No myth-busting blog. Just the few things that change whether you pump, inspect, or stop using the field.
Pumping is not an inspection
A pumper can empty a tank and leave baffles, the outlet tee, and the field unexamined. Ask for sludge depth, scum thickness, and a note on the baffles. If those numbers are not on the receipt, you bought a vacuum truck, not a diagnosis.
The three-year default
For an occupied three-bedroom house with ordinary use, a three-year pump interval is a defensible rule of thumb. Add a disposal, a rental, or a fourth bedroom and pull it in. Stretching to six or eight years is how solids walk into the laterals.
What a buyer should demand
Lids located and opened. Sludge measured. Field walked. Limitations written down (buried D-box, no access, snow cover). A seller who offers a pump receipt from last spring is offering maintenance, not condition.
Design standards are a stack, not a pamphlet
EPA publishes the OWTS manual. States set gallons and setbacks. The county stamps the plan, and may be stricter. Table 1 flow, Table 3 tanks, Table 2 setbacks, Table 4A perc, and the 75-A.8 / .9 siting tests live in Design standards. They are a briefing for the permit conversation, not the permit.
Questions we actually get
No. It is a structured interview that scores what you know about the system. A real inspection opens lids, measures sludge, and walks the field. Use the audit to decide how fast to book that visit.
For a typical occupied house, every 3 years is a defensible default. High occupancy, garbage disposals, and older tanks pull that in. Holding tanks are a different schedule entirely: they are pumped, not treated.
Do not take a seller's 'it was pumped last year' as an inspection. Order a certified transfer inspection with lids off before the inspection period ends. The online audit will tell you which questions to ask the seller tonight.
Often. A lush stripe over laterals can mean effluent in the root zone. It is an early warning, not proof of failure, and it belongs on a field walk.
The self-audit report is for you. Lenders and counties want a certified inspector's letter. Book a transfer inspection if a third party has to rely on the paper.
We coordinate pumping when the audit says the tank is due, and we inspect. Pumping without inspection is how solids reach a field. We would rather do both in the right order.
From the county, standing on a state code, standing on EPA guidance. A common pattern is 110–150 gallons per day per bedroom, a 1,000-gallon minimum tank, and a field sized from soil application rate. Open Design standards to run the tables. They are not a permit.
Still guessing?
Run the ten-question ledger. If the score says lids off, book the visit.