Septic Tanks

[Zubar]

No, not the loud gum chewing type. The poo processing type.

We are moving to a house with one and wondered if any of you could offer any advice and hints/tips to owning one.

All my knowledge is that you shouldn't use bleach in the loo and they need the solids pumping out occasionally.

Thanks all

C

[Ken Hawk]

This thread could stir up some shit, you should have saved it till Friday

[jamesp]

No, not the loud gum chewing type. The poo processing type.

We are moving to a house with one and wondered if any of you could offer any advice and hints/tips to owning one.

All my knowledge is that you shouldn't use bleach in the loo and they need the solids pumping out occasionally.

Thanks all

C

Friend bought a house with one about two years ago.
Out in the sticks kind of place, He had an issue with discharge from the tank entering a stream.
Apparently all of the houses (~8) did; He had to get a licence to cover the discharge.
No licence would have been £10k ish for an anerobic digester!

This was Wales, so Natural Resource Wales rather than local council or EA.

[doggy's doodah]

I have a 'pozo negro' or literally a black well, aka cess pit. No tank, just a hole in the ground and some rocks.

I'm going to tempt fate here and say it has been brilliant for over 12 years.

Rules: if you didn't eat it, it doesn't go down! If it's yellow, let it mellow! easily dissolvable toilet tissue - NOT WET WIPES! NO bleach or ANY anti-septic or bug killer. We do not even put the washing machine outflow down there - it goes to the garden. There are only the two of us and the pit is used for kitchen sink and bathroom waste.

I 'treat' the bugs with stuff, like some rice, or beer, anything bio. It is possible to get little 'teabags' of nice bugs, but we have never needed them.

If it smells, the system is out of kilter.

Good luck!

[Jay_Benson]

From Wikipedia:

1 Excessive disposal of cooking oils and grease can cause the inlet drains to block. Oils and grease are often difficult to degrade and can cause odor problems and difficulties with the periodic emptying.
2 Flushing non-biodegradable waste items down the toilet such as cigarette butts, cotton buds/swabs or menstrual hygiene products (e.g. sanitary napkins or tampons) and condoms can cause a septic tank to clog and fill rapidly. Therefore, these materials should not be disposed of in that manner; the same applies when the toilet is connected to a sanitary sewer instead of a septic tank.
3 Using the toilet for disposal of food waste can cause a rapid overload of the system with solids and contribute to failure.[10]
4 Certain chemicals may damage the components of a septic tank or kill the bacteria needed in the septic tank for the system to operate properly, such as pesticides, herbicides, materials with high concentrations of bleach or caustic soda (lye) or any other inorganic materials such as paints or solvents.[citation needed]
5 The flushing of salted water into the septic system can lead to sodium binding in the drainfield. The clay and fine silt particles bind together and effectively waterproof the leach field, rendering it ineffective.

The in-laws had a property that had a septic tank and were obsessive about using Ecover product. They are crap. You need about 3 times the volume of ecover washing up liquid compared to most ordinary supermarket stuff. The reality is that you must not use a lot of bleach but a bit is fine. try to use as little salt as possible - it causes strokes and clogs up the drainfield (apparently).
Really not too difficult to use - after all 25% of Americans use them.

[Jen - Winged Blob]

We had a septic tank (yes, out in the sticks) when I was young. The course wended its way all under the length of our (large) garden before emerging in a ditch that fed out into the neighbouring sheep field and then along the side of the road for quite a way.

Dad always used to win first prize with his onions at the village garden competition.

[Zubar]

This is rural Wales, up a track in a forest. It is registered with Natural Resources Wales and all that shit (see what I did there)

[Divemouse]

We have one. We've lived in the house 25+ years and have never had it emptied. It sits there happily doing its thing. We don't use many cleaning products at all and the washing machine and dishwasher both drain onto the lawn.

[Major Clanger]

At first, I thought the subject matter was a euphemism for living in Wales

[Adrian]

2 Flushing non-biodegradable waste items down the toilet such as cigarette butts, cotton buds/swabs or menstrual hygiene products (e.g. sanitary napkins or tampons) and condoms can cause a septic tank to clog and fill rapidly. Therefore, these materials should not be disposed of in that manner; the same applies when the toilet is connected to a sanitary sewer instead of a septic tank.

Absolutely. Pee, paper, poo. Everything else does not breakdown and just gets stopped by screens and removed. Cotton bud sticks litter sewage treatment works.