Need quick septic tank advice please!

It's been raining in Oklahoma for the last 25 days! I noticed that my toilets weren't flushing well and thus, had the septice tank pumped (to the tune of $200). The guy says that the tank has been filled a third to half with dirt. He can't pump it the dirt out. Only option he gave was to take the whole top off the tank and have it manually dug out to the cost of $850.00. Meanwhile our tank capacity is minimized and we feel we can't even do laundry. Of course part of the problem has been all this rain which has caused the ground to be saturated. But does anyone have any advice? Where did the dirt come from? the lateral lines? Does this mean they may be damaged? Should I just bite the bullet and pay the $$$? Thanks, I need to get this take care of very soon!

If you don't know how the dirt got in your tank I sure don't either.

The tank is not what holds all the water, it simply holds the solids while the bacteria feast on them. The water goes out into a drain field that allows the water to soak into the ground. Since your ground is totally saturated, it doesn't want to take any more.

I'm sure there are other ways to empty the tank of dirt than removing the entire top, I'm just not sure what they are. Sorry.

bob...

Update on my septic tank

Thanks to all who have read and given advice. I did get a second opinion. The new company states it is NOT dirt, just sludge and they can pump it out with a bit of effort. Will start first thing tomorrow am at 7:30! Keeping my fingers crossed. If it works, I'm thinking of writing a letter to the first company, requesting at least a partial payment back and/or maybe the Better Business Bureau as well!

Any good septic system cleaning company CAN pump dirt out of a tank. They just have to add as much water as possible as they're doing it to create a slurry that can be picked up by the pump-out hose.
Sounds to me like that first guy was just trying to rip you off.
Mike

And have it pumped every 2-4 years! Learned this the hard way!