2 Everyday Mistakes That Can Lead To More Frequent Septic Tank Pumpings
If your home utilizes a septic system, you probably know that it needs to be pumped out every few years. However, you may have discovered that you have to have the tank cleaned out sooner than expected, leading you to wonder what could be causing the uptick in frequency. If so, review the following mistakes that can adversely affect your septic tank to see if you can make any small changes in things you do every day.
1. Draining Multiple Sources of High Volumes of Water at the Same Time
One everyday mistake that can disrupt the ecosystem of your home's septic tank is draining high volumes of water from multiple sources either at the same time or at small intervals. Running the shower, washing machine, and dishwasher can cause a large amount of water to enter the septic tank at one time.
When a large amount of water hits that tank at once, it disrupts the solid material that is decomposing at the bottom. It also causes an influx of liquid that the drainfield needs to process, which means that the liquid cannot exit the tank as quickly as it should. This disruption can slow down the decomposition of solid waste and interrupt the bacteria's ability to do their job.
Instead of using appliances and fixtures that drain a high volume of water all at once, try to stagger their usage during the day. Take your shower in the morning, use the dishwasher in the evening, and space out your laundry on separate days.
2. Pouring/Disposing of Harsh Chemicals down Your Drains
Another mistake that you may be making that you may not even think about is pouring or disposing of harsh chemicals down your drains. If you normally use bleach to clean, for example, rinsing a substantial amount of the cleaner down the drains will cause mass amounts of it to gather in the tank.
Since harsh cleaners such as bleach are typically good at their jobs of killing germs, a number of the bacteria inside of the tank will also be killed. Without these beneficial bacteria, the waste inside of the tank will not decompose as quickly and will make the tank fill up faster.
If you must use harsh cleaners, try to wipe up as much as possible before rinsing to decrease the amount that reaches your septic tank.
Even if you are careful about what you put down your sewage lines, you may still find that your septic tank needs cleaning out in between its regularly scheduled pumpings. If you suspect that this is the case, contact a septic tank pumping service to have someone verify the tank's fill level so that they can clean it out if needed.
Over the years, we have hired numerous contractors to work on our home. We hired drywall hangers to hand drywall in our newly finished basement. We hired painters to paint our upstairs bedroom, and we've had plumbers come fix our pipes more times than we can count. At some point, we became curious, and we wanted to learn more about the world of these contractors. We then spent many months reading and researching the industry before realizing that was not quite enough. We wanted to write about the industry, too! So, that's how this blog got started. We hope it brings you as much knowledge as it has brought us.