Septic Tank - How to look after it??

Eliza_2

What an excellent post from Smithills! It's not good to use too much bleach etc anyway, irrespective of the type of waste system you have. Can I also add wipes to the list of no-nos though, they shouldn't go down the loo anyway, but my daughter in law does in her big city and I caught her doing it here, they are lethal as they don't break up and can get caught anywhere and everywhere in the system.

Friends of mine living in the wilds of Scotland have a cesspit - now that really is yukky. I've had a septic tank in the last 2 houses and they're absolutely fine.

1659

We have lived in a modern house for over thirty years with a system without problems, & benefit from having lower water charges. Use bleach sparingly & bio washing too as you do not want to destroy the emzimes that help the system work efficiently. We were advised by the tanker drivers to have it emptied at least every couple of years, in the drier summer months when the ground is not water logged. Do not wait until you have sinks & toilets not emptying because that seems to be when people start to have problems, from what we have been told. As there are about eight houses in the lane we also try to organise emptying together to enable us to achieve a discount.

mele21

We moved into a old house too with a sewage treatment plant.
It's blocked a couple of times and it's been a steep (and smelly!) learning curve...

First time we got blocked was due to toilet wipes that said they were flushable - turns out they're not.

We're not sure what caused the second blockage but the chap that came to service it mentioned it could be due to a build up of washing powders etc. I know use liquids instead of powders whereever I can including the washing machine and dishwasher and this has made a big improvement.

I've also been told coated toilet paper such as aloe vera coatings don't break down so easily.

I agree with the previous posts that you shouldn't go overboard with cleaning products as they won't block but might upset the ecosytem of your unit.

I lift the manhole covers that lead to our sewage works once every couple of weeks just to check that everything is flowing away nicely. It's so much better to spot a blockage early before your system backs up and overflows...

For small blockages, buy yourself a set of drain rods and you can clear them yourself. It's actually quite satisfying when you manage to sort it without paying someone to come and fix it for you!

Get your tank drained regulaly. We're were told once a year but chat to whoever comes to empty it about how many people in your house etc and you'll probably find they will tell you that you can go for longer.

Hope it helps!

hutbephotmb24h

I have never heard what you say. It's really interesting

CheshireBumpkin

I haven't had my septic tank emptied in 7 years! It's just me here, but no problems so far. I always thought it all just broke down over time and drained away eventually as liquid....