Posted: 2/7/2013 3:31:02 PM EDT
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I don't have a septic system/tank and I don't know anyone who does. However, I'm planning out a remote home and I'm thinking this will be the best solution to have some normalcy when it comes to the toilet and sewage.
I remember in middle school biology the teacher mentioned that his parents had one and they called someone to pump it after years and the pumper was shocked that it was near empty. Turns out the mother would flush yeast/tabs every so often and that ate everything up. Is that true? Does it really work like that? Or eventually every few years or so does it absolutely have to be pumped? Thanks -Emt1581 |
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It is supposed to work like that, but due to many things it usually will give you problems at some point in its life.
Cleaning agents, soaps, tampons, grease, you name it, will take the life out of it. Also, the ability of,it to percolate has a lot to do with it. Heavy clay soils can be a problem as well. Check the county codes is what you have to do. They will have all the rules and regs you will need to follow. |
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I don't care what you flush, nothing will digest that much organic matter. With a healthy population of organisms, you're going to have a healthy amount of sludge. That sludge will consist of dead microorganisms and inorganic material.
4-6 years is best for pumping frequency. |
| I live on cape cod and we're all on septic here for the most part, I have mine pumped every three years (single guy) and it really doesn't need it. The purpose of pumping it is to remove the solids. The added yeast will further help the bacteria break down the solids so the system can drain into the leaching field and not clog it up, its sold as Rid-Ex commercially. |
| The ones around here are extended aeration/mo-dad units. Some of these have sprinkler systems that take the treated decant for lawn irrigation. Keeping the bugs happy is key, but eventually the piper must be paid and the solid pumped out. Don't believe any of the snake oil type sludge reduction chem pitches, most are pure bs. |
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i have never lived anywhere that didn't have a septic tank.
septic tanks NEED to be used the bacteria need food and it needs water to flush out the waste. once it's alive the only time it should need to be reloaded with bacteria is if it has sat unused for an extended period of time. the last house we lived in was just myself and the wife, small house with a small tank. in 12 years the tank was still working fine with no need to pump. the new house we just bought was pumped before we took possesion. large 3br house with a family of 4 living in it for 10+ years. the tank was less than 1/2 full of sludge when pumped. i suspect given no failures with just me and the wife it may never need to be pumped again in the next 20 years. |
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The ones around here are extended aeration/mo-dad units. Some of these have sprinkler systems that take the treated decant for lawn irrigation. Keeping the bugs happy is key, but eventually the piper must be paid and the solid pumped out. Don't believe any of the snake oil type sludge reduction chem pitches, most are pure bs. and a lot of them will kill the bugs |
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The tank needs to be pumped every so many years. How often depends on usage and the size of the tank. Maybe every year or 10 years in extreme cases. The effluent discharges from the tank into the drainfield from the middle of the tank. Over time, the tank builds up from the top and bottom with shit that floats and shit that sinks, reducing the "clean" effluent in the middle. Once the light or heavy material enters the drainfield, you're gonna be digging that bitch up and replacing it.
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| I just replaced one that was nothing more than a cesspool out in in 1920. It was interesting to see to say the least when they dug it up. Taking care of it, not flushing tampons and crazy stuff down it is the key. Abuse it and treat it like a city sewer expect problems. Take care of it and you'll be golden for a long time. |
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The tank needs to be pumped every so many years. How often depends on usage and the size of the tank. Maybe every year or 10 years in extreme cases. The effluent discharges from the tank into the drainfield from the middle of the tank. Over time, the tank builds up from the top and bottom with shit that floats and shit that sinks, reducing the "clean" effluent in the middle. Once the light or heavy material enters the drainfield, you're gonna be digging that bitch up and replacing it. A septic tank installer/expert I know once told me that pumping too often is potentially bad for the drainfield. He explained that the septic tank outlet to the drainfield is near the bottom of many septic tanks. Every time it's pumped below that level, all the "floaters" (which normally float around harmlessly above that outlet while they are being slowly digested) will slide right out into the drainfield as the tank refills at that level, until it is refilled to somewhere above that point. The ones that get out into the drainfield before they are digested will cause problems. He also said that having a ten or twelve -inch long elbow on the outlet pipe, (pointing downward in the septic tank) helped to prevent a lot of those types of problems. He also noted that what kinds of food people tend to eat seemed to have a good deal of bearing on how well their septic systems worked. Fatty, greasy food in, fatty stuff out. And that don't break down very quickly. |
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i have never lived anywhere that didn't have a septic tank. septic tanks NEED to be used the bacteria need food and it needs water to flush out the waste. once it's alive the only time it should need to be reloaded with bacteria is if it has sat unused for an extended period of time. the last house we lived in was just myself and the wife, small house with a small tank. in 12 years the tank was still working fine with no need to pump. the new house we just bought was pumped before we took possesion. large 3br house with a family of 4 living in it for 10+ years. the tank was less than 1/2 full of sludge when pumped. i suspect given no failures with just me and the wife it may never need to be pumped again in the next 20 years. ......this.......if you dont use regularly.......it wont work right |
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an anaerobic system will need to be pumped on a regular schedule.
