From: wwang@osf.org (Weidong Wang)
Subject: Summary to my septic tank maintenance question
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 21:51:54 GMT



This is to summarize the responses that I have received regarding my question
on septic tank maintenance.

First of all, here is my original questions:

---------------- from wwang@osf.org -----------------------

This must have been discussed several times, but I did not catch any threads.

This is to do with whether a spetic tank ever needs pumping, and whether one
should add any additive to it.

I know there are several sayings. One saying is that a septic tank should never
need pumping, nor any additive. Natural bacteria should do the job. Another 
saying is that one should not add any additive, but one needs to have the tank 
pumped every 2 or 3 years. Still some say that if you ever had your septic tank
pumped, it is an indication that it is not working well, that there is not 
enough bacteria there.

I suppose that by letting detergent, bleaches, soaps. clearners, etc go to the
septic tank, certain amount of bacteria in the tank will be killed. That means 
that for a long period of time, the septic tank may work less efficiently. So, 
is this a good reason to add bactieria additive to increase the batecria 
amount?

I just saw an ad for a product called Saniflo, "the natural bacteria additive".
It claims to be better than other additive on the market, and is USDA approved,
and can even eliminate any clog in the leaching field (pipes). Has anyone heard 
od this product and/or used? Waht is your opinion? They sell a 6 yr supply for
$154.00.


------------- from neilson@osf.org (Peter Neilson) --------------------

Let's think about what naturally goes into a septic tank, and what
happens in a septic tank.

Input:
  - water
  - human waste, containing bacteria
  - other material, some of it animal, some vegetable, some mineral,
    from laundry, garbage disposal, children's toys flushed down
    toilet, etc.

Action:
  - The bacteria decompose some of the waste into a more liquid form,
    over time.  Regardless of what you put into this rather random
    biochemical reaction, some solid matter will dissolve, some will be
    suspended or emulsified, and some will fall to the bottom.  The
    bacteria will do fairly little to liquify the sand that washed out
    of your gardening pants or the rubber duck your four-year-old boy
    swims in the flushing toilet.

  - The liquid from the septic tank flows out of the tank into the
    leach field.  It flows from an outlet at the top of the tank, so
    that the leach field pipes do not become clogged with solid that
    falls to the bottom of the tank.

Analysis:
  - You usually don't need to add any more bacteria, because your
    natural activities put plenty of bacteria in every day.

  - Saniflo might conceivably help some unusual situation, but I've
    never needed it, nor have I known of anyone who does.  My septic
    tank man says he has a product like that available for those who
    insist on it, but he says that no one really needs it.  Also, if
    none of the septic tank additives does any good, then it's easy for
    ALL of them to be the best!

  - You must have the tank pumped out every few years, maybe three or
    four, because it fills up with sludge.  If the sludge reaches the
    leach field, you'll need to have an entire new leach field
    installed, at a cost of several thousand dollars.  A hundred
    dollars every couple of years for pumping out the tank is money
    well spent.  If you can find out who has regularly pumped out your
    tank, ask him how often it was needed.  If you have to get a new
    guy in, ask him for his best guess.  It has been my observation
    that septic tank men are sometimes stupid, but never dishonest.
    I don't think that a dishonest man would want to bother getting so
    dirty.

--Peter


------------- from Charles Ross Peters <peters@mcnc.org> ------------------

If you know how a septic tank and leach field works and use a little common
sense then the answers to these questions aren't so difficult.  First,
your county or city health department has rules on how big a septic tank
and leach field should be for the soil conditions and the expected number
of occupants of your house.  As you are aware the bacteria in this system
break down what goes into it.  Anything going into your tank that
kills bacteria is bad, however, these bacteria are remarkably resilient
creatures and their population can bouce back very quickly ( several hours
or at most a few days) as long as you don't kill them all.  Which is very
difficult to do, unless you really screw up.  So, in general, a normal
healthy septic system needs no new innocualtions of bacteria to do its job
efficiently.

Secondly, bacteria do a fairly good job of breaking things down, but bacteria
cannot liquify EVERYTHING that goes into your septic system.  Those things
that are not liquified eventually settle into a sludge on the bottom of
your tank.  SO, eventually every tank will need to be pumped to remove the
solids.  How often your system needs to be pumped depends upon variables
such as the size of your tank and how fast you are putting nondigestable
material into it.  For some people this will be decades, but for others
this will be a matter of a few years.  An easy way to check is to take
the lid of your tank and stick something fairly long and rigid down into
your tank and see how much sludge you have.  Once the sludge gets high
enough to get into your field lines you are in for trouble, since they soon
become clogged.  You should pump the solids from your tank before it
reaches this point and all will be well.  Any questions?

