We've been on a septic system for 35 years. I'd have preferred sewer, but had no choice in the matter. Our system is a little unusual since it uses a seepage pit rather than a leach field. Soil here is pure sand down at least 50' so this kind of system works pretty well. We call a service (a guy with a vacuum truck) to clean it out approx. every 18 to 24 months. So far so good.

worbeye--Sewer is not worry free. Just because you think you can flush anything down, doesn't mean it disappears. And, if it fails, you get to experience a city's worth of stuff coming up your drains. City systems have the same issues as septic...failed pipes, clogs from stuff that shouldn't be flushed, and poor drainage...just on a much larger scale! Just sayin. :)

And if your septic can't handle company, or is needing pump-outs that often, your septic isn't working properly either.

In the county we left last year they keep expanding the minimum acreage needed for a home that is on septic. The reason being that they have realized the need for enough space for multiple septic fields, as one fails and need to be relocated.
You can be careful with what goes into the septic and it will work perfectly for decades, but not indefinitely.

Sewer....as long as the township keeps it clear, it's all good!

Sewer. Septics only have so long of a life. When it comes to replacement, the fees are insane. My parents now either have to replace...or pay to hook up to the sewer. This includes the cost of removing the leach beds. I have always had sewers and just had to replace 12 feet outside, but was nowhere near as expensive...and cast iron should last 100 years. Sewers are also better for resale. I have many buyer clients who refuse to look at homes with anything but sewers (septic, wells).

You usually don't have a choice do you? And if you did, why would anyone go with septic? Terrible!

We have two homes, one with septic and the other sewer. It's true you generally have no choice, the only thing I don't like is not being able to fully utilize a garbage disposer, and you have to think about guests not knowing they can't treat the system like a trash can. We recently purchased our current primary home and that wasn't a deciding factor, but we wouldn't even consider a home with well water.

Sometimes you do have a choice. Towns with skeptics will go through (and continue to go through) and put in sewers. You can pay to connect at that point or usually pay more later.

Jphaynie, not sure what you mean about "not being able to fully utilize a garbage disposer". Our daughter's 5-member family have lived in their home for over 10 years with no problems using the garbage disposal. Per the manufacturer's instructions, there are food items that shouldn't be put down the disposal, i.e., onions. Otherwise, nary an issue with the septic.

Septic system. Properly installed it will work great for 20 or 30 years. Just do the math. Installation of septic tank and field lines is about the same as the connection fee to city sewage. But......city sewage at $50/month for 25 years = $15,000 down the drain. I pulled the lid off of the septic tank in a 50 year old house I bought, it looked great. I had a guy install new field lines for $500. Should be good for another 50 years. And, some of the new green systems (more costly) purify the water to the point that it can be used for watering your lawn. Bonus......no monthly fees and use your water twice. If, for some reason you have a clogged tank, you can get it pumped out for $300.

This thread has a tendancy to *move me* lol

i have lived with both. my last house was on the west coast - all rock, steep grade to the ocean. a sceptic system could run you 100K there, and required an engineer to design it.

we are east now and on flat land with a new processing system (as opposed to old tank and field) and it is trouble free.

Whenever we have lived in cities (many years, many times) we have not been as mindful as to what we put down the drain and a big part of me prefers a sceptic because we have to be careful. It forces you to think about the eco-system you are destroying when you use harsh chemicals to clean and wash paint or other products down the drain.

I like the smaller footprint and the control we have over our behavior with sceptic systems. On the flip side, if you don't know much about them and are on one you will not be a fan of them.

There are so many products we use daily that are harmful to the environment. Most people do not ever question what they buy and flush down the drain. Many paints - even the water based ones - contain cadmium, which is poison to the environment and will kill a sceptic system toute suite. It is surprising what toilet cleaners, dishwasher and laundry detergents etc contain - not to mention the pharmaceuticals we ingest, dyes and chemicals in processed foods, etc. ect.

