Darr's Cleaning started as a furnace cleaning business and became a septic, sewer and wastewater contractor. It has been family owned the whole way, and it still works out of Clyde.
Harold E. Darr began cleaning furnaces around Clyde in 1960. That is where the name comes from, and it is the reason the word "cleaning" is still on the trucks today, long after the work itself changed.
The early equipment was built for exactly that job. The Dyna-Vac truck in this photograph is from those first years, when the whole business was furnace work and a single vehicle.
In addition to furnace cleaning, now I am also cleaning septic tanks.Harold E. Darr • Call collect, Clyde 547-1884
This notice is the moment the business turned. It was printed to advertise a sideline, and the sideline became the company. Everything Darr's does now, septic systems, sewer and storm lines, treatment plants, hydrovac excavation, traces back to that second sentence.
The number on it predates area codes. The habit behind it has not changed: call, and somebody picks up.
Before long the trucks were lettered "Harold E. Darr and Sons." The sons grew up around the equipment, and the next ones after them did too. One of the photographs in the archive is a toddler standing on the step of a truck, dated June 1985.
It is still family owned and run out of Clyde. That matters more in this trade than it might elsewhere. When you call about a tank in your yard or a line under your building, the person deciding how to handle it has their name on the truck.
The equipment is unrecognizable from 1960. Vacuum tankers, high-pressure jetters, a Jet-Vac combination unit, color camera inspection, electronic locating, an easement machine, and hydrovac excavation that cuts ground with water instead of a bucket. Every unit is on the Trucks and Teams page.
The scope grew with it. Alongside household septic tanks there is municipal and commercial work: sanitary and storm collection systems, treatment plants, wet wells and lift stations, catch basins and grease traps. Over the years that has included a federal research facility and a regional university.
What has not changed is who does it. The trucks are owned, not rented, and the crews are Darr's crews. That is why scheduling does not depend on anyone else, and why the phone is answered at two in the morning.
Started in furnace cleaning, moved into septic and sewer work, and has operated continuously since.
Owned and run by the Darr family from the beginning, and still based in Clyde, Ohio.
Seven days a week, including holidays. Emergencies are answered by someone who knows the work.
Working across northwest and west central Ohio from the yard at 5089 Co Rd 175. See the area.
Pump trucks, jetters, Jet-Vac, camera units and an easement machine, all owned in house.
Household septic systems through to treatment plants and contractor hydrovac work, under one contractor.
These are the family's own photographs. Most had faded almost past reading, so each one has been restored until the detail came back.
Darr's trucks, crews, family and work across Ohio, from 1960 onward.
Septic and sewer service for homes and businesses, or hydrovac and infrastructure work for contractors and municipalities. Call any hour.
Toll free 1-800-541-DARR · 5089 Co Rd 175, Clyde, OH 43410