We noticed this morning that any time water is run from any place in our house, yucky brown water comes up through the drain and into the bathtub in our downstairs bathroom. There is also water on the bathroom floor.. I'm not sure if that is coming from around the toilet or where. Does this mean our septic tank needs flushing? We've lived in the house a little over 2 years but we have no idea when the tank was emptied last.

Tanks should be pumped at least every 5 years but the number of residents and other things like garbage disposals could affect it. Tanks are actually 99% full all of the time. The sewer water overflows out the top to the drain field. I'd get it pumped but your issue could just be a clogged drain in the house or the pipe going to the tank.

It may be just a sewer ( drain) line blocked going to the septic. At this level if the septic itself is full, the ground somewhere in the yard where the septic is, should be wet from it leaking out the top of the tank.

All places in the US I am aware of, have in zoning or some department a office that handles septic tanks, since they must be approved along with their drain fields when installed.
They should have a map showing where your tank is at.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

It may be just a sewer ( drain) line blocked going to the septic. At this level if the septic itself is full, the ground somewhere in the yard where the septic is, should be wet from it leaking out the top of the tank.

All places in the US I am aware of, have in zoning or some department a office that handles septic tanks, since they must be approved along with their drain fields when installed.
They should have a map showing where your tank is at.

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Thank you! And yes, the ground is wet near the septic system. We're having it pumped because we've lived here two years and have no idea when it was pumped by the previous owners.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ballengerb1

Tanks should be pumped at least every 5 years but the number of residents and other things like garbage disposals could affect it. Tanks are actually 99% full all of the time. The sewer water overflows out the top to the drain field. I'd get it pumped but your issue could just be a clogged drain in the house or the pipe going to the tank.

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Thank you! We are having it pumped because we have no idea when the previous owners did it. There is also some damage underground that is being repaired.

Sorry, auto spell check went goofy. What kind of damage under ground.