Septic tank reminder
 

I just came to this forum to post this and I see a post about grey water.

Anyway, I want to remind you all to have your septic tank checked ( or check it yourself).

Ours is 1000 gal and was not emptied for almost ten years. It was flowing out to the leach pipes in the field. ( along with a bad smell, imagine).

We were advised to empty it more often and to put rid-X or yeast in it on a regular basis.

It cost $180.00 to have it emptied and $45.00 to have them locate the tank. ( dh thought the clean out pipe was what was needed and he was not home when they come--couldn't be helped)

Hope this is helpful.

Yep and use the rid x or yeast more often if you dump Bleach (from clothes washing or cleaning) down the drain alot
We use rid x every other week even though once a mth is reccommended cuz my husband has recently started doing his share of the cleaning and he uses wayyyyyy to much bleach

Please, please, please do a search on septic tank. You will find lots of past post.

Do not, repeat, do not, use Rid-X. (Actually, it is reportedly banned in some states). The purpose of the tank is a 'settling' tank. It allows incoming to setting directly (such as dirt from a washing machine) or over time, such as bacteria working on human waste. What RidEx does is to interfere with the settling processing, keep particals in suspension. They can then be flush out the output line into the leach field, where they can clog up the line.

If you want to use yogurt of something fine, just don't expect it to help any.

To the extent possible don't put anything into the septic tank which hasn't passed through the human body first. If you have to include gray water, then do try to limit the amount of soap and bleach in it. A garbage disposal is a septic tank's worse enemy, as are cigarette butts, female hygiene products, facial tissues, condoms and scrub bucket contents.

Just plan on having to have it pumped out every couple of years.

And, pumping it probably won't help your current leach field problems. The damage has already been done and is largely unreversible.

The clean-out outlet is to allow the incoming line to be rooted out, not for emptying the tank. The pumpers will have to locate the tank, make an educated guess as to the incoming side hatch/cover location and then dig until they are able to remove it.

I put it right now the calendar. Every year. In August!

Thanks for the reminder. We don't even know where ours is, and the guy who lived here before us couldn't tell us. I NEED to get someone out here to find it and empty it I'm sure.

Can someone please explain to me why they think yeast does anything beneficial in a septic system? Decomposition of solids and organic matter is accomplished by bacteria....not molds. Yeast functions by converting simple sugars to alcohol and in the process produces CO2. Simple sugars are NOT a problem in septic systems. Any alcohol or CO2 that yeast may produce in a septic system is not going to do anything beneficial either. Using yeast is not going hurt anything....but it's certainly not going to help anything either. Please don't get caught up in the hype that a "pill" (eg, Rid-X or yeast) is going to cure or prevent the problem of a full septic tank.

I do not believe in these remedies at all. Nature does the best work.
The whole yeast additive thing seems to come from older folks. I have had several old men tell me this is what they do.

I didnt want to start another argument with shaggy, but I couldnt resist any longer. If your septic system is adaquately sized and your bacteria populations are healthy you should never have to pump your tank, especially not annually. Except if you have a lot of indigestable materials, like rubber, plastic, latex, etc. Yeast is a waste of time. Also your tank is not a settling tank, once the bacteria starts working all solid waste floats. Thats why the baffle in your septic tank has a opening in the bottom not the top. The solid waste stays in the first chamber until digested,once digested the minute particles do settle (so maybe it could be considered a settling tank) and travels to the second chamber along with the effluent and out the outlet close to the top of the tank and on to the leach field. I persnally believe rid-x type products do help to promote aerobic bacteria growth but that's just my opinion. But I do agree that if your bacteria have died off because of to much bleach, detergents, soap, etc. that rid-x is a waste of time at that point and your tank will have to be pumped. Another problem that could cause a system to fill up is a failing leach field because of roots or sediment filling the leach lines. If there is no where for the effluent to be absorbed the system will quickly become water logged.

