Septic tank

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Rtstrider

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I'm in the closing phases of purchasing a house with a septic tank. Both the house and the tank are from '88. The tank was pumped right after the seller moved. The seller moved into their mother in laws house after she passed as the house was significantly larger....But that's a whole different story
smile.gif
. Anyways from what I have been reading the only things that should go in the tank is YOU and no rid x or anything of that nature. I have googled to wits end, but, figured I would ask the trusty bitogers to get advice on septic also. The seller has never had issues with the tank and the house is in very immaculate condition. However, this will be the second residence I will have a septic tank at, as the first is the rental I am living in now. I have not lived in the rental but for 1 year and haven't had issues here. Aside from pumping what other maintenance, concerns, or advice do you guys/gals have?
 
Actually rid x is beneficial if you accidentally pour substances that can kill bacteria in the tank like cleaning chemicals, ect. If this happens you should use something to help promote the bacterial decomposition process to come up to speed.

However if you are careful about how you manage the tank I wouldn't think that any supplimental products would be needed.
 
Keep as much grease/ fat out of the tank, i pour cooking oil on paper and put it in the trash. I wipe oily pans with paper towels before washing them. The fats oils in time can affect the ability of the septic field to drain.
 
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Originally Posted By: spasm3
Keep as much grease/ fat out of the tank, i pour cooking oil on paper and put it in the trash. I wipe oily pans with paper towels before washing them. The fats oils in time can affect the ability of the septic field to drain.


+1 (Very good advice). Just watch your water usage if you have a big family. Oh, and no planting trees over the drain field.
 
About the trees I am working on getting a diagram of the backyard, as it's been so hot here and with the seller being older I don't want to burden them with getting out in the florida heat, showing where the tank/drainfield is located. I have some meyer lemons I grew from cuttings this year and would like to plant them in the ground next year along with a few other citrus trees, but, not mess up the leach field.
 
I've had septic systems for the last 35 years, and never had a problem. I'm careful about what goes in-just human waste, toilet tissue, and grey water-not much else. Our kitchen sink has a strainer that catches all but the water. The leach field has a filter, and I clean it once a year (every spring). We also have it pumped every 3-5 years, and when it's pumped our service company sticks a camera down and inspects the tank.

It's a very good idea to know exactly where the leach field is located, and keep trees/shrubs a significant distance away. The last thing you want is roots damaging the leach field.

I think that products such as RidX can work if the septic system isn't working correctly or is freshly pumped (to give it a jump start), but they're not needed in a properly working and maintained system.
 
I've been on septic for about 30 yrs. Same house. Only been pumped once when some repair was required. I don't use the kitchen disposer much, all food waste, grease, chicken bones, etc. go in the trash..only in the trash. I do use bleach, but not too often. Here in central Tx, below about 4" topsoil is limestone, river rock & red clay. Plus I'm on top of a hill so every direction is down.

I have a neighbor who put a PVC "T" into the line going to the drain field, downstream of the tank, and adds salt to it periodically to keep tree roots out. Also he uses HCL (muriatic) acid dilluted 4 or 5 to 1 to prevent his drain field from clogging. His system is as old as mine. I don't bother with that.

I only use about 1000 ga of water a month. Not much. I also have a water softener (don't know if that helps post-use or not).

If you use a lot of T paper, have a large family, etc. you may want to get it pumped out regularly and install a filter.

Also, DON'T use anti-bacterial/microbial hand/washing soap at the sink! Not good for a septic system that relies on bacteria to function properly!
 
Also avoid using clensing wipes, they say they are flushable but they do not break down like toilet paper. I've worked at wastewater treatment plants and all they do is plug up pumps. Almost all incoming wipes are fully intact even after travelling through the entire collection system.
 
There is a table on internet to pump the tank every so often based on tank size and household members. You need to pump them as their are certain solids that do not break down. If any solids make it out your leach field is headed for immediate failure as it will plug holes fast.

The life of septic system is dependent on treatment and installation quality. However the most major factor is the perk rate of soil. If slow your leach field is destined for early failure. If you have a high perk rate(drain rate) it will last forever as evidenced by members of this board.

Sadly a test pit for mine was 1" drop in water level in 12 mins.

Not saying I am an expert on them. But have an expired designers license in my state.
 
