Three kinds of Tamworth emergencies. A rental near White Lake with the tank sized for a couple and eleven people in it on Labor Day. A field along the Bearcamp that went under when the river came up. And a camp at the end of 113A in February with the line frozen solid. Different roads, different fixes, same phone.
Summer first, because that’s most of them. Route 16 is the only real way north to Conway from the Lakes Region, and it goes straight through Chocorua village at the 113 light. The town spent the better part of a decade and a couple of million in federal money rebuilding that intersection because it was that bad. On a July or August Saturday afternoon we sit in the same line everyone else does. We’ll give you an honest window, not a promise, and we’ll tell you what to do in the meantime. White Lake State Park has 193 campsites and the private campgrounds along 16 add hundreds more, so the rentals and cottages around the park are full from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, on tanks that were never sized for it.
Then the river. The Bearcamp has a gauge at South Tamworth and it has crested near or above nine feet in June of ’98, in Irene in August 2011, and again in October 2017. When it does, the flats along Route 25 in Whittier and South Tamworth are under water and so are the leach fields in them. A flooded field can’t take anything. The tank fills, the house backs up, and pumping it only buys you until the water drops. We’ll pump it anyway if that’s what gets you through, and we’ll say so before we do.
And winter. 113A climbs from the village past Hemenway State Forest and ends at Wonalancet, where the road stops and the Sandwich Range starts. Camps up there open for a February weekend after two months empty, and a shallow line between the house and the tank that hasn’t seen warm water since December is frozen. It thaws with a steam jet and patience. Snow on the driveway is the bigger problem — if we can’t get the truck within hose reach of the tank, plow first, then call.
If your place is on the Bearcamp flats or along 25, watch the South Tamworth gauge when it rains hard. If the river’s coming up, go easy on water before the field is under, not after.
Most calls end with a pump-out and a look at the baffles. A frozen line ends with a thaw. A flooded field ends with a pump-out now and a conversation once the ground dries. What we won’t do is pretend a pump-out fixed something it didn’t.
An emergency pump-out is the standard $300–$500 plus an after-hours or weekend charge we’ll quote on the phone. Thawing a frozen line is time and equipment and gets a number before we start. Nothing gets added on site that you didn’t hear first.
Depends which Tamworth. Chocorua on a summer Saturday means Route 16 traffic. South Tamworth off 25 is quicker. Wonalancet in February depends on the plowing. We’ll give you an honest window when you call, not a slogan, and we’ll keep you posted if it moves.
It’ll get you through the day. A leach field under floodwater can’t drain, so the tank fills again as fast as you use it. We pump, you go easy on water until the Bearcamp drops, and then we come back and see whether the field survived. Most do. Some don’t.
Almost always it’s the line, not the tank. A shallow pipe between house and tank freezes after weeks with no warm water through it. We thaw it with steam and check the tank while we’re there. Leaving a faucet trickling when you leave in January is the cheap prevention.
Water off, now, and no one uses anything until we’re done. Send them to the lake for the afternoon if you have to. A tank sized for two people and pushed by eleven doesn’t recover on its own. We’ll pump it and then talk about the calendar versus the tank size before next weekend.
Treat it like one. The alarm means the pump chamber is full and the pump isn’t moving effluent. Shut water off, don’t reset it over and over, and call. Sometimes it’s a float or a tripped breaker. Sometimes it’s the pump. Either way it won’t fix itself.
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