Septic questions from Sherman and North Texas, answered.

An aerobic treatment unit is a septic system that pumps air into the wastewater so oxygen-loving bacteria break it down more completely, then disinfects the clear effluent and disposes of it, usually through spray heads or drip lines.

A typical system has a pretreatment tank where solids settle, an aeration chamber where an aerator mixes air into the sewage, a clarifier where the remaining solids settle out, a chlorinator, and a pump tank that sends the treated, disinfected water to the sprinklers or drip field.

Yes, in most cases. TCEQ rules require a maintenance contract with a licensed maintenance provider for new aerobic systems, and in Grayson County contracted aerobic maintenance must be done by a registered or licensed maintenance provider.

TCEQ allows homeowners to maintain some systems themselves two years after installation, but local authorities can be stricter. Grayson County does not allow homeowner maintenance of aerobic units unless the owner is a licensed maintenance provider or passes a county-approved homeowner course, signs an agreement with the county and files every required report.

Under TCEQ rules, the maintenance provider must inspect and report on an aerobic system at least once every four months, or every six months if the system has electronic monitoring that alerts the provider to failures and checks disinfection.

Each report goes to the permitting authority and the owner within 14 days of the test, and each visit should be punched or marked on the tag on your system.

TCEQ says the contract must list what it covers, how quickly the provider will respond to a complaint, the name of the person who will maintain your system, how often routine maintenance and testing happen, and who is responsible for the disinfection unit.

Read the fine print on service calls and parts. We tell customers plainly: don’t be fooled by a low contract price that is made up later with expensive service calls and repairs.

Use only calcium hypochlorite tablets that are made and certified for wastewater disinfection. TCEQ states this directly.

Never use swimming pool tablets. They are trichloroisocyanuric acid, they don’t disinfect effluent properly, and TCEQ warns they can release an explosive gas (nitrogen trichloride) in a chlorinator where they aren’t fully under water. Keep tablets dry, away from children, and follow the label.

A healthy aerobic system should smell earthy or of chlorine, not like rotten eggs. A sewage or sulfur smell usually means the aerator isn’t moving enough air, so the tank has gone anaerobic.

Check that the system has power and the alarm isn’t showing, then call us. Common causes are a failed aerator, a clogged air line or diffuser, or a tank that needs pumping. Don’t open the tank to look: septic gases are dangerous.

Silence the alarm, cut water use right away (no laundry, dishwasher or long showers), check that the system’s breaker hasn’t tripped, and call your maintenance provider. Most panels have a silence button; the light stays on until the problem is fixed.

A high-water alarm means the pump tank is filling faster than it empties, often from a failed pump, a float problem or a tripped breaker. An air or aerator alarm means the aerator isn’t running. If a breaker trips again after you reset it once, leave it off and call.

Use as little as you possibly can. The tank has some reserve space above the alarm level, but every flush and load of laundry uses it up, and the next stop is sewage backing up into the house.

If sewage does come back into the house, stop using water entirely, keep people and pets out of the area, and call. Sewage is a health hazard.

Most aerobic sprinklers run on a timer, often in the middle of the night, and only when the pump tank has enough water, so not seeing them in the daytime can be normal. If they never run and the alarm sounds, the pump, float, timer or breaker is the likely cause.

Other causes are a clogged spray head or a broken line. We repair pumps, control panels, timers and spray heads on all brands.

If the spray heads are running during the day, the pump tank is usually too full: from heavy water use, a timer set wrong, a float override, or water leaking into the tank. Some systems also have a manual override that was left on.

Spraying while people and pets are outside is exactly what the timer is meant to prevent. Call for a service check.

No. Spray head locations are part of the permitted design and must meet setback distances from houses, wells, property lines and water. Moving them can put the system out of compliance.

Damaged heads can be replaced in place by your maintenance provider; relocating the spray area is a change to the system that may need a permit.

Yes. We service all brands of septic systems, aerobic and conventional, no matter who installed them.

Our service technicians carry a complete inventory of common parts, so most repairs are done on the first visit.

For a conventional septic tank, TCEQ and most installers recommend pumping every three to five years. Aerobic systems are pumped based on the depth of sludge and the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Large households, garbage disposals, frequent guests and homes on small tanks need pumping more often. Your maintenance provider measures sludge on aerobic systems and will tell you when it’s time.

Slow drains throughout the house, gurgling pipes, sewage odors outside, soggy or extra-green ground over the drain field, and backups in the lowest drains are the common signs.

Don’t wait for those signs if it has been more than three to five years. By the time a backup happens, solids may already have moved into the drain field.

Grease, fats and oils; wet wipes (even the “flushable” kind); feminine products; paper towels; cat litter; medications; paint, solvents and other household chemicals.

Use water efficiently, spread out laundry loads, and keep a record of every pumping and repair. Those three habits do more for a septic system than any additive.

A properly used septic system doesn’t need additives; the bacteria it needs come from normal household use. No additive replaces regular pumping.

If an additive is advertised as removing the need to pump, be skeptical. Solids still accumulate and still have to be removed.

Grass is the best cover for a drain field or spray area. It holds the soil, uses water and doesn’t send deep roots into pipes.

Keep trees and large shrubs well away from tanks and lines, don’t plant vegetable gardens over a drain field, and don’t drive, park or build over any part of the system.

