Cesspit Emptying Broad Oak

At KP Cesspool Services, we provide cesspit emptying in Broad Oak for homes that are not connected to the mains sewer. It is common for a house here to change hands with nobody able to say where the tank is, how big it is or when it was last emptied. If that is you, this guide is the order to do things in. A cesspit needs emptying every four to eight weeks, depending on the size of the tank and the household, so the first job is to find out where in that cycle yours already is.

First, find the tank and the covers

A cesspit is a sealed underground tank that holds everything the house uses until a tanker takes it away. What a cesspool is explains how it differs from a septic tank, and the difference matters, because a septic tank has an outlet and a cesspit does not.

The covers are usually within sight of the house, often under a lawn, a gravel area or a patch of decking somebody laid over the top. Follow the line of the soil pipe away from the house and look for a square or round lid, or a slight hump in the ground. If you cannot find it, we can trace it. A tank you cannot reach is a tank that cannot be emptied, so this comes before anything else.

Then empty it and start the clock

Do not wait to see how long it lasts. A cesspit that was last emptied before the sale could be close to full on the day you move in, and the first sign is often a toilet that will not clear. Book a cesspit empty straight away. Once it is empty you know exactly where you stand, and the time it takes to fill again tells you your real emptying interval.

While the tank is empty we look at it properly, the walls, the cover, the inlet and any sign of water getting in where it should not. You get a straight account of what we find. That one visit answers most of the questions the previous owner could not.

Work out how often it needs doing

How quickly a cesspit fills depends on its size and on how much water the household uses, and a new family in a house can use far more than the couple who sold it. The building regulations size a new cesspit at 18,000 litres for two people plus 6,800 litres for each extra person, so an older tank that was adequate for its first owners may be small for yours. How often a cesspool should be emptied explains how to work it out, and once we know your fill rate we can put you on a regular round so you do not have to think about it.

Get the paperwork in order

Ask the seller's solicitor for anything they hold about the tank, an installation date, emptying receipts or waste transfer notes. Keep every transfer note from now on. They show the waste went to a registered carrier and a licensed site, which is your legal duty as the householder, and they make life far easier when you come to sell. You can check any carrier, including us, on the Environment Agency's public register.

Habits that keep the bills down

Every litre that goes down a drain has to be tankered away, so water use is cost. Fix dripping taps and running cisterns first, because they fill a tank around the clock. Spread washing machine loads through the week rather than doing them all on a Sunday. Keep wipes, sanitary products and cooking fat out of the system, because they cause blockages in the pipe to the tank. How to maintain a cesspool safely has the rest, including why nobody should ever climb into one.

If the tank turns out to be the problem

Sometimes that first empty shows a tank that is cracked, letting groundwater in, or simply too small for the house. That is worth knowing early rather than after a winter of overflows. We can tell you whether a repair will do or whether the property needs something new, and installing a new septic tank in Broad Oak covers what replacing a system here involves.

Regular emptying in Broad Oak

Our cesspit and septic tank services in Broad Oak cover the village and the properties around it, with regular rounds that make a scheduled slot straightforward. Emergencies are covered day and night through our 24 hour callouts.

KP Cesspool Services has been emptying cesspits for over twenty years, and our reviews are on Checkatrade. Call 01233 720725, email kpcesspoolservices@hotmail.com, or contact us and tell us you have just moved in. We will start with an empty and a proper look at the tank.