Septic Tank - any rules I should know?

Bubblyboo_3

Hello There!

I've recently moved to a new home and now am the proud(?!) owner of a septic tank. I know very little about these systems - my understanding is that a septic tank has a secondary chamber and liquids soak away. Can anyone tell me if there are any rules I should know? ie can I use bleach in the sinks & toilets etc? I assume I'd need to be careful exactly what gets flushed down the toilet etc? Any information at all will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Bub!

david29dpo

try to keep your water use to a minimum, also bleach, cleaners etc. also please tell ladies not to flush there " things" down the toilet! bleach etc can kill the bugs in the tank and cause smells. i for one would never go back to mains!

Bubblyboo_3

Hi David,

You say to keep water use to a minimum - I was on the understanding that the water would soak away. Is this not the case? I've been (sparingly) using a bleach which does specify it's ok to use with septic tanks, though being somewhat obsessive with cleanliness, I find it difficult to use sparingly - is there anything else, less damaging I could be using?

Thanks for your advice, was starting to feel like the only person with one!! :-)

erb

We had a new fibre glass septic tank fitted about 15 years ago and this drains into a drainage system under the back garden. We have had no problems using bleach/toilet cleaners or various washing powders or other household cleaners. But we do get it emptied once a year at a current cost of £80.

oldwiring

Prime rule; don't fall in

Mikeyorks

Congratulations - you will learn to love it ! Or you will hate it, if it's a temperamental old one that blocks up periodically. And always in the depths of the winter.

Suspect the advice to minimise water use emanates from a closed system that wholly needs to be pumped out? It certainly doesn't apply to dual chamber systems, where you typically have a run-off into a field drain.

Mine was a couple of concrete chambers. One was 'wet' and retained the solids (agreed - pump it annually - but the local farmer regrettably can no longer do that and mix it with his slurry:eek: ). The other was allegedly 'dry' and allowed the liquids to drain down through layers of aggregate and into a field drain.

But it was that latter one that occasionally contaminated and had to have the top layer of aggregate removed / replaced. As a consequence I fully endorse the 'don't fall in'. The smell is not actually that bad - it's just persistent !!

Minimise use of bleaches etc. Or toss a dead chicken (with feathers - not a cooked one!) in periodically - to restart the bacteria.

Just left mine behind (the septic tank, not the chicken) after 18 years - and not really missing it. But they can be a source of fun (and money saving)

Dora_the_Explorer_5

I once bought a house with a 30 year old septic tank system which had only had to emptied once in 15 years after an especially hard winter. The advice I was given by other owners was not to put anything in it the bacteria wouldn't like: water with high bleach content, nappy sterilising solution etc. If you need to have your tank emptied, don't forget the dead animal or buy some starter bacteria. Your water rates will also be less.

Mikeyorks

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

I once bought a house with a 30 year old septic tank system which had only had to emptied once in 15 years after an especially hard winter. .

Dora - was that one of those where the builder took a couple of the bottom bricks out before rendering it?? Otherwise it must have had the capacity of the Channel Tunnel - or you didn't use .... no, second thoughts, won't go into that;)

Your water rates will also be less.

And lower still if you have a bore hole. Somehow I always find a septic tank and a bore hole are warmly complementary. But the former is not ideally situated over the source of the latter! Much prefer the output from my septic tank to gently percolate through the various strata and into the next bore hole down the hill;) It's a neighbourly sort of thing?

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Mike I haven't a clue - it was built in the 1820's and in the depths of the country and had it's own spring water supply with no properties within about a mile that were above the contour line it was on. Blooming cold, though:rotfl:
edited to add: In case my posts seem contradictory, before the system was installed I was told it was bucket and chuck it.

Bubblyboo_3

Thanks for all your replies :-)

Now, is there any way I can find out for sure exactly what I've got? When I bought the house, the homebuyers survey called it a septic tank. I've read somewhere that a septic tank is a dual chamber allowing drainage and a cess pit is a sealed tank needing to be emptied on a regular basis. When I initially questioned the original owners they said they had it emptied approx every 6 years or so (for a family!) - but I didn't realise at the time that the two systems are very different. I would also like to know what anyone does with regards to bleach etc. Is it a case of use sparingly, as in a very little at a time though on a regular basis, or use sparingly as in not such a regular basis? if so are there any 'friendly' alternatives?

I'm surprised to say I am very fond of my septic tank and seem to have found myself a new interest!! Was absolutely amazed when I lifted the lid and saw the size of the chamber - now I'm scared stiff to walk anywhere near the lid for fear of falling in, never to be found again! :-)

david29dpo

how it works is very simple. basically with a septic tank you have a big plastic bell shaped tank with an inlet from you waste. all this goes into the tank and it fills up, the solids sinking to the bottom. the outlet, slightly lower than the inlet, takes all water to the soak away, this is a series of pipes with holes in and the water slowly seeps away in to ground. depending how big the tank is and how many people use it, you have to have the tank emptied of the "solids" every year or so. however the bugs in the tank slowly eat the solids and turn it in to a kind of runny butter, but this takes a long time and bleach etc can stop or slow down this process. this is why some tanks only need to be emptied every 5 years or so. i said try to keep your water use to a minimum because the soak a way cannot get rid of the water as fast as you put it in, but takes time to filter through the soil. also to much water can "filter" the tank and slow the decompose process down. the chemicals you can buy to put in the tank to get the bugs working quicker are useless. also when you have the tank emptied, make sure the man puts the pipe right to the bottom of the tank so he is sucking out the solids and not just water! a cesspit is the same but has no soak a way, all solids and water have to be emptied. hope this helps.