There are many pitfalls to using sceptic systems so the best thing is to thoroughly read up on them and treat them like you treat your stomach - after all, they are just big digestive systems for your house. Also have them checked regularly to ensure they are healthy. Don't use antibacterial soap or anything in your house or you will kill off all the nice bacteria that digests your waste!

We lived in the country for eleven years when our children were young. We never had a problem with the septic system on the back property, nor the well pump in the front property. We were too young and inexperienced to worry about it, so I guess it just did it's thing. :}

I was on a septic tank. What a headache. We had leech lines and it did not back up some thought our heavy sediment was contained and water going out the leach lines. NO!! When it was pumped the sewage had seeped to the leech lines and we were luck it didnot kill everything around. Even with no problems, HAVE IT PUMPED ANNUALLY. Also because our septic tape was in the front yard we could not plant trees where we wanted for fear of roots getting in the system and leach lines. Much more then a single sewer line.

Our home has a septic system and it was completely new to me 14 years ago when we moved in - boy have I learned a bunch about having an on-site wastewater treatment plant!

We spent quite a bit of money to get the system trouble free and up to current code (such as risers with locking lids at the surface versus the underground concrete lids that meant digging every time something needed doing). Our county requires annual inspections, so I know things are in decent shape, but there's always another thing on the to-do list for keeping it that way.

I had no idea how much work, worry and expense would go with a septic system and if I can avoid it, I will never be in this situation again.

I'm an appraiser. It is true most places don't have a choice but if you do, choosing septic when sewer is available may affect resale in some locations. For example, VA requires the home be connected to sewer when readily available. If you choose septic, the home will not be able to be sold VA without the expense of connecting to sewer if available. If it s not available, no problem.

There's no contest--sewer. I've had both and can tell you the cost of maintenance for septic systems can be high. For example, when you sell a home, some counties require it be pumped, whether it needs it or not (can run $400+). But, I'd recommend that be done for any buyer--you never know what the heck the owner (or their kids) have flushed down.

And of course, there's nothing like a septic malfunction...

The house we own now was purchased from its original owner, an elderly man who'd built it as the dream house for his elderly wife in 1982. She didn't enjoy it for very long, unfortunately, and he lived alone until his death in 2011. If one were going solely by age, the septic system in place would need replacing by now. However, the inspector we hired said he'd rarely seen even newer septic systems as good-looking as this one, so we are good for a while longer.

This is the 2nd house we've owned on a septic system, and we've not had any problems ever (one house in TN, and our current in Statesville, NC). The one house we owned (in Charlotte, NC) which was on the city sewer system? Backed up during a bad storm, and we had all the expense of the fix/restoration because not only did the city disclaim any responsibility, our homeowner's insurance didn't cover it either (as is the case with most --if not all-- HO's coverage).

Although our development was annexed by the city some years back, it still remains extremely expensive to hook up to the sewer system, especially for houses past a certain point in the development (farther from the main road). I think we'll keep our septic for as long as it works/city allows.

No choice...............septic. I live in a development in the country. I've been here almost 30 and have had no problems at all. I'm scared that some day they will decide to run sewer lines through our development and the cost will be large! They charge by foot across the front of your property and mine is 240 feet. I have two septic tanks due to having black clay soil. It cost me about $200 to have them cleaned.

