage. There is biological anarobic breakdown of the waste but it happend very slowly and the liquid seeps into the ground. it is a very primitive waste treatment system.
When you have to get it pumped out one of several things happened:overuse, poorly placed (like in clay that doesn’t allow good drainage), bio-failure (usually caused by harsh chemicals that kill off the bugs), age (undigestabel solids clog the drainage), and stuff like that.
After pumping the cesspool pumper company usually adds some chemicals - I think one is an acid to breakdown the bottom soilds - then a base to neutralize the acid then anarobic bactreia. - but that last part is a wag (but they do use 3 chemicals)
Municipal treatment systems use aeration to breakdown the waste using arobic bacteria which is much faster and requires less area. (I did a graduate project on a waste water treetment plant). I feel it might help a cesspool but only until the air stops comming then it’s back to anarobic breakdown. Maybe the aerobic bacteria will breakdown stuff the anarobic ones cant.