it depends on how many people are using it, what you flush down it, and the perc level of the soil. any septic tank guy in that area can tell you what you need to know. here in North TX, we get ours pumped every 4 years ( 2 adults and 1 child). |
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My 8 year old system failed last spring. New home and field in 2004. We were "good" septic users. No grease. No bleach. No paper or solid wastes that were't meant to go there. We pumped the tank every two years.
Our system had a 1000 gallon holding tank and a 196 linear foot field in the form of three trenches under the yard. When we determined it failed in the spring, I started researching them, since I expected to last 20 or 30 years. I figured someone (the builder or us) screwed up. We had an inspector explain how the local laws work. We had to hire a licensed contractor and have a county health department inspector present. They ran a small excavator next to one of my gravel filled trenches and it exploded with trapped effluent into the trench they dug. The drainage stone had turned from stone grey when it was buried eight years prior to pitch black. The inspector explained that the trenches had developed a bio mat. Unchecked bacteria growth. The bacteria secretes a slime that acts as a water barrier. My drain trenches went from sponges to rain coats over time causing the waste water to come up through the ground and to overflow from the tank. We spent the next two months getting multiple bids and securing financing. We selected a contractor after the health department drew up the plans for them follow. We are on very sandy soil that perked very well. No one can explain why it failed. They have theories but... We opted on the advice of the health department to excavate another two to three feet deeper that normal and to truck in 2ns sand and back fill the hole an average of three feet. A foot of crushed gravel was next followed by several hundred feet of drain tiles arranged in a bed. The entire thing was then buried at least 40" deep. I spent a lot of time talking with inspectors and excavators. Most felt that things like ridx were gimmicks or a waste of money in a system that gets used regularly. None thought chemicals or other types of supposed fixes would help. They all believed that "nuking it from orbit" was the only way to be sure. |
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My 8 year old system failed last spring. New home and field in 2004. We were "good" septic users. No grease. No bleach. No paper or solid wastes that were't meant to go there. We pumped the tank every two years. Our system had a 1000 gallon holding tank and a 196 linear foot field in the form of three trenches under the yard. When we determined it failed in the spring, I started researching them, since I expected to last 20 or 30 years. I figured someone (the builder or us) screwed up. We had an inspector explain how the local laws work. We had to hire a licensed contractor and have a county health department inspector present. They ran a small excavator next to one of my gravel filled trenches and it exploded with trapped effluent into the trench they dug. The drainage stone had turned from stone grey when it was buried eight years prior to pitch black. The inspector explained that the trenches had developed a bio mat. Unchecked bacteria growth. The bacteria secretes a slime that acts as a water barrier. My drain trenches went from sponges to rain coats over time causing the waste water to come up through the ground and to overflow from the tank. We spent the next two months getting multiple bids and securing financing. We selected a contractor after the health department drew up the plans for them follow. We are on very sandy soil that perked very well. No one can explain why it failed. They have theories but... We opted on the advice of the health department to excavate another two to three feet deeper that normal and to truck in 2ns sand and back fill the hole an average of three feet. A foot of crushed gravel was next followed by several hundred feet of drain tiles arranged in a bed. The entire thing was then buried at least 40" deep. I spent a lot of time talking with inspectors and excavators. Most felt that things like ridx were gimmicks or a waste of money in a system that gets used regularly. None thought chemicals or other types of supposed fixes would help. They all believed that "nuking it from orbit" was the only way to be sure. This is what is referred to in my area as "oiling over". Essentially the liquid cannot perc through the soil. My drain field did that years ago. What I did was add some new trenches with perforated HDPE pipe with a synthetic sock around it. No stone or sand was needed. It worked like a charm for several years until our local utility came by with the sewer line. |
