Cess Pool - Aerate, Pump, or use Rid-X?

We've lived in our home for almost 10 years and have never needed to pump out our cess pool. We have one main tank and an overflow tank - and 5 years ago we had the main tank aerated.

I have a service coming today to aerate it (and hopefully not pump it) but my neighbor (same cess pool setup as us - lived in her home for 40+ years) is trying to talk me out of aerating it because she read it's a bad idea and will break down the actual concrete thing that the waste rests in. She's suggesting using Rid-X once a month.

I thought aerating it every few years was beneficial and now I'm inclined to take her advice because it's worked so well for her??

Re: Cess Pool - Aerate, Pump, or use Rid-X?

I'm not sure if this is true, but I always thought it's best to to do NOTHING unless you have a problem. We haven't done anything to ours for fear of creating a problem that currently does not exist.

Re: Cess Pool - Aerate, Pump, or use Rid-X?

It really depends on what your pools are made of? Are they the newer pre-cast rings or are they the older, cinder-block type. That really makes a difference. Cesspools have no bottom to them, the waste is the earthen ground, which helps absorb the wastes.

We have pools original to the house (50+ years ) and they are cinder-block type. The useful life of these is 40 years, so we are working on very borrowed time. We do nothing, because any type of disturbance is going to collapse the pools. We are scheduled to replace them this fall with the newer precast rings.

Aerating them is fine if you have the rings. 5+ years is ok. And despite the commercials, you don't need Rid-X.

Message edited 8/28/2013 1:42:23 PM.

Re: Cess Pool - Aerate, Pump, or use Rid-X?

Thanks. I think they must be the newer kind because back in '11 we had a lot of work done on our home and a lot of heavy, major equipment in our property (along with yards of dirt/topsoil piled up) and I was so nervous they would collapse the cess pool but we're still OK with our system. We also had an ejector pump installed in the basement for our bathroom/shower and I think the contractor would've alerted us if it needed to be updated at that point?
The service guy is here now trying to find the lid/cap and then we'll decide what to do from there.

Re: Cess Pool - Aerate, Pump, or use Rid-X?

We have a septic tank (similar, but different) and call a company to maintain it every 5 years. We get it pumped. We have never used Rid-X.

Message edited 8/28/2013 2:27:45 PM.