Septic System Maintenance Tips and Resources.
Some tips to help keep your septic system working worry free;
Firstly, you are not alone, just in Ontario there are about 1 million household septic systems and most people don’t even think about them until it’s too late when they have a problem.
- Consider your water usage, just think 20 baths or 200 flushes (about 6 a day for a month) will fill the average septic tank completely.
- Cut down on the paper you throw into it, remember it isn’t a garbage disposal and paper fibers are the hardest to breakdown.
- Ease up on the soaps, detergents, oils and cleaning products that enter the drain as they are all damaging to the breakdown process.
- Don’t waste anymore money on chemical additives, they are proven not to have any lasting effect and may actually cause damage.
- It seems obvious but keep stuff off your tile bed, building something over it, driving and parking vehicles or planting trees or shrubs can ruin the drain field operation.
- Pump it out, regardless of whether you experience a problem or not, you should pump out the solids that haven’t been able to breakdown every 3-5 years.
- Get to know your system, it helps to better understand what’s going on and where the components are when you need to access them.
- Install an effluent filter, most existing units don’t have one to keep solids out of the tile bed which can cause blockages.
- Divert unnecessary run off, some home’s roof drains go into the tank and even your water softener discharge is hurting you system.