4 Tips For Keeping Your Septic System From Clogging Up
If your home has a septic tank, you may worry about it clogging up in between professional service calls. If so, use the following four tips to help keep your tank from backing up and creating a major mess in your yard and home.
Flush Only Water And Waste Products
Your septic system works through the breakdown of solids in the tank and removal of excess liquid into the drainfield. Because of this, you should only flush water and waste products down your drains.
Any other materials can build-up before they deteriorate and cause the system to clog, including toilet paper. While small amounts may not create an issue, regularly flushing it down the toilet could create a large lump in the tank that will take months to break down. To be safe, dispose of it in the trash and take the bag out daily.
Other items that should not be flushed include tampons, hair, cigarettes, and grease. Even coffee grounds and cat litter could quickly fill up the tank and cause it to overflow.
Use Toilet Bowl Cleaners Sparingly
Another important part of your septic system is the bacteria that eat the waste, causing it to break down faster. If you use toilet bowl cleaners heavily and on a regular basis, the chemicals they contain could kill off most of the population. This could cause an accumulation of solid waste materials that could eventually block the sewage pipes.
Because you probably want your toilet bowl cleaned on a regular basis, try to spray the cleaner on a sponge and wipe the inside of the bowl with it. Less of the cleaner will be flushed into the system. To maintain the cleanliness, simply swish the bowl with a brush every day to reduce the need for using as much cleaner.
Maintain Your Drainfield
The pipes leading to the drainfield are responsible for draining excess liquid from the tank. In order to keep the fluid flowing out to make room for more waste, this drainfield must be taken care for properly. Although simple, two things should be done to do this.
First, the field should be kept as dry as possible. While there is nothing you can do about the rain, do not set up automatic sprinklers for the grass. When the ground becomes saturated, the extra water fills the pipes and bogs them down, preventing proper drainage.
Second, avoid placing any structures or vehicles in this area. The weight from a parked car or even a small shed could shift the pipes and crack them, causing the water to leak out into the ground.
Wash Laundry At Different Times, Not On The Same Day
When massive amounts of water are introduced into the septic tank within a short period of time, this deluge stirs up the scum layer and decomposing waste. These could reenter the pipes and cause them to back up. Also, the excess water introduced quickly prevents efficient separation of solids and liquids, making the tank fill up too quickly.
If you typically wash all of your laundry on the same day, you may want to consider changing your schedule around. Instead, try to do a load every day or every other day. This space in time between loads will give your system time to adjust.
Along with having your septic tank pumped once every few years, doing the above can help keep your system from backing up. However, if you suspect you do have a problem, you may want to contact hydro vac services that deal with septic systems to have your tank thoroughly cleaned and pumped.
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