5 Bad Habits That Can Damage Your Home’s Septic System
5 Bad Habits That Can Damage Your Home’s Septic System
Those in your household or even you, may damage the septic system in several ways and not even realize it. Some household habits can cause considerable strain on your septic system. It’s best to stop these negative septic system habits early so you can prevent some of the more serious and costly issues that will occur later. Avoid these bad habits today!
1. Placing Too Many of the Wrong Things In Your Garbage Disposal
A garbage disposal unit offers a lot of convenience in the kitchen, but you shouldn’t abuse your septic tank by putting anything and everything into it. It’s just as easy to start putting all types of garbage into the unit, because they’re easy to use.
Your septic tank doesn’t want to deal with medicines, inorganic waste, grease, oil, eggshells, anything with a lot of its own bacteria and other things people tend to feed into their disposals. Even if your disposal can safely handle a lot of things, it’s better to err on the side of caution if you’re not sure which items your septic system can handle.
If you are going to use a garbage disposal unit, then you also should setup a more frequent septic pumping schedule. You’re introducing solid waste into the system, and that waste must come out before it starts to cause damage.
2. Flushing Things Down the Toilet that don’t belong there!
It’s not okay to flush most things down the toilet, most people understand this. There are a few items you or others may think are safe to flush but are actually damaging to your septic system.
You can find many long lists of things you shouldn’t flush, but keep in mind your toilet and septic system work best when the majority of what they need to handle consists of toilet tissue and bodily waste. Avoid flushing items because they seem flushable or even those items that advertise as flushable.
Things like baby wipes, for example, even the flushable type, should go into the trash. Wipes can clog your septic system over time, especially as the pile up and introduce microorganisms your septic system can’t handle.
3. Putting Too Much Weight on Your Septic System Components
If you or others park a vehicle on your septic tank or one of its components, you can damage those components. Even worse, you can create an extremely hazardous condition and not realize it. Heavy objects can cause a collapse, which works much like a sinkhole. The septic system component actually crashes in on itself. A collapse can cause property damage, serious injury, and even death.
4. Not Keeping up on the Maintenance of your Septic System
Probably the worst form of septic system damage comes from plain neglect. Septic system maintenance and cleaning needs to happen on a schedule, and it’s hard to know what that schedule should look like if you don’t schedule a service visit. In addition, a trained technician can point out any potential issues your septic system suffers from, some of the ways you’re damaging your system and where your septic system components are located on your property.
5. Using Too Much Water for Your Septic System
Your septic system can only deal with so much water at any given time. The tank chosen during the initial installation of a septic system will usually depend on an estimate of how much water the home will use based on the number of bedrooms and water-using appliances. You can damage your septic system if you:
• Add more people to your household
• Add new water-using appliances
• Increase how much water you use each day
One-time events can also cause issues. A gathering of significant size such as; graduation parties, weddings, birthday parties, etc., will mean a lot more people putting strain on your septic system than it’s accustomed to. Frequent gatherings compound the problem. This type of damage will eventually cause a component to fail.
Monitor your home’s water usage. Spread out activities and chores that require a lot of water. For example, don’t do all the laundry for several people in a single day. Speak with an on-site septic tank professional about your options if you’re adding appliances or other people to your home.
Al Pearson and Son Septic Tank Cleaning, offers professional septic tank maintenance, installation, and repair. Contact us to schedule a service visit today.