We have a septic system with a pumping system. Where we put our home will not perk. It probably would today because our county is using different standards. Anyway, the pumping system takes all the liguid some 500 ft. Up our path to a site for the drainfield. It has an alarm mounted in the laundry room. If the pump quits and the tank fills to a certain point the alarm goes off. Our septic has never given us a bit of trouble in 17 yrs. We've replaced the pump once and my hubby did it himself. Yuk! I am very concious about what goes down the drain. I keep jars to pour grease into, strainers in the kitchen sinks and only use 1/4c. bleach each week on my whites. I use vinegar and peroxide as a disinfectant. From everything I've read the combination works as well as bleach for killing germs and it is septic and earth friendly. I noticed several people mentioned when having a septic one must watch what goes down the drain. FYI, a sewer system is also negatively impacted by grease, chemicals and pills. Our city has to remind its customers several times a year NOT to flush or pour grease down the drain. Pills in a sewer or septic is very dangerous to us and Mother Earth. Antibiotics are the number one concern. Remember, what goes down the drain eventually returns to the earth whether it is septic or sewer. One more thing. Years ago we moved into a brand new rental home. The owner gave me a pound of hamburger and asked me to break it up and flush it, to quickly build the good bacteria in the septic. I don't know how true it is, but once a year I flush a pound just for good measure. We do not have a big sludge build up. My grandson works for a septic placement and repair outfit. Their recommendations are to pump a septic every two years. Or they use a stick and measure the sludge in the septic. They say if the sludge reaches beyond a certain point problems are on the way. Their claim is it is cheaper to pump a tank semi- annually than to wait for problems. I question the two year interval. What happened to every five years? Seems to me it's just like mattresses. Used to tell us to change a mattress every 20 yrs. Now the claim is 8 yrs. The almighty dollar seems to be driving the recommended care procedures. Happy flushing!

When we built a house on the side of a steep hill outside Cincinnati, we had to have a septic system. The architect dircted a then new system that had three separate basins, it actually was a whole waste system! What came out the far end wa supposedly 'drinkable'...no, we never tried! Now here in SW Alabama I have another septic tank which I had cleaned as an agreement with the seller. That was 10 years ago and no problems with either system. I use my disposal carefully even though it is a new one designed to emit bacteria each time it is used, though I am now living alone so it is never overburdened in any case. Since moving into this houose they have installed sewers but it is expensive to hook up to it AND it is necessary to install a pump also to get it all up hill! I am staying on my own septic tank as long as I Am able. IF there is a powr failure which happens here frequently that pump won't work! I DO have an all house generator so I'm OK but my neighbor is not! This past year my step son Fred had to replace his septic tank and after looking at the horrendous cost of tearing up his yard and driveway, he chose to go into the sewer line. I have NOT had my tank here cleaned during the 10 years of using it and I keep my fingers crossed. Fred DID have problems with his if family visited filling up the house and six or more people all showering daily! It also depends on the type of soil you have and how well it drains or percolates as they say!

We have sewer system now but sold our country house with a 30 year old septic system, 2 and 1/2 years ago. We were just sued by the new owners after all this time because the septic system was giving them trouble and they wanted us to install a new one. We settled out of court but it cost us $2000. So the idea of a septic system is a swear word to me - never again.

carolrutha, sounds to me like your buyers didn't do their own due diligence before buying. I can't see how that became your problem - sorry you had to settle to make it go away. This is some litigious society we live in today.

In rural MO, all our neighbors were older and had septic all their lives. They never heard of anyone pumping a tank! Told us to just put a TBS of yeast down the toilet once a week (Costco, cheap bulk, keep in freezer). I have no idea if it works, but those old people knew more than I do. The 7 yrs we lived there were trouble free and the house and septic were about 40 yrs old.

Actively sought a house with septic when I moved back to a small coastal town in Fl. 1 yr later, the city ran sewer and wanted a fortune to hook up. My concrete tank is 28 yrs old and the pump out done when I moved in 4 yrs ago was not necessary and it had been over 5 yrs since last $250 pumpout. He said that unless more people move in, to wait another 5 yrs. I like not having the sewer bill (over twice as much as the water bill). Add up what you pay for sewage - you can maintain a septic for a lot less unless you let roots ruin the drainfield. It's gravity, so no pump needed.

I don't have to watch what goes down the kitchen sink since I compost for my garden - there isn't anything left to grind up. I don't deep fry, so no leftover grease. I don't put anything down the toilets that wasn't meant to go down and run the dishwasher all I want. And I keep forgetting that yeast in the freezer. Can't plant trees (except palms) in the front yard near it, but that just makes me more creative! None of this has impacted my life or made it harder.

