Dare I ask how much it costs to get someone to pump out a 15,000 gallon tank?
It was only twice what they quoted me for a 1500 gallon tank. I don’t remember the amount, it was over 25 years ago. A few hundred bucks?
This way my first thought. My parents don’t have the option of sewer and a new septic system on their spacious with easy backhoe access was, I think, around $35-$40,000. Hooking up to the sewer would be better than dealing with a tank of poop in your backyard for the rest of your life.
I was wondering how many trips they needed. How much do those trucks hold? 15,000 gallons is roughly 125,000 pounds of water, which I gather is about the payload for three 18 wheelers. I’m guessing they pumped out what they could and just called it a day. Even if it wasn’t close to empty, you’d never know.
I think you’re right. I don’t think the tank had 15,000 gallons of solids in it, but they took away 2 truckloads and that was all they were going to do that day.
Update time! Hard to believe it’s been an entire year since I started this thread. Not that anyone’s been breathlessly awaiting an update to this topic, but maybe my experience can help anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.
So, after months and months of back and forth with the Township, getting conflicting answers, looking up plumbers and getting quotes, then waiting out Winter, hoping we didn’t have a catastrophe with our failing septic tank, we finally got hooked up to the sewer main this week.
My main piece of advice would be for anyone else going from septic to sewer main would be, don’t just go with the lowball quote! Make sure that whoever you hire has experience with the type of job, including working with the city or township. We were down to two main quotes-- one was several thousand cheaper than the other, but the guy with the cheaper quote was not experienced with this type of work, and kept requesting paperwork and asking us questions to ask the township. Whereas the guy we decided to go with really knew his stuff, was used to working with the local municipalities, and took care of everything red tape-related for us.
Not that it went perfectly smoothly-- first the plumber showed up with a backhoe ready to get down to business-- dug an enormous hole in our front yard by the street where the Township plans said a tap-in had been installed in the 70s-- but it wasn’t there. So the plumber had to get a Township inspector on the scene and scope out where it actually was. The Township had originally said we’d be able to tap into the main if the tap-in could not be found, but then they threw up all kinds of paperwork and red tape to go that route.
Fortunately the actual tap-in was found, and around 170’ of sewer line was run. Whole thing cost under $12K – much less than we had expected it to cost, and a fraction of what a septic tank and / or drain field repair probably would have cost. Man, what a relief to not have to watch our water usage and be able to take a shower longer than 2 minutes.
Congratulations! I actually was wondering how it went a while back. My interest did wane after my daughter and SIL ended up not buying the house with the aging septic tank that they’d been considering. A year really doesn’t seem that long to get a problem if that magnitude resolved.
So does the old tank just stay in place in your yard?
That’s a bargain!! Congratulations.
Thanks!
The Township requirement was that the concrete top had to be cracked open and the emptied tank be filled with dirt, which the plumber also took care of.
When the septic tank pump guys showed up for the last time, after months of frequent pumpouts to try to avoid disaster, not ashamed to admit I was singing “It’s the final pumpout!!” (to the tune of Europe’s ‘Final Countdown’).
Here’s the MSDS. I wouldn’t use it if I also had a well in the area:
I will echo that’s a bargain. Keep that guys number. In fact, give me his number…
This reminds me of a time in our old house which also had a septic tank. Talking with neighbors across the street I found out that they were connected to the township sewer service. My wife and I decided that it would be a good idea to hook up to it. So I went to the town and met with an agent there to discuss this. He pulls out the maps and sees the sewer lines and shakes his head and tells me no-go. It seems the sewer district border is in fact the middle of the street and I’m on the wrong (north) side. They laid the pipe in the middle of the road and (I can’t make this up) only have taps on the south side of pipe and will not allow hook ups on the north side. This basically cut out the entire north side of our block from ever connecting. The only positive was that we were excluded from sewer tax. This was over 20 years ago and from what I understand from people who still live there that nothing has changed. You have to wonder what genius decided that it wasn’t worth having taps on both sides to service both sides of the street.
Hey, if you’re serious and in the SE Michigan area, I will PM you the number. I would highly recommend them.
Oh boy, what a weird MSDS. Definitely orally toxic but a whole lot of “none” responses to various risks.
Like I said, the septic tank guy sort of hinted that this worked but was kind of skeevy otherwise. (And it did work.)