Maintaining Your Septic Tank by Dealing with Appliances That Are Damaging It

The increase in the use of appliances in your home and the manner in which you use such household conveniences can greatly affect your septic tank. Two critical things that can affect your septic system include increased unwanted solids entering the system and excessive amounts of water flowing into your tank. These two changes will have an impact on the capacity of your septic system to treat the household waste. Moreover, they can strain or cause maintenance issues with your tank. In either case, there will be need for inconvenient and costly septic services. For this reason, watch out for the following to ensure that your septic system functions properly.

Whirlpools or Hot Tubs

Whirlpools or hot tubs can be a great source of therapy and relaxation in your home. However, while the swirling waters and the soothing effects of such experiences may be good for you, the large amounts of water draining from these tubs are bad for your septic system. This is because these large quantities of water can overload your septic system, stir any solids in the tank, and push them further into the drain field. This may eventually cause your system to fail.

The hot water tub water should be cooled instead and drained onto landscaped or turf zones on your property. These zones should be away from your septic tank, house, and drain field according to local considerations.

Washing Machines

Your typical washing machine can produce lint particles that won't settle out in your septic tank because they are so small and light. These particles instead remain suspended and are flushed out to the drain field, plugging up pores in the soil bed. To fix this, your machine can be installed with an inline discharge filter that will prevent your septic system from being clogged with lint. Moreover, spread out your load of laundry so that instead of doing 15 on a Saturday, do 2 or 3 loads daily.

Garbage Disposals

A garbage disposal will grind kitchen scraps and other disposed waste into small pieces that remain in suspension once they reach your septic tank. This waste also increases the amount of solids, liquids, and biomass that will end up in the drain field. For this reason, you need to eliminate garbage disposal. Alternatively, if you have a garbage disposal or grinder system in your house, you can go for larger or medium sized septic tanks.