I had a well drilled and the guy that drilled it told me to pour 2 gal of bleach in the well to kill all those bad little critters in the well and all the water lines. So not knowing any better down the well went 2 gal clorox. Six months from that day the new septic tank had to be pumped and only two people lived there. The guy that pumped it said it was probably the clorox that I poured down the well.:eek: Next day I rerouted the wash water away from the septic tank and its been 10 years and the septic tank is operating perfect and I haven't added anything except LOL what is supposed to be flushed. :rock: Eddie

I'm the odd ball on this subject. My tank is 500 gal. I've lived here for 15 years and never had the tank pumped. We opened it a couple years ago and it had about 6" of solids in the bottom, clear water above the solids. Every now and then I flush milk into the tank. The milk keeps the tank healthy and working like it should. I don't put any bleach, laundry or dish soap in the tank. The sinks and washer don't drain into the tank so that is probably why the bacteria balance is good and it's never needed to be pumped. The sink and laundry water is reused for the flower beds so I'm careful about what goes into them too.

I've put bleach in my well and it didn't cause any problems. Maybe I was lucky, or maybe it's because the tank had enough good bacteria that it survived the bleach.

Check the TP you buy, some brands are not septic friendly. I was told never to put Charmin into the septic tank. I've used White Cloud for many years and never had a problem with it building up.

Well shocking: This is a fairly standard practice. The bleach is poured into the well and then the water circulated through it via a garden hose pouring into the top of the well. When well contents are thoroughly mixed each line coming from it is opened until a bleach smell appears. Then the system is shut down usually overnight. Next morning the well should be operated with the garden hose going elsewhere until it run free of even a hint of bleach (may be several hours). Then each line from it (kitchen sink, bathrooms, laundry rooms, etc.) are run until those lines are cleared out. Well head is then capped.

If you have the county do a water inspection the first thing they will check for is excess bleach. Too much and they have to do a follow-on inspection.

On TP, you can do your own test. Use a glass jar of some sorts, such as perhaps a pint canning jar. Fill with water about 2/3rds. Put in some of your TP brand, shank vigorously for maybe 15 seconds and set down. The most septic tank friendly paper will be in small pieces. If it stays in essentially one wad it won't dissolve well in the tank.

Unless you are squeemish it really isn't necessary to even put used TP in the tank. Just have a small waste paper basket next to the commode and put it there. When full, empty into household trash container.

On gray water, I'm in a mobilehome. Beside the washing machine I drilled a 2" hole in the floor and put in a length of PVC through the bottom matting. Held to wall with conduit clips. My washer water then goes into it and simply drains out under the unit. I note; however, I do maybe a load a week and seldom use bleach. With a bit of work I could drain water to a low spot in yard. Occasionally I'll put the hose into the built-in drain as it may help to flush out the line to the tank.

In WI. it is law now to have the septic pumped every 3 years or more if needed before that.

If you have a rough idea where it is, if you are not in too much rock, in very wet weather and the ground is soaked, you can find the tank by probing with a 3/8 inch approx. rod. When you hit what you think is a big rock, and can define the edges, that is probably the tank and you can find out by digging down with a shovel. That is how the sewer guy found mine. I then put up a steel T post very close to where the lid was for future reference.

Good luck.

Bob

In my experience, this is B as in B, S as in S. Do not ever believe that 100% that goes into a septic tank will be degraded completely. Sludge WILL build up, slower in warm climates, faster in cold climates. In othe words, every septic tank will need to be pumped eventually. There are many factors that go into frequency. The chart below gives you an idea of how often.

http://www.keidel.com/pix/sections/s...an-501x293.gif

Please note the above chart is Duration (in years) Between Pumping and/or Inspections.

After I had lived here (mobilehome, one person) for about ten years I had the tank pumped. It had about 6" of sludge in the bottom. Obviously I could have gone a whole lot longer before it needed to be pumped. Will inspect about eight or so years in the future, but doubt it will need pumping even them.

On a garbage disposal, if all you are grinding up are vegetable trimmings, probably not that bad. However, things like coffee grounds, egg shells and chicken bones only add to the sludge.

Properly maintained a septic tank won't ever need emptying. At least not for the life of the tank (40 years???). Don't put things into it that will harm the bacteria. The tank is a living environment and should be treated as such. Properly cared for it digests your manure. Just don't put non-digestible junk in it.

Okay, let's look at it from a money stand point. I check my septic tank every couple of years, might have it pumped in about five or seven years. Might cost a couple hundred bucks.

