Just about anything is more appealing than having to undertake a septic tank replacement on your property. It’s an invasive process that’s absolutely going to turn messy, and while it’s in progress you’re going to lose the use of your home’s essential amenities. To make matters even worse, a septic tank replacement in Prior Lake, MN is no cheap endeavor, so you’ll need to prepare your pocketbook to take the hit.
There is one thing that a full septic replacement is better than, however… and that’s a full septic breakdown. That’s right: as painful as a septic tank replacement is, having your tank fail spectacularly on you is going to be far, far worse.
So how exactly do you know if and when you need to replace your septic tank? Take a look at five telltale signs below. Keep in mind, however, these symptoms don’t always mean a full failure—they could be the sign of other, lesser problems. It’s best to consult with a professional at the first sign of any of them, to determine exactly what’s going on in the depths of your septic system:
- Frequent drain field flooding is a sign that your tank isn’t handling effluent like it once was. If you’re constantly seeing or smelling flooding on your drainfield, there’s a good chance that the problem runs deeper—specifically deep down into your tank, where capacity might be an issue.
- If your drains begin to smell and effluent backs up it’s a major symptom that all is not well with your tank. Effluent back up into your home is a huge health concern and it generally means that your tank isn’t doing its job properly, whether due to overfilling, an unstable septic environment or something else altogether.
- The constant need for pumping may signal that you have a tank that’s not ready to hold up to your daily, weekly and monthly needs. If your family has recently grown, for example, your tank might not be equipped to handle that capacity, leading to a variety of issue that will eventually culminate in a tank replacement.
- A cracked tank can take form if you notice the sinking of earth around where the tank is buried or worse, pool effluent that has bubbled up to the surface. A cracked tank is nothing to mess around with and will require a full septic tank replacement in Prior Lake, MN.
- If your tank is more than twenty years old, you might want to think about replacing it proactively. Tanks can survive past two decades, but it’s at this point that they start to fail in unseen ways, whether due to many years of service or antiquated construction materials.
No one wants to take on a full septic tank replacement in Prior Lake, MN, but the alternative of having to clean up a septic disaster is far worse on a number of levels. If your tank is giving you trouble, have a professional inspect it and recommend a solution that will keep everything within this essential system working smoothly.