We use the most modern and advanced equipment available to service your septic system.  When our driver arrives at your location, he will be in a big, clean, white truck that has a large tank on the back.  This is the vaccum truck and is designed using the latest in vaccum technology.  Three inch hoses will be stretched from the truck to the opening of your septic tank.  The vaccum system will be energized and the truck will suck the contents of your septic tank into that large tank on the truck.  When this is complete, the pump on the truck will have it's operation reversed and the water that was just pumped out of your tank will be returned under pressure, this is called the "back-flush".  This back-flushing will last for approx. 30-45 seconds at which time the pump will be placed back in the vaccum mode and your septic tank will be sucked dry again.  We typically do this three times because it usually takes three cycles to properly clean your tank. 
When we encounter a tank that has been seriously neglected, we will use an agitation device called a "CrustBuster" to break up large amounts of waste.  What we are doing with either the back-flush or the CrustBuster is breaking up solids and mixing up sludge with the water that was in your tank and getting all of it in a suspended state so it can be removed.  If your system is not serviced in this manner, it will not be cleaned.  99% of all septic tanks will require some back-flushing to be properly cleaned.  We have competitors that spend 10 minutes pumping the water out of your tank and will leave you with all that sludge and solids, which is really a sorry attempt when you consider that the water does not hurt anything.  The solids and the sludge removal is what this cleaning is all about.  Our service calls usually take from 30 minutes to an hour.