Okay, I decide to quit worrying about it, quit checking it or having it pumped, and just start pouring good money, (I mean ridx, etc) down the toilet instead. Ten, fifteen, however many years later I start to notice that my toilets and sinks are not draining very quickly, and one day I look out the window and see and large puddle of water where I think the drain field is located. Oopps! Looks like I let the soilds overfill the first tank, and they ended up in my drain field. The drainpipe is blocked, and the entire thing is covered in a biomat. I get some expert advice, and find out that I'll have to dig up the drain field and redo it.
So, since I'm a handy guy, and my state allows me to work on my own system I:
Rent a backhoe: $200
Fuel for hoe: $50
drainline: $150
permit: $75
When I was digging up the old drain field I got too much dirt in the gravel, so the inspector tells me that I have to use new gravel
Gravel at $7a yard $ $100
Of course I do not own a dumptruck, and it is about 30 miles to the nearest pit that has the type of rock I need, and diesel is $3.56 a gallon, so the hauling fee is high
Hauling $200
geotextile fabric $75...

So, suddenly I'm spending $800, wasting at least a day of my time, and the trouble of the family getting mad that the toilets back up.
Of course, if your state does not let you work on your own system, or if you cannot run a backhoe, or if you do not know what you're doing that price will be more like $1500-$3000.

I think I'll just stick with checking my tank and having it pumped if it needs it.

Or look at it this way, Rid-x recommends that you add a container once every month. A container of Rid-x costs around $7. So, if you use Rid-X according to the manufacturers directions, you're spending about $80 per year. After three years, you've sent over $200 bucks, less than it would cost you to have your tank pumped in most areas.

For those of you who think that the bacteria in septic tanks will decompose everything so the tank never fills up, do you have compost piles on your place? Do the bacteria in your compost pile decompose everything? BTW, compost pile are about 100% more biologically active than what goes on in a septic tank and there is still stuff left after composting is complete.

Okay experts try this idea.

What about a fish tank airline with an airstone on the end. Ten foot of airline and drop that airstone to the bottom of the septic tank. Plug in a fish aquarium airpump, and walk away.

The air bubbling up through the septic tank should give new life to the microscopic guys living in there eating that junk.

I have seen a couple alternative septic systems that basically do this using 55-gallon drums. They swear that after bubbling in that drum the effluent flowing out is 'safe'.

ET1_SS, you're on the right track except its gonna take a lot more air to make a difference. There are many companies marketing aerobic treatment units (ATU) for residential septic systems. These units aerate the wastewater with much more air than an aqarium pump. The drawbacks with ATUs is that they require professional maintenance every six months. But the effluent discharged to the drainfield is much more treated or cleaner. Even with an ATU, the septic tank still requires pumping on a regular basis.

Going back to AR TRANSPLANT's original thread:

Chances are good you will either need to replace or extend your drainfield for your system to work properly in the future.

Cabin Fever is correct.

I’ve dug up many septic systems, always because they don’t work. Who in their right mind hires an excavator to come and dig up a working septic system?

Two things I’ve noticed.

1. Exit baffles on the concrete tanks often fail, and simply fall off into the bottom of the tank. This allows solids into your leach field, which inevitably plugs and then you want me to perform some kind of miracle to make it work again. I’ll dig up the end of each run, suck the crud out and hope for the best. Your leach field is now working at 50% efficiency at best.

2. Septic tanks are not pumped. Even with the exit baffles in place, if the tank is full of sludge, the sludge makes it’s way into the leach field. What we seem to be forgetting, is that the fuller the tank, the less time the solids have to settle out. When your tank only has a hundred gallons of free space, a six-gallon flush doesn’t have long to settle out before that water ends up in the leach field. Solids end up in leach field, see point 1 above.

Pumping the tank is cheap insurance. I pump my own tank every two years, and I’m in the business of installing leach fields. I could replace my own leach field cheaper then anyone, and it’s still worth my while to pump my tank.

Pete

I do understand that they will still fill with solids.

It is my understanding that laundry soaps often contain sand to make the boxes feel heavier, giving the consumer the idea that they are getting a better deal and sell more, dumping sand into a septic system can not be good for a tank.

