Deteriorating 1,000-Gallon Septic Tank Replaced on Campground Road in Spartanburg, SC

Matthew found us through word of mouth, so he was a new customer. His septic system wasn't working right, and he had no idea why.

A system in that shape can mean a full tank, a plumbing problem, a damaged baffle, or something farther downstream. You won't know which until the tank is pumped down and someone looks inside, so that's where my crew and I started on September 6.

Concrete tanks can last a long time. Age and missing upkeep eventually catch up with them, though, and once the concrete starts breaking down, no amount of pumping brings it back.

Pumping and repair solve two different problems. A pump-out removes wastewater and solids so the tank can be serviced and inspected. The structure is just as damaged after pumping as it was before.

The South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) recommends inspecting a septic system every one to two years and pumping it every three to five years. Inspections are how deterioration in a tank like Matthew's gets caught before it fails. In my assessment, his tank had simply gotten too old and hadn't been kept up.

With the tank pumped down on September 6, we found a large amount of debris that normal pumping couldn't remove. There were pieces of concrete and wood inside, and the side of the concrete tank had started to deteriorate. The interior had heavy buildup and loose material, and the structure around it showed substantial deterioration. Exposing the whole system took a lot of excavation. The repair we recommended was a complete tank replacement. Matthew hired us to come back and do it.

On September 11 we pumped the old tank down again and backfilled the old tank area with No. 57 drain rock. That gave it a solid fill, so it wouldn't turn into a soft or mushy spot later.

Then we installed a new 1,000-gallon septic tank with a riser. We redid the plumbing from the house to the tank and connected the tank's outlet back into the existing drainfield. A new tank hooked up to questionable connections would have been a half repair, so the plumbing was part of the job. After that we covered the system back in and closed up the site.

The total was $6,550, and Matthew paid it in full by check. These are the prices as of September 2026, when the work was done.

The two pump-outs did different jobs. The first one let us open the tank and find out what was wrong. The second came when we returned to do the replacement.

With a new 1,000-gallon tank in the ground, my advice to Matthew is simple. Pump it on a schedule and don't wait for trouble to show up. How often depends on how many people live in the house and how much goes down the drain, and SCDES puts the general range at every three to five years.

Keep a record of every service, and have whoever pumps the tank look at the inside while it's open. That's how deterioration gets caught early. The riser helps here too. When a tank can be reached without major digging, pumping and inspection get a lot simpler.
Also watch for slow drains, odors, wet spots over the septic components, or wastewater backing up in the house. They don't always mean the same thing, but they're worth checking before a small problem becomes a bigger repair.