Question:

Is there a way of eliminating the “leftover” sewage from your hoses after you are done pumping a tank? There always seems to be about five gallons or so left in my hoses that I have to put back into the septic tank. I don’t like to do this, but it is my only option. Are there any ways around not having anything left in a hose, so that as soon as you’re done pumping the tank, you can disconnect your hose lengths without having a mess all over someone’s lawn?

If you pumped from a fitting mounted in the top of the tank rather than the main inlet/discharge on the bottom of the tank would it solve this issue?

Answers:

Try pumping from the intake at the top to the tank, let the truck suck for several minutes afterwards, loop the hose and roll the loop back up to the truck, pushing anything into the truck. We always pump from our intake at the top of the tank. I also believe that on long pulls when you are “giving it air” you will have less splash-back. We also converted an old fuel tank to a water tank and used a 100-foot air hose reel and a diaphragm pump to help wash them out while the truck is sucking.

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We pump into the top of the tank as well. When we are done pumping, we shut the valve and let it build a little vacuum and then open it up to suck any leftovers through. If you have a thick tank you may have to do it a couple of times. Then we always cap and plug our hoses before dragging them back to the truck.

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I agree. We always close off the intake, let the pressure build and send a 1-2 second blast. We do this for every hose we have out.

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Very simple fix, all you need is a 5-gallon bucket of water to suck up after you’re done pumping. The hose will be clean inside. I get work because other pumpers let the leftovers roll out into the lawn. Homeowners hate this and will not call you back. They ask right away about leaving a mess, and when I explain my procedure, they schedule with me. We don’t drive on the lawn ever, put the sod back like it was and leave no mess. I carry 240 feet of hose on the truck and use it all frequently.

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You’re all correct but most pumpers I’ve seen roll the hose back to the septic tank. Disconnect at the tanker, make a 4- or 5-foot diameter loop and walk the loop back to the septic tank.

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We do it just the opposite. We leave the pump running and the valve open, make a loop, and roll it toward the truck. When we get there we shut the valve, let the vacuum build way up, and then crack the valve. We let the vacuum build twice. Since we started this we have not seen any spillage.