Septic Owners

grengadgy

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We have had this discussion before. Garbage disposers contribute to septic problems. Food waste is hard for the system to break down. It also invites cooking grease into your system. Soaps in general are bad for septic systems in that when most soaps break down there is a conversion to a type of grease. This grease as well as what is marketed as "flushable" wipes contribute to the sludge in the tank as well as the biomass that forms and clogs the drain field. Typically toilets are ball tested at 2" or better so anything smaller could be considered "flushable". By the way flushable wipes, even those marked as environmentally friendly wreak havoc on municipal waste treatment systems as well.
Anti bacterial soaps and bleach from the laundry are even worse. A septic system uses two types of bacteria to function as designed, aerobic which requires oxygen and anaerobic which does not.
Kill the bacteria and you're pumping sludge more frequently.
Very good post, Some Garbage disposers inject an enzyme to help the septic tank.
 

NVGator

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We have had this discussion before. Garbage disposers contribute to septic problems. Food waste is hard for the system to break down. It also invites cooking grease into your system. Soaps in general are bad for septic systems in that when most soaps break down there is a conversion to a type of grease. This grease as well as what is marketed as "flushable" wipes contribute to the sludge in the tank as well as the biomass that forms and clogs the drain field. Typically toilets are ball tested at 2" or better so anything smaller could be considered "flushable". By the way flushable wipes, even those marked as environmentally friendly wreak havoc on municipal waste treatment systems as well.
Anti bacterial soaps and bleach from the laundry are even worse. A septic system uses two types of bacteria to function as designed, aerobic which requires oxygen and anaerobic which does not.
Kill the bacteria and you're pumping sludge more frequently.

This guy knows his poop tanks.
 

AlexDaGator

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Coot?

iu



Alex.
 

Nalt

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Jul 23, 2020
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So who here has a septic tank?

This is the first house I have ever owned with a septic tank. We have absolutely zero problems right now (6 years in) and I want to keep it that way.

Any tips, tricks, preventative maintenance, etc?
I'm just now seeing this thread. From my past experience building house with my FIL, a septic tank properly installed will never be a problem unless something else impacts it. My dad's house just sold last year (2020) and at the time it was 57 y/o. There has never been an issue with the tank and field lines and Mom and Dad raised 4 boys. We always threw the toilet paper in and flushed it too. My house is 20 years old and there are some problems with the field lines but that is because a stupid woman had come to the house and when turning around she drove out into my yard and sank in the field lines. Had that not happened I'm sure there would be no issues now.
 

CDGator

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I'm just now seeing this thread. From my past experience building house with my FIL, a septic tank properly installed will never be a problem unless something else impacts it. My dad's house just sold last year (2020) and at the time it was 57 y/o. There has never been an issue with the tank and field lines and Mom and Dad raised 4 boys. We always threw the toilet paper in and flushed it too. My house is 20 years old and there are some problems with the field lines but that is because a stupid woman had come to the house and when turning around she drove out into my yard and sank in the field lines. Had that not happened I'm sure there would be no issues now.

I'm sorry. Where else was I supposed to turn around?
 

CDGator

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Daughter was asking for a photo and I came across this from two years ago. Not to brag but it is impressive. The only thing I can compare it to was our 65 year old tank. It was pretty crappy. :lol:

B08C5E04-1507-4B5C-BDAD-7C12660FEB76.jpeg
 
Last edited:

Nalt

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Jul 23, 2020
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I'm sorry. Where else was I supposed to turn around?
1st, I said a "stupid woman" which you definitely are NOT.
2nd, the aforementioned stupid woman had plenty of space in front of our garage which is wide enough to park 3 cars in with which she could have turned around.

The sad part is that she told me when I was trying to pull her car out of my yard with my 4X4 truck, "I'm from up north and I know that when you get into snow you just keep moving as long as you can. Since I had already gone out into the yard I thought I could just circle around and drive out." The idiot was actually lucky because if she had been about 20 feet to the right she would have slipped off the septic pad and into the woods. My truck wouldn't have pulled her out of that...
 

CDGator

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1st, I said a "stupid woman" which you definitely are NOT.
2nd, the aforementioned stupid woman had plenty of space in front of our garage which is wide enough to park 3 cars in with which she could have turned around.

The sad part is that she told me when I was trying to pull her car out of my yard with my 4X4 truck, "I'm from up north and I know that when you get into snow you just keep moving as long as you can. Since I had already gone out into the yard I thought I could just circle around and drive out." The idiot was actually lucky because if she had been about 20 feet to the right she would have slipped off the septic pad and into the woods. My truck wouldn't have pulled her out of that...

But your truck could have pushed her down farther...
 

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