Charles Peters
peters@mcnc.org



------------- from Rick Farnbach <fsf@wv.MENTORG.COM> ---------------------

I was going to ask you to summarize the responses you will get, but you
already have.  Here's my response, taken from the above.

You should have your septic tank inspected at least once a year.  It will
probably need to be pumped about every three years.  You can do the inspection
yourself by checking the level of sediment in the tank with a long stick.

A septic tank works by collecting solid matter from your sewage.  Some of this
solid matter is decomposed, liquified, and carried off in the waste water to
the drain field.  The rest is either too complex to decompose, or is insoluble
material.  These solids can only be removed by having the tank pumped.

Many people feel that they have never had their septic tank back up or
overflow onto their lawn and therefore they do not need to have it pumped.
First of all, waiting for you system to fail before attempting to prevent the
failure is idiotic.  Second, the purpose of a septic system is not limitted to
keeping smelly sewage off your lawn.  Your septic system's purpose is to
dispose of household sewage a sanitary way.  It accomplishes this by fully
decomposing solid material before releasing it to the ground water.  When your
septic tank fills with sediment, this solid matter is carried directly into
the drain field, and then into the ground water.  This, of course, transmits
parasites and various diseases into the drinking water of people downstream,
possibly including yourself.

Dumping raw sewage into your drain field is more than just a biological
hazard.  This raw sewage can plug the pipes to your field just like you can
get a plugged toilet.  The difference being that it costs significantly more
to have these drain lines snaked out than to have your toilet unplugged.  Even
more insidious, raw sewage in the drain field *will* eventually coat it with a
waterproof coating of fats, plastics, and insoluble salts.  When this happens
not only will the lawn be flooded, but a new drain field will have to be
installed.  Because it may take decades for a drain field to plug some people
think that their system is somehow immune.  Given enough time and enough
solid, untreated sewage, *all* drain fields will plug.

	Weidong> I suppose that by letting detergent, bleaches, soaps. clearners, etc go to the
	Weidong> septic tank, certain amount of bacteria in the tank will be killed. That means 
	Weidong> that for a long period of time, the septic tank may work less efficiently. So, 
	Weidong> is this a good reason to add bactieria additive to increase the batecria amount?

There is lots of biological material in the septic tank that buffers the
effects of these cleaners, lyes, and other caustics put into the system.  The
effect these have on your bacteria population is not as great as you would
think.  Think about it, do you really think your septic system is *ever* going
to be a sanitary environment?  Even if these cleaners could wipe out your
bacteria population, they would be equally capable of killing any bacteria you
added deliberately.  Finally, attempting to increase the amount of bacteria
going into your septic system by dumping a couple tablespoons full of granules
into it is like trying to speed up a river by running your garden hose into
it.

	Weidong> I just saw an ad for a product called Saniflo, "the natural bacteria additive".
	Weidong> It claims to be better than other additive on the market, and is USDA approved,
	Weidong> and can even eliminate any clog in the leaching field (pipes). Has anyone heard 
	Weidong> od this product and/or used? Waht is your opinion? They sell a 6 yr supply for
	Weidong> $154.00.

I'm sure there are several clogs it cannot attack.  If something is insoluble
it is insoluble.  USDA approval probably means just that it won't kill you if
you use it, not that it does wonders for your system.  It doesn't matter what
bacteria these are there are just things in sewage that *cannot* be liquified
by bacteria.  That's why public sewage treatment plants still have to dredge
out sludge from their tanks regularly.

In summary, check your septic system anually.  When the sediment has started
to accumulate have it pumped.  Ask a local professional or county agent or go
to the library to find out how to perform this check yourself.  There is no
evidence that adding bacteria to your system helps it and there are lots of
compelling arguments that say it doesn't.

Rick


------------- from perley@balltown.cma.com (Don Perley) -------------------

What would USDA approval mean?  The EPA should be the federal agency
concerned with septic systems.  Most state environmental agencies will
tell you that additives generally aren't needed, and don't help.

Even if you give them the (large) benifit of the doubt, and assume
that using the product will eliminate all need for pumping, you will
be spending as much on the additive as you would just pumping every
few years anyway.  Last summer we got pumped for the first time in 
8 years, and it costed $100.

-don perley



------------- from au363@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ken Sussmann) -------------

In general, unless you are dumping a great deal of chemicals into your
septic tank, bacteria levels should be okay. After all everytime you use
the toilet you are sending more bacteria into the tank. Yes, tanks do
need to be pumped. Bacteria are great but they can't break down
everything in a reasonable time. A rule of thumb is 2 to 3 years but the
whole idea is to make sure that solids do not get pushed out of the tank
into your leaching field which will clog it and mean big dollars for
repair. If you have an inspection port you can put a stick down to
determine how deep the sludge is in the bottom of the tank to determine
when to have it pumped.



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