Septic system inspector loves his job

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Before a bank grants a mortgage to a prospective buyer, it may require an inspection of the property’s septic system. That’s where Bruce Folsom, a state certified septic system inspector, could enter the picture. He is one of a handful in Maine.
    Folsom is also the owner of Houlton Septic Service who has good advice for homeowners. “Your septic system should be pumped out every three or four years depending on the number of people and the usage.” His rate locally is in the $130-160 range; more for long distance trips. Folsom’s clients are as far away as Vanceboro and Forest City and as near as Houlton and Hodgdon.
    He said homeowners “should be very careful on what is flushed down the toilet. A lot of people are flushing those baby wipes that don’t decompose.” As he pointed to a job in Houlton last week, he explained that “the septic tank is a private sewer treatment plant. It treats the water before it goes out there into the leach field and back into the drinking water supply. The only chemicals are whatever is in the household waste water.” Gravity moves the waste away from the house into the tank.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
STATE OF THE ART— Bruce Folsom’s recently built truck for Houlton Septic Service holds 2,300 gallons and has site eyes to see waste levels and work lights for night calls.
    Preserving the life of the septic tank requires pumping it out. If not maintained properly, it could mean an expensive replacement job. Although Folsom does not install new septic systems, he said a new tank can run around $7,500. That happened to a woman in Linneus. She placed an urgent call to him after her septic tank partially collapsed and her leg went down into it. Unsurprisingly, Folsom quoted the woman as saying “it was not pleasant.” He said he has even seen tanks collapse when people drive over them. However, he does sell risers that keep the whole system flush with the ground. And, he adds, homeowners like risers because they can run their lawnmowers over them.
    The idea of pumping waste from a septic tank may lead one to think the odors would be foul. That’s not necessarily the case. “A properly operating septic tank should have no odor to it at all. If there is an odor, it’s not working properly,” Folsom said. He pumps septic tanks, grease traps for restaurants and commercial businesses, cesspools and holding tanks for cottages around lakes that have no leech fields for waste water to  drain. But, grease traps that get backed up like the ones in restaurants can be pretty foul. “When those grease traps get clogged, the odor is just unbelievable.”
    Folsom and his wife will have owned the business for 13 years in March. He purchased it from his in-laws. Previously he had worked at Bath Iron Works and says he meets a lot of people: “I  just love this job.”
    With animation, Folsom described his recently built state-of-the-art 2005 Freightliner truck that took about three months to complete. He bought the chassis. Stairs Welding in Houlton built the tank which holds 2,300 gallons. Larry McCarthy of McCarthy Signs also in Houlton replicated Folsom’s favored red lettering on the bright yellow truck. The vehicle has site eyes to see waste levels and work lights for night calls.
    The average residential septic tank made of concrete holds about 1,000 gallons of waste water from the dishwasher, sinks, tub and toilet. “The septic tank holds all the waste and only clear water goes to the leach field. Believe it or not it goes back into the drinking supply. It leaches into the ground where it is purified,” said Folsom. Septic tanks, he said, are buried so deep in the ground that it is unlikely for waste to freeze, even in northern Maine’s sub-zero temperatures since the bottom of a tank is where the ground temperature would be up in the 40s. Also, Folsom said “you’re always adding hot water which helps it.”
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
WORKING ORDER — When pumping out a septic system, Bruce Folsom said “there should be no odor to it at all. If there is an odor, it’s not working properly.”
    When Folsom empties his tank, it’s spread on the ground. “I have the largest septic waste disposal site in Aroostook County. I’m allowed 764,344 gallons a year that I can put on it my fields. I spread it just like they spread cow manure. It’s a fertilizer. Only, it’s a licensed site and that’s all it can be used for.”
    In addition to pumping septic systems, Folsom has a rental business that leases portable toilets for events and hand sanitizers.
    As a final reminder to homeowners, Folsom said “they need to be real careful about what they are flushing down the toilet. It’s not a trash can. Baby wipes are a real problem, cigarettes butts are bad, feminine products are real bad. If it doesn’t decompose, it doesn’t belong in there.”
    Folsom’s Houlton Septic Service can be reached by calling: 532-7400.