Find out what broke before you buy a new one.
A backup can be a full tank, a blocked line, a broken pipe, a dead pump or a float that fell off its pole. Those are five different bills and only one of them is a new system.
The cheap causes get ruled out first
Sewer repair is one of the two services Ray's lists on its own Google profile, and in practice it covers everything between the house and the tank plus everything the tank feeds. Most of what goes wrong in that stretch is not dramatic.
The clearest example in the reviews is a pump alarm going off on a Friday evening. The customer called at 8:50 PM, got a person, and spent ten minutes on the phone going through what to check. Between them they worked out that the pump float had fallen off its pole and was not switching the pump on. He was told how to fix it over the phone and wrote that it saved him a lot of money and that most companies would have charged him a service fee to come out.
That is the correct order of operations for a septic problem. Cheapest and most likely first, machinery last. Another customer was told by a different company that their entire system needed replacing when the real fault was a pipe that needed clearing.
- Symptom traced before any part is quoted
- Tank level checked, because a full tank imitates a broken one
- Outlet filter and line to the field checked for blockage
- Pump, float and alarm tested where the system has them
- What is actually wrong explained in plain language
Pumps, floats and alarms
Any system with a pump tank has a float switch and, in most cases, an alarm. When the alarm sounds it means the level has risen past where the float should have started the pump, which points at the float, the pump or the power feeding either.
Floats fail in unglamorous ways. They fall off the pole, they get tangled, they get fouled. None of that requires a new pump, which is the thing most people brace themselves for when an alarm goes off at night.
An alarm is not an emergency in the sense that something is about to burst, but it does mean the tank is filling with nowhere to go, so it is not something to leave for a two weeks either.
The line between the house and the tank
The main run from the house is the most common failure point that has nothing to do with the septic system at all. Roots find joints. Old clay and cast iron crack. A pipe that settles into a belly holds water and catches everything that goes past.
The photograph at the top of this company's Google listing is exactly this: a section of white pipe opened up in a hole in red Gaston County clay, the joint exposed, the repair in progress. It is not a glamorous picture, which is probably why it is a real one.
The point of diagnosing it properly is that a blocked or broken line and a failed drain field feel identical from inside the house. Both make the toilets slow. One is a few hours of work and one is a permit.
Get it looked at
Describe what the house is doing. Slow drains, a smell, an alarm, water in the yard.
What 245 homeowners said
Every quote below is a real review, word for word, from our Google profile.
I called Ray's back at 8:50PM Friday night, and not only did they answer they talked to me for 10 minutes and methodically went through what to check. We discovered over the phone that the pump float had fallen off the pole and wasn't activating the pump. He described how to fix it over the phone and saved me a lot of money not having to have an emergency response. Unbelievable customer service, most folks would have charged me the service fee.
Andre came out and he was absolutely amazing. Very kind and honest. The prices they have are great but we would honestly be willing to pay more for the customer service. We were told by another septic tank company that we had to replace our entire system, we called Ray's and that was not the case at all. Just needed a pipe cleared.
We've gotten pump outs from another local company every 7 years for the 26 years since we built our house. This time we contacted Ray's Septic. What a difference. The price was substantially less than several other companies and our usual vendor. Andre was without a doubt one of the most customer service focused people I've ever met. He performed the job, cleaned up the work area and was extremely professional.
We used Ray's to pump our ancient tank from the 1930's. Andre was our technician and he was nothing short of spectacular. Found our septic tank, didn't make a huge mess digging, pumped it efficiently, and gave us great tips for taking care of our tank moving forward. All for a very reasonable price.
They sent the most knowledgeable and polite technician, Andre. After he pumped the tank he explained I still had water dripping into the septic tank due to a faulty flapper in the toilet tank, that you could not hear running from inside. I called my plumber to come out and repair, he said Andre was right, bad flapper.
I asked around for a good priced knowledgeable and honest pumping service, most answers were Ray's. I had my pick of any day. Gabe showed up, very knowledgeable. I had just purchased my house so I didn't know where my tank or lid was, but I had the environmental diagram so Gabe found the lid in no time, pumped my tank, and took time to help me understand more about it.
Septic and sewer repair, diagnosed before it is replaced.
Not necessarily, and it is worth finding out before you spend anything. A full tank, a blocked outlet filter, a broken line or a stuck float all produce the same symptom inside the house.
It means the level in the pump tank has risen past where the pump should have kicked in. Often that is a float that has come off its pole rather than a failed pump. Call and describe what you are seeing.
Yes. Sewer repair is one of the services listed on our Google profile, and the run between the house and the tank is one of the more common places the fault turns out to be.
No. Pumping empties the tank, which buys a short window, but if the ground has stopped accepting water the problem comes back. Anyone selling repeat pumping as a fix for a failed field is selling you repeat appointments.
Yes, and you should ask for the reasoning either way. A customer wrote that another company had told them their whole system needed replacing when a pipe simply needed clearing.
We photograph the work and show you. If septic repair and sewer lines is not what you actually need, we say so and quote the work that is.
Tell us what the house is doing.
Septic or well. Give us the address and the symptom and we will come back to you.