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
What about just looking for a house in the same price range but with a city sewer system ?




Agreed, previous owners spent $20k on our system to sell home.
 
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
I've been on septic for about 30 yrs. Same house. Only been pumped once when some repair was required. I don't use the kitchen disposer much, all food waste, grease, chicken bones, etc. go in the trash..only in the trash. I do use bleach, but not too often. Here in central Tx, below about 4" topsoil is limestone, river rock & red clay. Plus I'm on top of a hill so every direction is down.

I have a neighbor who put a PVC "T" into the line going to the drain field, downstream of the tank, and adds salt to it periodically to keep tree roots out. Also he uses HCL (muriatic) acid dilluted 4 or 5 to 1 to prevent his drain field from clogging. His system is as old as mine. I don't bother with that.

I only use about 1000 ga of water a month. Not much. I also have a water softener (don't know if that helps post-use or not).

If you use a lot of T paper, have a large family, etc. you may want to get it pumped out regularly and install a filter.

Also, DON'T use anti-bacterial/microbial hand/washing soap at the sink! Not good for a septic system that relies on bacteria to function properly!


Mostly good advise here, except for the use of acid and salt. Backwash from a softner (mostly salt) will kill your bacteria in your system. Don't believe me, dump salt on any living organism and see what happens... The septic tank itself is a system compenent that is easily replaced. Most people focus on the tank when the real expensive part of the system is the drainfield. U may lack space to replace it or it may not be suitable for a simple replacement install. A complicated system could wind up costing U tens of thousands of dollars to fix it properly.
 
We would look for this to be replaced with sewer, however, that would drive the house price up as the seller is already selling this at a significant loss just to get this off their hands. They were torn on selling this as it was, so for the price I'm getting the house for I would need to worry about the sewer part on my cost.
 
My fairly new 4 bedroom home has a 2 chamber, 1000 gallon septic system with a "discharge" filter. The discharge filter has been replaced with an aftermarket unit with more capacity.

The filter is a big deal, as it keeps the drain field clean. This keeps the septic system healthy for far longer than it would otherwise be.

Also, Rid-X works very well. If, for example, we clean or do laundry with large quantities of bleach, the septic system will have issues (mostly because particulates will travel into the filter). Rid-X clearly works to solve the problem. Generally overnight.

Oh yeah, my water softener does not discharge into the septic.
 
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Rid x might not help much, but it certainly doesn't hurt, and it's cheap. I'm not sure why anyone feels strongly against using it? Worst case it does nothing and you spend a few bucks. Best case it helps balance out some of the various soaps and cleaners that end up in the tank.

We have our tank pumped every couple of years.
 
Originally Posted By: ridgerunner
Mostly good advise here, except for the use of acid and salt. Backwash from a softner (mostly salt) will kill your bacteria in your system. Don't believe me, dump salt on any living organism and see what happens

You need to re-read my post. The whole purpose of installing the "T" downstream of the tank is so that salt & acid only go in the line leading to the drain field. You'll also note in my post I don't do this.

The backwash from my softener doesn't go into the tank.
 
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Originally Posted By: ridgerunner
Mostly good advise here, except for the use of acid and salt. Backwash from a softner (mostly salt) will kill your bacteria in your system. Don't believe me, dump salt on any living organism and see what happens

You need to re-read my post. The whole purpose of installing the "T" downstream of the tank is so that salt & acid only go in the line leading to the drain field. You'll also note in my post I don't do this.

The backwash from my softener doesn't go into the tank.

Yup, I know that. Your neighbor isn't as smart as U. He will learn the hard way.
 
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Originally Posted By: ridgerunner
Mostly good advise here, except for the use of acid and salt. Backwash from a softner (mostly salt) will kill your bacteria in your system. Don't believe me, dump salt on any living organism and see what happens

You need to re-read my post. The whole purpose of installing the "T" downstream of the tank is so that salt & acid only go in the line leading to the drain field. You'll also note in my post I don't do this.

The backwash from my softener doesn't go into the tank.


The drain field is also "alive" doing treatment in the aggregate. If you dig up a septic system the rocks in the drain field should be covered with a black slimy material which are micro-organisms eating breaking down the wastewater to a degree.
 
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