Maintenance and Care for Your Septic System
A household septic system is a vital component of your property. Investing in a septic system is a significant project. You must invest in the right tank. A septic system expert can help you with this. Ask questions like how much is a septic holding tank to help you budget for the project from the professional. The service providers will also offer insights into aerobic septic system cleaning.
In addition, they will also help you undertake the absorption area septic system project. To ensure that your household septic tank continues to function effectively, you will have to do routine maintenance. Homeowners need to know what needs maintenance and how much care the process requires. A healthy septic system is an essential component of any homeownership.
Periodically, a homeowner should perform routine maintenance tasks on the same day of the week. They include flush, siphon, and installation and use of a strainer. These activities are essential to keep your septic system working as efficiently as possible.
A septic system can only function optimally when you regularly clean the tanks with the help of a professional septic cleaner and maintain it adequately. You should not carry out all the activities in one single day. It is vital to ensure that you do not overuse these activities to preserve the health of your septic system’s tanks.
One quarter of American homes use septic systems, and for those that do, proper maintenance and checks on these systems are vital to keep them running and prevent any clogs or problems in the system. Septic cleaning is dirty work, but it keeps the septic system running longer and better.
Where and How Septic Systems Are Used
Urban and suburban areas typically have centralized sewage systems, so septic systems are not common there. Instead, small towns and rural communities, or farm houses, make use of a septic tank. According to EPA, All used water from a home, including bathroom water from the toilet and shower, water from the kitchen drains, and water from the laundry system all flow through pipes and into the underground septic tank. From there, solids in the combined waste water settle to the bottom. From there, soil-based septic systems move the waste water moves on to a number of perforated pipes that slowly release the water into a specified patch of ground known as a leach field to further clean it. Other systems will filter the dirty water, or effluent, through organic matter, often peat or sawdust, before moving it on through the system. Finally, the treated water slowly flows through ground soil, or dispersion field, where bacteria break down organic matter and purify the water. The treated water ultimately ends up back as groundwater.
Caring for Your Septic Systems
Septic systems can eventually fail and require replacement, and this will happen sooner if the system is mistreated. Digging up and replacing a septic tank can cost many thousands of dollars, so good care of the system is an investment. According to Family Handy Man, flushing non-organic material such as cigarette butts or diapers into the system clogs it, as bacteria don’t break that down. Also, overuse of the garbage disposal system will strain a septic tank, and parking cars on the dispersion field repeatedly will compact the soil and dirt, reducing water flow.
Waste material such as fats, oil, and grease form a layer of scum on top of water in a tank, and over time, enough scum and sludge will accumulate so that pumping is necessary, roughly once every two to five years, depending on the tank’s size and how much water it deals with. A professional can pump it all out, and an owner can check the sludge level by purchasing a “sludge judge”, a rod that, when inserted into the tank, reveals the scum’s current level. Septic tank treatment extends to the effluent filter; updating or cleaning a filter is recommended whenever the tank is pumped clean. Professional inspections are another option, as a pro knows exactly what to look for and can determine when a septic system will need cleaning or maintenance.
Contractors can provide additional care for a septic system. For example, the drain pipes in the field can be cleaned with a water jet, or a homeowner can consult a contractor for using a commercial chemical that adds oxygen to the field. For a bigger price, the homeowner can have the field’s soil and gravel loosened to maximize oxygen and water flow. Reducing the total water used is another way to extend a septic tank’s life, such as replacing older, inefficient toilets with low-flow models, and the same can be done for shower heads.