People did not want to hook up, so the city needs more money to pay for this new and costly sewage system they've built. Federal money (YOU) paid for about half or we'd still be happily sewage free (and it was offered, not requested - thank your politicians). So they've decided to force us to switch if we sold the home or if the system fails. ($5-8K min). We are NOT allowed to repair it if anything goes wrong - only routine pump outs. My research says properly working septics that are correctly sized for the occupants are far more environmentally friendly. Plus, if one septic fails, it's a problem for that property. If the sewage plant fails (as has happened in hurricane areas)..... it can be everywhere! When a drain field dries out after flooding, it comes back to life (less than a week). I'm 6 blks from the ocean, so that is a possibility. They used hurricanes as a excuse (we've had one in recorded history), but they did not make anyone within a block of the ocean hook up... Oh well, I'll enjoy the extra $40 a month as long as I can. One year sewage savings pays for 2 pumpouts.

Simple math. Good plan. Why would anyone want to pay $40/ month for the rest of their life because of a couple of bad septic tank stories?

Alabamagal, we were given the option of the drinkable system or pumping septic. Because our land lays low here and the soil is black clay, we decided we'd only be adding to the water problem at the bottom of our heavily wooded 4.5 acres. I have a friend in Ohio area that purchased the drinkable system. They dump the clean water into the ditch along the road. I always thought it was a pretty cool concept, but the price was three times that of our pumping station. Cost $5K for a 900 gallon tank, pumping tank with pump system, the lines from the yard 500' up to the road where the drainfield sits, and the drainfield to accommodate a 3 brm, two bath home. The county had us put the drain field on one side of the drive and the land on the otherside can never be used or built on as long as we have a pumping system. The land is set aside in our drawing for a new drainfield. This is to cover the possibility of the drain field failing since we are so heavily wooded. Makes good sense to me. When we first came to NC we lived at a private lake. My daugher and her friends went swimming in it and my daughter ended up with pink spots all over her skin. Turned out the septics in the lake community are leaking, running downhill and into the lake. YUK AGAIN! We eventually bought this land and moved into our new home. Our neighbor is still there. His septic began to leak so he had a septic contractor prepared to put in an entire new system. Our neighbor went and filed for the proper permit. The county inspector came out to approve the site. It turned into a nightmare! County inspector turned the permit down. Said he had to pay to remove all the soil the septic had contaminated ( 10,000 cubic feet of soil). He checked into this process. Turned out he had tons of dirt to haul out. The dirt is considered toxic, therefore he had to pay a fee just to dump the toxic soil in a lined holding area designed for toxic septic soil! That was going to run into the thousands. By the time he was done it would have run him in excess of $15K! This was only a 900 gallon system with drainfield for the average three bedroom two bath home! He chose to scrap all his plans to replace the septic. He had the tank pumped and certified for $500. No permits involved. Sadly the county he lives in has such a ridiculous demand no one is repairing their systems! In fact many of the homes including the rental we lived in, ran pvc from their washers across the yards and it dumps into the ditches. Everything in this community is uphill from the lake! In fact the septic failed in our rental and the owner chose to pump it every year rather than repair the system. The EPA is causing more harm than good with this policy! Perhaps the EPA has nothing to do with this county policy, but their recommended guidelines are the end result. Sadly, no one swims in the lake and the only fishing takes place at the new dam. People fish for eel!! The dam went several years ago. The entire lake and all that nasty water was released downhill and into peoples yards! One policy that is clearly a failure the way it is written!! I have to agree with you and several others. A septic tank gives no guarantees there will be no failures, but a sewer plant down is far far worse! Thankfully we are too rural for sewage to run out here. I would be very upset if I was forced to buy in only to have the plant fail during one of our many hurricanes that manage to make it inland with flooding the main disaster. No toilets would be a nightmare!! We could deal if we had too. I question this when thinking in terms of three to five story apartment buildings and townhouses in the downtown areas.