No. Never enter a septic tank or lean into an open one. Septic gases (hydrogen sulfide and methane) and low oxygen can kill in moments, including people who try to help.

Keep lids secured and children and pets away from open tanks. Leave inspections to a crew with the right equipment.

Because of the soil and the rules. Most of Grayson County sits on Blackland Prairie clay, which absorbs water slowly, and Grayson County requires aerobic treatment on any lot under 2.5 acres.

Aerobic systems treat wastewater to a higher level before it reaches the ground, so they can work on smaller lots and tighter soils where a conventional drain field would fail.

Blackland clay soaks up water slowly, swells when wet and shrinks and cracks when dry. Drain fields in this clay need a lot of area, and they struggle after long wet spells.

Shrink-swell movement can also stress pipes and tank connections. That’s why site evaluation and design matter so much here, and why spray and drip disposal are so common across North Texas.

A conventional system is a tank where solids settle, followed by a drain field where the soil treats the liquid. An aerobic system adds air, extra treatment and disinfection, then usually sprays or drips the treated water onto the surface or just below it.

Conventional systems have fewer moving parts and no maintenance contract, but need suitable soil and space. Aerobic systems fit tight lots and clay but need power, chlorine and regular maintenance.

An evapotranspiration (ET) bed disposes of treated effluent mainly by evaporation from the soil surface and transpiration through plants, instead of soaking it deep into the ground.

ET beds are used where soils absorb water poorly. They need the right climate, cover plants and careful design. We install them where the site evaluation calls for one.

An LPD system uses a pump to send measured doses of effluent through small perforated pipes, spreading it evenly across the whole drain field.

Even dosing helps the soil treat effluent and rest between doses, and it can serve sites where gravity flow would overload one end of the field.

Grayson County Development Services, through its OSSF Division at 100 W. Houston St. in Sherman, permits septic systems in the county’s jurisdiction as TCEQ’s authorized agent.

The county’s procedures call for a current 911 address and property ID, a site evaluation by a licensed site evaluator or professional engineer, and a design by an engineer or registered sanitarian when a non-standard system is needed. Construction can’t start until the county issues an Authorization to Construct, and the permitting process can take up to 30 days.

Yes, for most work. Grayson County requires an application, permit, authorization to construct and inspection for the construction, alteration, extension or repair of a residential or commercial septic system, regardless of the size of the tract.

Routine pumping and maintenance visits aren’t permit work. If you’re not sure which your job is, call us; we help with the paperwork.

Grayson County’s OSSF order sets minimum lot sizes by water source and system type: without public water, generally 1.5 acres (1 acre if every system on the lot uses subsurface drip); with public water, 1 acre (half an acre with all-drip systems).

Any lot under 2.5 acres must use aerobic treatment. Check the current county order before buying or splitting land; rules change and exceptions are decided by the county.

Get the permit and approval records from the county, have the tank pumped and inspected, and confirm that an aerobic system has an active maintenance contract and recent reports.

Also check that the system matches the house: bedrooms and additions built after the septic permit can mean the system is undersized. Look at the spray or drain field area for soggy spots, odors and setbacks. Texas has no general statewide inspection-at-sale requirement, so it’s up to the buyer to ask.

Yes. In Grayson County, aerobic systems must stay under a current maintenance contract for the life of the system, with a copy on file with the county, and the county has a change-of-ownership process for septic systems.

Ask the seller for the current contract and set up your own before it lapses. We can take over maintenance contracts.

Septic installers, site evaluators and maintenance providers in Texas are licensed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Ask for the license holder’s name and license number and check it with TCEQ.

Grayson County Development Services also publishes lists of OSSF installers, site evaluators and maintenance providers who work in the county. Licensed installers and maintenance providers are on those lists from our Sherman address.

It depends on the job, so we give a free quote instead of a number on a website. Pumping cost depends on tank size, how hard the tank is to reach and how much it holds; repairs depend on the part; new systems depend on the soil, the lot and the system design.

Ask any company what the price includes. On maintenance contracts especially, compare what service calls and parts cost, not just the yearly fee.

The biggest factors are the soil and site evaluation, the system type the site requires (aerobic, conventional, LPD or ET bed), the size of the house (bedrooms and square footage set the design flow), access for equipment, rock or slope, and permit and design fees.

On the clay soils of Grayson, Fannin and Collin counties, an aerobic system is often required, which adds an ongoing maintenance contract to the cost of ownership.

Before you finalize the house plan. The site evaluation, system design and permit come first, and the system’s location has to meet setbacks from the house, wells, property lines and water.

In Grayson County, construction of the system can’t start until the county issues an Authorization to Construct, and permitting can take up to 30 days. Planning early keeps it from holding up your move-in.

Installs can happen most of the year, but clay soils that are saturated from rain can delay excavation and testing until the ground dries enough to work.

We’ll schedule around the weather and the county’s inspections and keep you informed.

Yes. We offer free quotes on septic service, repairs and installations. Call 903-814-9244 or send a request online.

We serve Grayson, Cooke, Fannin and Collin counties from our base in Sherman.

We’re a local, family-owned business, and we advertise in the Christian Business Referral Network; some of our customers have found us through its Christian Guide.

What we promise every customer is honest work at a fair price: we empty your tank, not your wallet.