septic tanks – do's and dont's?

Moving house in a week to one thats got a septic tank. Any important things i should / shouldnt do?

I know not to flush stuff like condoms / sanitary towels down it, but what else? I think someone said dont put ground coffee down it as well 😕

Can you use bleach for cleaning or does it have to be a special cleaner, and what about dishwashers & washing machines?

Cheers

Why don’t you ask the present owners ? …….they might know.

What you shouldn’t do is hire a company I used to work for to drill through the bottom of your tank and install a massive soakaway! (no more emptying)

Although i was never involved in the drilling section of the company some of them use to boast about this environmental crime!

Depends if it’s a septic tank or a soakaway…..

My parents old house had a soakaway that served 2 houses. The woman that lived there before had been putting nappies down the bog, and when we moved in it needed emptying. That was the last time it was touched for the next 10-12 years. Just keep away from anything solid and don’t use bleach as you need the bacteria to break down the solids. My mum always used stuff like plain white bog paper and environmnetally friendly washing up liquid and cleaners etc as well.

Septics tanks are pretty much anyhting goes apart from big solid stuff like nappies IMO

ernie_lynch: current owner has died, and estate is being sold by his son who doesnt really know!

PeterPoddy: So how do i know if it needs emptying, do i just take the manhole cover off and see how full it is? I’ll probably get it emptied anyway if its not too expensive, then at least i know its sorted.

First make sure you know if it’s a cesspit or a septic tank. A cess pit is a chamber used to temporarily store your waste. This will need emtying when full or you’ll have a loan full of crap. If it’s a septic tank the waste will naturally be broken down by bacteria and the run off will discharge into a soakaway. To keep the bacteria happy you should avoid disposing of excessive amount of bleach and chemicals, but I think your normal household amount will be ok. Treat the sewage system same as you would any other, ie no nappies etc. If its a septic tank you should be able to forget its there as it will look after itself. A cesspit will need regular emtying. Thats my understanding of it anyway

Sewage flows into the septic tank, the solids settle out and then excess fluid goes into the soakaway. In theory you only need to empty the septic tank to remove solids, the tank should always appear full of liquid with a solid crust on top made from oils and such like (except immediately after emptying). Most companies will recommend emptying it every 12-18months depending on how many persons are in the household. Really its up to you to decide when it needs doing.

Basically don’t put bleach or large solids down the drain that might block the system or that might kill off bacteria. You need them to clean the water for you. You will know when you have used something that has killed them as it will stink.

<barfs>

Don’t use biological washing powder/liquid either… As wibble89 said, it will always look full

Don’t………. Fall in….

Given your username and guessing you are in the lakes – give us a call (pumptrack ltd) if you want the system checking out – that way you know what state it is all in. We can give you details of people to empty and how often too. On mobile at the moment so wont go onto too much detail just now.

My dad is the boss – 01524 762129 – he may be out so leave a message 🙂

You shouldnae be putting ANY plastic sanitary stuff down any Toilet anywhere. It’s not a bin.

A mate of mine and her husband (he had a chunk bitten out of his ear by a monkey, but that is another story) moved to a small village in the Yorkshire Dales. To help integrate himself with the locals Ian offered to help an elderly neighbour clear out his septic tank. A few lads would do the job whilst the old couple went into Richmond for the day

A local farmer turned up with the suction pump/bowser type thing and stuck one end of the hose in the tank then gave Ian the nod to throw the switch on the pump whist the rest of them stood around watching. However… he pushed it to blow rather than suck and they had to spend the rest of the day clearing shite of the old guy’s conservatory.

We replaced the septic tank/soakaway at our present house about 7 years ago. Although the tank says empty every 12 months my dad [who was an architect] said that if it’s working properly you should only need to empty it about every 10 years or longer.
So far it’s been great with no problems but I may have it emptied sometime this year just in case.

Sharkbait – your dad is wrong. Once a year usually, less often if it is lightly loaded, more often if heavilly loaded. Should add I am a sewage engineer and dont empty tanks for a living so have no financial interest in that statement

Rare/never emptying belief is a commonly held misconception. You wouldnt want to try emptying a tank untouched for 10 years and the soak away would very probably be knackered.

Surely emptying depends on crust thickness, solids height and water volume for dilution and bacteria treatment. Rather than being time dependant. So provided that the crust or solids don’t become too thick/deep that they can flow through the dip pipe the soak away will be fine. More so if you have 2 tanks, first for solids and the second mainly for the bacteria to clean the liquids with some further settling of fines.

I agree that to be prudent emptying once a year is advisable especially if you are in a high water table area, and have a treatment plant as well, as soak away efficiency is critical, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be.

Yeah, that’s why I said it depends on loading. But given most people will never look into a septic tank it is best to get it scheduled in for once a year 😉 The big problem comes when the solids start to pass into the soakaway and bind the system up. Shoving a stick into a septic tank is not an exact science either for testing the depth of sludges down the bottom (or particularly pleasant) 😉