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The tank needs to be pumped every so many years. How often depends on usage and the size of the tank. Maybe every year or 10 years in extreme cases. The effluent discharges from the tank into the drainfield from the middle of the tank. Over time, the tank builds up from the top and bottom with shit that floats and shit that sinks, reducing the "clean" effluent in the middle. Once the light or heavy material enters the drainfield, you're gonna be digging that bitch up and replacing it. A septic tank installer/expert I know once told me that pumping too often is potentially bad for the drainfield. He explained that the septic tank outlet to the drainfield is near the bottom of many septic tanks. Every time it's pumped below that level, all the "floaters" (which normally float around harmlessly above that outlet while they are being slowly digested) will slide right out into the drainfield as the tank refills at that level, until it is refilled to somewhere above that point. The ones that get out into the drainfield before they are digested will cause problems. He also said that having a ten or twelve -inch long elbow on the outlet pipe, (pointing downward in the septic tank) helped to prevent a lot of those types of problems. He also noted that what kinds of food people tend to eat seemed to have a good deal of bearing on how well their septic systems worked. Fatty, greasy food in, fatty stuff out. And that don't break down very quickly. You should question your "expert". A properly functioning septic tank always draws effluent from the middle of the tank....not the bottom. This is the elbow you are talking about and it's called the baffle. Every properly functioning underground system has one. As you hinted towards, it's purpose is to make sure that "clean" effluent enters the drainfield, and the only portion of the tank that has clean effluent is the middle. If it drew near the bottom, it would get plugged with sediment. That being said, if the person pumping the septic knows what they are doing, they will pump all the solids from the bottom, and all the floaters from the top. This is the entire purpose of pumping the tank. If they do this, "floaters" will not enter the drainfield. They should also leave a small amount, maybe 6" of clean effluent from the middle section of the tank to maintain the bacterial colony. Pumping the tank completely dry is bad because you are removing nearly all the bacteria. The person pumping the tank should remove the lid of the tank to make sure that all solids are pumped out. If they are just shoving the hose down a vent tube or something, they either don't know, or don't care what they are doing and you should find another honey wagon to come pump your tank. Also, relatively little bacterial action actually takes place within the tank. In a properly functioning system, it is enough to break down solids and produces enough heat to keep the tank from freezing in the winter, but the vast majority of the bacteria action takes place in the drainfield. |
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If your site has good percolation, consider installation of a conventional tank and field for the stools, and run the gray water (everything else) to a dry well where the water disperses into the surrounding ground.
This preserves the life of the drain field and protects the bacteria in the tank. |
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We were in our previous house 15 years (2 adults, 2 kids), never had our tank pumped. Had to have it pumped out when we had to switch to the sewer line that was coming in, and the guy who pumped it said it looked perfectly fine, and didn't need to be pumped. I would throw a gallon of milk into it every 2 or 3 months, and brewed beer occasionally, and would dump the yeast cake down it. That was it.
Do not use a garbage disposal if you have a septic tank, we were told that by the guy who pumped it. He said it's one of the worst things that people do who have one. |
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The civil engineer I used to work for (he was mostly designing new systems and doing repairs) also claimed that rid-X and the other repairs in a box or bottle were snake oil and would not help a sick system.