please correct me if i'm wrong, but if your sysem is healthy and you are using it properly you don't require pumping?

if you have too many people using too many facilities in the house you will have to pump if the system isn't built for that capacity.
we just have it tested semi-annually to ensure it is alive and has the right bacterial balances.

note that when i pumped our system before selling our last house the sceptic inspector (always get one if you are buying a house with a sceptic!!) told me it was bad that we pumped because they could not tell if the system was working and it takes a few months of using it again to get it up to the proper bacteria levels.

yeast once a month sounds interesting! i wonder if that goes for the newer sceptic processing systems too? does anyone know?

kaak-technically you are correct. The idea of a good working septic is that the live bacteria eats through the waste so it should not require pumping. The issue that occur are usually due to laundry detergent, dishwasher detergents, some toilet papers that do not break down properly and other items that may be flushed into the system. Around here, most septic systems must be engineered and can easily cost $30,000 or more!

Another issue with septic systems id they tend to take up quite a bit of space in ones yard and therefore can prohibit you from additions, pools, decks patios and the like. Even if you have enough room for a system, you have to have enough septic approved property left over for a reserve in the event the active system fails.

If anyone has ever had a septic back up into the house, that can be mess too so be sure to have a back flush valve installed (you should have that on a sewer as well)

That said, currently having both- three houses septic, one sewer-I will take sewer any day!

We are in the country and have just septic, but we have a huge tank which we only need to have pumped every 5 years. The good thing about septic? You don't get rats swimming into your toilet like has happened with sewer.

I have sewer, and constantly have problems :-(

kaak - I don't know if the yeast works - or any of those bacteria starters they sell work, either. A search (at the time) mostly said it's the wrong bacteria for the job ... but most of the sites I found said most things are wrong and septic stump killers don't work and.... But those sites were run by the same companies that get to repair and pump out.... So I found nothing definitive. So I'm going with the old rural folks since it's only about $2-3 a year and won't hurt anything even if it isn't helping. The hamburger sounds interesting, too. Wish I had an answer for you. Agree with other posters that if you are pumping every year, your tank/field is either undersized or not functioning properly. Roots in the field can clog up the drain field instead of letting it do it's job of returning treated water back to the ground.

Personally I have dealt with both city sewers and septics. Over the long haul if the septic system was installed correctly it should not give you many problems. The city sewer bill basically doubles the water bill and the rates can go up at any time. The are in which I live was agricultural and everyone was on septic. Several years ago with all the growth in the area the city brought sewers to our area. However they bypassed 5 houses because it wasn't convenient to bring the line close enough for us to tap onto. That was fine with us. we still have our septic and the only time we have ever had a problem was when a dump truck drove over it and collapsed the top. we put rides in the system and don't pour just anything down the drain.
As for a comment made earlier about what can and can't be put into a septic system, that applies to the city water system as well. Toxic fluids, paint thinner, paint and such should all be disposed of correctly. Not poured into the drain and then ultimately into the city water system.

I think both alternatives stink.


(i had to say it)

haha -- what do you have there, Mark?

Let me guess.....
This? ("nicely japanned"--What the heck??) Or this?

I currently have a septic system. The powers at be are trying to get a sewer system here in the near future.

I have a client down the street that is building a new cottage and hopes the sewer system will be in sooner than later. He doesn't care to spend thousands of dollars to put in a septic system, then be required to be on the new sewer system and abandon the septic system,

The house I grew up in had a two seater out back. It didn't have a dutch door or windows.

Grew up with septic but generally it wasn't a problem, also lived with a few as an adult. Do know some people who live in the aquifer area outside Austin and all the houses there have a concrete catch pool under their field lines...this means any time it rains heavily they can't flush their toilet or do laundry! My brother lives outside Ft Worth and they finally had to install a system that periodically waters the grass, so maintenance of the system is at issue...their field lines were in heavy clay soil. My husband has never lived with septic and probably couldn't...I have "broken" him from flushing used Kleenex or other items that can go in the garbage however. When I grew up with septic, we also had a well so wasting water was never an option.