It was my thought that the air might make the system more effecient, to take some of the work off the tank and leechfield.

A septic tank needs to be "used" and the only time I'd be concerned is if I was the single
"contributor" to the tank while being on a long-term course of antibiotics.

In my county, a garbage disposal requires a larger tank. Most builders don't do this and no inspection is made to get the certificate of occupancy. We always advertise as having a legal garbage disposal. Size of tank is also based on number of bedrooms meaning a lot of people have tanks that are too small. Building permits in my county are cheap, like maybe $700 for $340K house. Yet all too many additional bedrooms are built in the basement .So between garbage disposal and 1-3 (average) "users", some folks may get a rude awakening some day.

I have no complaint against the idea of regular pumping.

I am all in favour of the idea of regular pumping.

When I installed our septic tank, I included a 2inch pipe that goes to within six inches of the bottom of that tank, the outside end of that line is threaded and capped. My intentions are that I can hook-up an ag-pump and pump it each August if needed.

My concern is more about the health of the leech field.

If adding air bubbling up through the septic tank, will make the 'stuff' working in there to work more efficiently. then it further reduces any threat of the system gunking up my leech field.

"It is my understanding that laundry soaps often contain sand to make the boxes feel heavier, giving the consumer the idea that they are getting a better deal and sell more, dumping sand into a septic system can not be good for a tank."

Easy enough to test. Put a scoop of laundry soap in say a quart canning jar of water, put on lid and shake well. Let sit, then carefully pour liquid into washing machine. If sand is in it, it would settle to the very bottom.

In at least Middle Tennessee, the septic tank is sized to the number of bedrooms. Builders try to get by with a smaller tank by claiming one 'bedroom' is an 'office'. Inspectors apparently use a closet as a criteria. If it has a closet, it is a bedroom.

Intentionally undersizing a septic tank seems like misspent monies. A larger tank and larger drain field is only going to cost a fraction of what future septic problems may.

IN most states, if a homeowner installs an approved ATU they are allowed to put in an undersized (ie, smaller) drainfield because the effluent discharged to the drainfield is of lower strength....just as you have theorized.

Seems like the ATU would have to be fairly precisely balanced. Too little and it would not be effective. Too much and it may cause the silt to stay in suspension rather than settling.

The ATU-treated wastewater is allowed to settle in another chamber before it is discharged to the drainfield.

About the leach field, as I look at it from my upstairs, it shows several green stripes all the way to the end of the leach pipes. At the end of the pipe it is wetter than any place else.

Does this mean that the field is ruined and if it is, then do we have to replace these pipes? And if we do, is this considered a do it as soon as possible or when we get the extra money, or if we should want to sell the house sometime?

It has been pooring rain all day, so I won't be able to give an accurate reading about drainage until it really dries out, I am referring to the green stripes and wetness before this huge rain began.

Thank so much, septic tanks, isn't this subject riveting?

ar

First, put a stake in where you think the end of the drain fields are. Second is to consult with your local health department septic system head. They can advise you what you need to do to stay within local code. Really depends on situation. However, I suspect adding to the drainfield would be less expensive than having to redo them.

Re: the post where the bleach in the well is showing in the septic tank. I hope not, it could be a two way street! Lets hope that the well is far away from the septic tank.

Here's my question--Why do they base the size of the septic & leach field on the number of bedrooms?? We have 3 bedrooms with 9 people. When I lived at home there were 13 people with 4 bedrooms. That really doesn't make much sense to me.

You have three per bedroom now, you used to have 3.25 per bedroom. Sounds like basing size on bedrooms is a pretty good formula.

Hey strawman, you won't get an argument out of me on this one. I mostly agree with you. :goodjob: Remember it always flows downhill

Of course, couldn't we avoid the whole septic system by putting in composting toilets, or do you still need the septic tank?

Depends on where you live. Someplaces require a septic system anyway. Though that does not mean one couldn't still use a composting toilet just because they have a system in the ground.

Not in this state.

Here you can feel free to install composting toilets, or heated systems, or any kind of alternative septic system you want to; so long as you first have an approved and inspected septic tank and leech field.

The only thing your spectic system needs comes from your own guts when you pull the toilet handle. Bacteria and all.