We opened up many sick systems where the original installer couldn't read a level and the distribution boxes were messed up so the outflow was only going to a third or a quarter of the available fields. A proper septic tank has a baffle to prevent the "floaters" from passing out the outflow. Broken or improperly installed baffles were a almost certain cause of the system to get all plugged. Broken or poorly installed baffles are usually the result of some cut rate pumping company or somebodys buddy messing about where a profesional is needed. In CT where I live state health code allows areas with decent draining soils and reasonable space to have the installer or local town official to design and check off on the design of a system or repair. Where the soils are tending towards more marginal drainage or space is tight a Civil engineer has to design and supervise construction of the system. Where native soils are ok and gravel and sand requirements for the system light the system costs are mostly for the tank and the installers (backhoe) time. Some of the engineered systems have hundreds and hundreds of yards of special gravel or sandy fill and the cost can be fairly steep for that. My area of central CT has clay and hardpan and it is possible to spend 40 or 50K for a system for a 3 or 4 bedroom home so it is considered protecting your investment to pump every couple of years. Remember that some or all of this investment is offset by not haveing to pay sewer taxes |
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The tank needs to be pumped every so many years. How often depends on usage and the size of the tank. Maybe every year or 10 years in extreme cases. The effluent discharges from the tank into the drainfield from the middle of the tank. Over time, the tank builds up from the top and bottom with shit that floats and shit that sinks, reducing the "clean" effluent in the middle. Once the light or heavy material enters the drainfield, you're gonna be digging that bitch up and replacing it. A septic tank installer/expert I know once told me that pumping too often is potentially bad for the drainfield. He explained that the septic tank outlet to the drainfield is near the bottom of many septic tanks. Every time it's pumped below that level, all the "floaters" (which normally float around harmlessly above that outlet while they are being slowly digested) will slide right out into the drainfield as the tank refills at that level, until it is refilled to somewhere above that point. The ones that get out into the drainfield before they are digested will cause problems. He also said that having a ten or twelve -inch long elbow on the outlet pipe, (pointing downward in the septic tank) helped to prevent a lot of those types of problems. He also noted that what kinds of food people tend to eat seemed to have a good deal of bearing on how well their septic systems worked. Fatty, greasy food in, fatty stuff out. And that don't break down very quickly. You should question your "expert". A properly functioning septic tank always draws effluent from the middle of the tank....not the bottom. This is the elbow you are talking about and it's called the baffle. Every properly functioning underground system has one. As you hinted towards, it's purpose is to make sure that "clean" effluent enters the drainfield, and the only portion of the tank that has clean effluent is the middle. If it drew near the bottom, it would get plugged with sediment. That being said, if the person pumping the septic knows what they are doing, they will pump all the solids from the bottom, and all the floaters from the top. This is the entire purpose of pumping the tank. If they do this, "floaters" will not enter the drainfield. They should also leave a small amount, maybe 6" of clean effluent from the middle section of the tank to maintain the bacterial colony. Pumping the tank completely dry is bad because you are removing nearly all the bacteria. The person pumping the tank should remove the lid of the tank to make sure that all solids are pumped out. If they are just shoving the hose down a vent tube or something, they either don't know, or don't care what they are doing and you should find another honey wagon to come pump your tank. Also, relatively little bacterial action actually takes place within the tank. In a properly functioning system, it is enough to break down solids and produces enough heat to keep the tank from freezing in the winter, but the vast majority of the bacteria action takes place in the drainfield. Per the red line: You are correct. I didn't recall the exact specifics, and I shouldn't have have used the phrase 'near the bottom'. That was too vague, and technically inaccurate. (But I didn't really intend for it to be taken literally for someone designing a septic tank in his basement workshop! I mentioned it only to illustrate the floater/ drainfield issue as it pertains to frequent pumping.) Thanks for clarifying the issue. I'm on village sewer system and haven't had to deal with a septic system in many years, and that's just fine by me! |
