Cesspool Pumping in West Hawaii

Cesspool Pumping

Cesspool pumping is the most common call we get on the Kona side. A cesspool is a pit in the lava that takes everything from the house and lets the liquid seep out through its walls and floor. Over the years the solids build up, grease and soap coat the rock, and the walls seal, so the pit takes water more and more slowly until it backs up. Pumping removes the solids and the standing liquid so the pit can drain again. We pump residential cesspools across West Hawaii: we find and expose the lid, pump the pit down, break up and remove the packed solids where we can, and look at how the walls are taking water while it is empty. Then we tell you straight whether this is a cesspool with years left or one that is sealing up and needs a conversion plan. Most homes are done in one visit.

How a cesspool is different from a septic tank

A septic tank holds wastewater, lets the solids settle, and sends the liquid on to a leach field. A cesspool does all of that in one unlined or rock-lined pit, with no separate field. That means a cesspool fills with solids faster, has nowhere to send liquid except its own walls, and once those walls clog there is no second chance downstream. Pumping on time keeps the solids from packing into the rock and buys the pit years of life.

Why Kona cesspools slow down

Our pits sit in lava, and lava is either very porous or nearly solid depending on the lot. A pit set into a porous flow drains for decades; one set into dense rock was always marginal. Add grease, laundry soap, a garbage disposal, and a rental that goes from empty to a full house every weekend, and the walls seal faster. Catchment homes often use less water, which hides a sealing pit until the season a family moves in. We see all of that and we tell you which case you are in.

What we check while the pit is open

An empty cesspool is the only time anyone can see what it is doing. We look at how fast liquid returns through the walls, whether the lid and collar are sound, whether roots or rock have fallen in, and how close the pit is to the house, the road, and the shoreline. That takes a few minutes and it is the difference between a pump that fixes the problem and a pump that only resets the clock for a month.

What’s included

• Lid located and exposed, even with no records
• Pit pumped down with packed solids broken up and removed
• Walls checked for how well they still take water
• Lid, collar, and cover checked for cracks and settling
• Honest read on remaining life versus conversion
• Most cesspools pumped in a single visit