Digging up my septic so it can be pumped. ARGH!!

[i_am2bz]

Yay, Don! Glad you got 'r done!!!

 

[Marianne]

Glad that's over with for ya, Don!

 

[walkaboutjacks]

I am soon to be on a septic tank for the first time, so this has been interesting reading. Do any of you use those ensyms (sp?) to supposedly break things down faster? And Q for the poster/s with lots of females in the house...does that mean just lots of flushing or TP or feminine products? I think I going to have a hard time with my DD not flushing any feminine products down...let alone copious amounts of TP.

 

[k15n1]

Please enlighten me.

I was told that if you are careful, you shouldn't ever have to have it pumped. Of course, freezing is a completely different deal...but...Friends of ours lived in a house w/ a septic tank for 7 years (family of 4 - 2 teenagers), she said they never had to pump it.

I keep an eye on water usage, no kleenix at all down the pot, I use family cloth, but DH doesn't, avoid bleach, try to do the green thing with cleaners, etc etc. I wasn't planning on ever having ours pumped. Wrong?

A septic system, as far as I understand it, is a huge filter. It separate the liquid from the solid bits. Eventually, even if you have a healthy bacterial culture going, you'll have to remove some of the solids.

 

[Marianne]

We probably should start another thread for some of this.

It's my understanding that there are certain paper products that break down faster, hence, better for septic tanks. I did the Puff's tissue test - one tissue in a jar of water. Every time I walked by it, I gently swirled it. Three days later? Nothing. I could have taken it out, dried it and blew my nose on it. Not septic tank friendly. Wet wipe type products, tampons, etc should also not be flushed.

I always wonder if the cheapest TP (80 to 100 grit stuff) would be the best thing for septic tanks. But if it takes half a roll to get the job done, well, that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

The info I got from our county department said that Rid Ex, (or other septic enzymes) are not necessary. A buddy of ours told us to get 'septic tank yeast', which we never could find.

The homemade version is regular bread yeast and brown sugar. I think it was 3 envelopes of yeast and one pound of brown sugar. Flush it down the pot in a couple of flushes, flush a couple more times to get more into the septic tank and let it sit overnight. Did it do anything? Who knows.

 

[k15n1]

Sure, some products are worse than others.

If you start a fire, you eventually end up with ash, right? Same with solids in the septic tank. Sure, they ferment and get partially turned into gases and soluble components that are eventually washed out into the drainfield. But some stuff stays behind, right? Seems like you'd have to pump it every 10-20 years under even the best of circumstances.

 

[ORChick]

We had ours pumped for the first time last year. We've lived in the house 10 years now, and the previous owners had it done just before they sold to us. However, we are only 2 people, and DH (obviously) doesn't use as much paper as I, and I am past the age of feminine products, so that all weighs in favor of not doing it so often. The guys doing it said that it could have gone for a few more years, but that we really ought to do it every five years or so . I'm not sure about the logic of those two comments together, but .... Anyway, my purpose in getting it done was to have a benchmark for the future; instead of wondering how much longer I have until the whole things backs up and causes problems, now I know that, for the 2 of us, we can get by with a pumping every 9-10 years. Peace of mind ... because a fouled up septic system is really not worth the savings of not getting it pumped soon enough.

 

[THEFAN]

We had ours pumped for the first time last year. We've lived in the house 10 years now, and the previous owners had it done just before they sold to us. However, we are only 2 people, and DH (obviously) doesn't use as much paper as I, and I am past the age of feminine products, so that all weighs in favor of not doing it so often. The guys doing it said that it could have gone for a few more years, but that we really ought to do it every five years or so . I'm not sure about the logic of those two comments together, but .... Anyway, my purpose in getting it done was to have a benchmark for the future; instead of wondering how much longer I have until the whole things backs up and causes problems, now I know that, for the 2 of us, we can get by with a pumping every 9-10 years. Peace of mind ... because a fouled up septic system is really not worth the savings of not getting it pumped soon enough.

AMEN!!!

 

[MorelCabin]

I flush yeast down every once in a while Marianne, not sure if it does anything

 

[Emerald]

I am soon to be on a septic tank for the first time, so this has been interesting reading. Do any of you use those ensyms (sp?) to supposedly break things down faster? And Q for the poster/s with lots of females in the house...does that mean just lots of flushing or TP or feminine products? I think I going to have a hard time with my DD not flushing any feminine products down...let alone copious amounts of TP.

We were not allowed to flush any feminine products, but I have to say that as women we did go thru the TP!
And flushing and showering.

Hubby and I, as well as my mother before we bought the house have been using an enzyme made just for septic tanks.. so far it has kept it quite "active".. About every three or four years we check both tanks and it really does seem to work well.. but it is expensive.. I think we put it in once a month(it is only part of the big jar mixed with water) or every other month.