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The tank needs to be pumped every so many years. How often depends on usage and the size of the tank. Maybe every year or 10 years in extreme cases. The effluent discharges from the tank into the drainfield from the middle of the tank. Over time, the tank builds up from the top and bottom with shit that floats and shit that sinks, reducing the "clean" effluent in the middle. Once the light or heavy material enters the drainfield, you're gonna be digging that bitch up and replacing it. A septic tank installer/expert I know once told me that pumping too often is potentially bad for the drainfield. He explained that the septic tank outlet to the drainfield is near the bottom of many septic tanks. Every time it's pumped below that level, all the "floaters" (which normally float around harmlessly above that outlet while they are being slowly digested) will slide right out into the drainfield as the tank refills at that level, until it is refilled to somewhere above that point. The ones that get out into the drainfield before they are digested will cause problems. He also said that having a ten or twelve -inch long elbow on the outlet pipe, (pointing downward in the septic tank) helped to prevent a lot of those types of problems. He also noted that what kinds of food people tend to eat seemed to have a good deal of bearing on how well their septic systems worked. Fatty, greasy food in, fatty stuff out. And that don't break down very quickly. You should question your "expert". A properly functioning septic tank always draws effluent from the middle of the tank....not the bottom. This is the elbow you are talking about and it's called the baffle. Every properly functioning underground system has one. As you hinted towards, it's purpose is to make sure that "clean" effluent enters the drainfield, and the only portion of the tank that has clean effluent is the middle. If it drew near the bottom, it would get plugged with sediment. That being said, if the person pumping the septic knows what they are doing, they will pump all the solids from the bottom, and all the floaters from the top. This is the entire purpose of pumping the tank. If they do this, "floaters" will not enter the drainfield. They should also leave a small amount, maybe 6" of clean effluent from the middle section of the tank to maintain the bacterial colony. Pumping the tank completely dry is bad because you are removing nearly all the bacteria. The person pumping the tank should remove the lid of the tank to make sure that all solids are pumped out. If they are just shoving the hose down a vent tube or something, they either don't know, or don't care what they are doing and you should find another honey wagon to come pump your tank. Also, relatively little bacterial action actually takes place within the tank. In a properly functioning system, it is enough to break down solids and produces enough heat to keep the tank from freezing in the winter, but the vast majority of the bacteria action takes place in the drainfield. This guy knows what he's talking about, You should listen to him. Except for when I was in the service, I've always been on my own well and septic system. I wouldn't live anywhere else. As pointed out how often it needs to be pumped depends on a lot of factors including the size of the tank and drain field, soil percolation, the amount of local rain fall, the number of people in the house, how much laundry they do, what they eat and how much, weather they have a sink mounted disposal, and even what kind of clothes that they wear. (Cotton carried out washing machine will break down but synthetic materials don't.) If you have young children and wash a lot of diapers it can kill a septic system! In fact, one of the BEST thing that you can do is to take the washing machine off the septic system completely and give it it's own French drain. Some codes don't allow that but ....! Modern clothes contain a LOT of synthetic materials and those wash out into the drain field and clog it up and they will NEVER break down so get the laundry off of the septic system! And throw you food scraps in the trash, or better yet, a compost bin instead of washing them down the drain. Also dump your grease and any chemicals in the trash and not in the septic system. And OMG, women are the worst! it's next to impossible to stop them from flushing tampons and sanitary napkins down the toilet. But I'll just say this; if they can block the flow you know where then they'll sure as hell block the flow in your septic system! So fight if you must but don't let them flush those things! A couple of other things, they put a lot of research and experience into the codes in your county's construction book. You should heed it religiously and don't take short cuts! Also use GRANITE rock around the drain field pipes. Some areas allow lime rock but that stuff will crush and compact in ten to fifteen years and block the drains so don't use it. Also pay close attention to the slope of the drain and all other lines. The slope and gravity are the only thing that gets the "stuff" from point A to point B and if you screw them up the system will never work until you dig it up and re do everything. FWIW after I bought this house, I had to dig up the entire drain field by hand and replace it because it hadn't been built right so I've made it a point to learn how these systems work and to take good care of mine. I've been here now for 30 years and the last time I had my system pumped it hadn't been pumped in 12 years but the pump guy couldn't believe it. He said it looked like it had only been pumped about 3 years before because there was so few solids in it. PS the RidX and other additives are nothing but snake oil. Actually they're nothing but dried out S**T from someone else's septic system! They might help to establish bacteria a bit faster in a brand new system but once the bacteria is established they're nothing but a waste of money. Also yeast is entirely the wrong bacteria for a septic system. The only thing you'll accomplish by dumping in there is to drown the yeast! Over design your system,, built it WELL, keep everything out of it except real waste (urine and, shall we say "night soil") and take proper care of the system and it will last darned near forever! |
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Lots of good info here.
I grew up in a house with septic, and my house now has well and septic, too. When we moved here 15 years ago, the system was already 60 years old and poorly designed. We consulted neighbors, read the Small Flows Clearinghouse website and ended up installing an entirely new system. A few quick hints:
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