Some homeowners around West End, North Carolina, still haven’t upgraded their aging septic tanks with outlet filters that may extend the life of costly wastewater systems, according to Jeff Kerr of Marlin Wastewater Services. This is one area where basic customer education is critically important.

Technicians are trained not to overlook information that is so obvious to anyone in the wastewater industry. They carefully explain the benefits of retrofitting an outlet filter to antiquated tanks. Then they employ a variety of accessories from Polylok Inc. – including Extend and Lok adapters, outlet tees and filters – to give homeowners added protection against solids clogging the drainfield at times of peak flow.

“If a customer doesn’t have an outlet filter or a baffle on their tank, we encourage them to get one to protect their leachfield,” he says. “It’s a major upgrade for their tank and affordable, too.”

One potential problem can make this installation difficult: Often there’s not enough pipe emerging from the tank to affix the outlet tee. To work around that problem, technicians use a Polylok adapter, which they can quickly hammer inside the existing pipe to make it long enough to accommodate an outlet tee, he says.

“Traditionally, you’d have to dig up the pipe in order to retrofit an outlet tee to an existing tank with a concrete baffle,” he explains. “But Polylok came up with this brilliant idea of a fitting that goes inside the existing pipe.

“It’s a product we can confidently stand behind … and it can save customers from expensive future repairs,” he adds. Customers appreciate the Septic 101 lessons and are happy with the added protection they receive from a simple, affordable fix.

Read more about Kerr and Marlin Wastewater Services in the January issue of Pumper magazine.