Just how old are you, Mark? (lol/wink!)

This is premature grey hair. It's just been premature for a long time.

Mark, was there a Sears and Roebuck catalog out there?

I have lived in Maryland for 42 years. I left queens ,new York when I met my husband.
We lived in the country ( owings mills ) for many years which I absolutely loved! I had a well and septic. I had to clean out the septic every couple of years and use a product to keep the emsymes healthy. We didnt have any problems thankfully. But I was young and didn't lnow the potential issues. I started a job with a builder and became a real estate agent....that is when I got the experience about these problems.
I now live within the city limits with public sewer and water. I would never go back to well and septic! Now between the droughts and more and more subdividing going on
It is a huge risk to have well and septic. I have drilled this into my grown sons minds.
But my younger son just bought out in the country.....yes well and septic also oil heat!
I hope he doesn't turn on the spigot one day and find no water is coming out!

Maybe I should clarify something. In addition to the indoor plumbing we had in the house I grew up in, there was a two seater outhouse on the property. The house did not always have indoor plumbing, and that was before I lived there. Abraham Lincoln was not the first president I voted for.

To accommodate a few homeowners with problems and developers with unsold lots, the city ran a sewer to our subdivision. Because retroactive installation of a gravity fed system would be disruptive and more costly, they installed smaller diameter pipe using horizontal drilling machines. The smaller pipe requires that each homeowner install a sump with macerating pump to inject waste into the city line. Add that cost to the initial hookup fee and you are approaching five figures. Then on top of that you have your monthly bill, but we're not done yet. Every owner in the subdivision, whether using the sewer or not, see's a sewer maintenance assessment of $180 on their annual property tax. I will keep my septic tank as long as possible and in the meantime resent paying to maintain a system I am not using.

We have a Title Five/4 bedroom septic...no choice. We can not have a garbage disposal. Some have installed one after building/closing, but to market the house the disposal must be removed. We live on an island; most towns have some waterfront; If one town converts to sewers and the abutting one does not, then the water is still not protected.. Our town is in the political throes of voting for/against a waste water management system which is resulting in many heated arguments. Hopefully the state will step in and resolve this issue...it is becoming the" Hatfields and the McCoys".

BTW, I don't know if this is true of every town with septics only, but here a house which was built years ago with a cesspool, may still have a cesspool. The only time you can be made to convert to Title 5 is if you pull a building permit or sell your house. Otherwise these homes go on for years and years using out an outdated method of waste disposal. Once a good cesspool was fine; that was before washers/ dishwashers, etc and the big culprit : automatic dish washing detergent.

Sewer! If my neighborhood would get it I'd gladly pay more monthly than have to shell out thousands in on shot. My experience has been that septic systems go when you can least afford to repair it and in a very untimely manner like a holiday!! Not fun to deal with, not to mention the smell when it backs up or when you get it pumped out! Embarrassing!

Septic! We let it get pumped every once in a while and everything works perfect.Because septic means "living rural" to me. No way I wanna live in or nearby a town or village!!! Just love my life in the country. ;)

I voted "Other." We have a PEP system which is a "Pretreatment Effluent Pumping" system. Part of our city is on regular city sewer and part of it has the PEP system. We have an underground 1050 gallon tank where waste is treated anaerobically. When the waste in the tank reaches a certain level, a pump automatically turns on and pumps it to the wastewater treatment plant. The city is responsible for maintaining it. It's the best of both worlds!

@sheepie2000: Interesting. The PEP system you have deals with the effluent, but as with a septic tank, the solids will eventually have to be pumped out. That's great that the city maintains it all but I wonder what your utility bills and taxes are like.

Attn Mr. Tallyman: Oops! I accidentally voted for sewer and meant to vote for septic.