07/16/2026
What does it mean when you hire a septic company and they come out to your house and open the septic lid and they tell you "your tank is overfilled and it is not at normal operating level and it is an additional cost to pump it out".
The symptoms are gurgling toilets, Slow drainage and wet on top of the ground over the tank, Toilets backing up and wont flush. Sometimes you wont even know its happening with no signs at all.
There is two pictures shown, One picture is the tank is at normal level meaning on the inside of the tank the level is down a foot and the other picture is showing the tank level is overfilled to the top of the tank walls which would indicate a few possibilities of what could be happening. A blockage in the field caused by roots or a sludge clog, Broken pipe, Crossover slipped out of the chamber, Saturation of the field from rain or excessive use by to many people, Toilet flapper stuck open or the field has ran its lifetime coarse and needs full replacement.
Septic tanks are designed to hold 1000 gallons or 1500 gallons depending on the size of the tank you have at normal operating level and when the level is at the top or overfilled its additional gallons that they are pumping and in result the sewer plant charges them extra cost for these additional gallons. Its not just the contents in the tank, The plumbing pipes in the house are also holding sewer water and will pour into the tank as they are pumping it down and sometimes the field will pour water back into the tank while the company is pumping it out from the pressure in the field . Ive seen sewer water pour into the tank from the drain field the whole time we are pumping the tank out and when finished pumping sewer water still pouring into the tank and slowly filling the tank back up. Thanks for reading.
Eric,
Owner,
Independent Septic and Sewer Llc
