Septic Tank Chemistry

[Soundguy]

???? tummy? I've always figured that refered to 'stomach'

IMho.. a septic tank is more akin to yer 'GUT' ie intestinal track, with associated flora and fauna.

you don't take any 'bugs' fer yer tummy?

no? how about Yogert with active cultures fer yer GUT then?

just sayin.. since we are making the analogies here.

to go ya one further.. from a guy that owns cows.... I'd call it more like a rumen.. if anything...

Rumen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

soundguy

 

[Stimw]

Seems like a lot of experts everywhere you go with different opinions. I know what I used and what worked for me, that's all I need!
I bought my property in 1998, it had been vacant for over two years. I located the septic tank, removed the lid, stuck a rod in and found 3/4 full of solids and 2" of cigarette butts floating on top. I had so much other work on the place that I just dumped a box of Rid ex in and put the lid back on.
A year later after worrying about it the whole time I pulled the lid again planning on having it pumped. The butts were completely GONE! I put the rod in and the solids were GONE!
Last summer I had to have it pumped and inspected by a state licenced pumper because I was replacing the 35 year old double wide with a new Manufactured Home. After 12 years there was less than 1 foot of solids!
I even had the State Inspector tell me that "none of that stuff works!" I wonder how many pump out trucks he owns?????
It took the Inspector 3 weeks to approve my system for the new home. I consider that time frame disgusting!! I compare it to when I used to work on Semi's , I got one hour to do a FHWA Inspection (Federal Highway Administration) on a Semi Tractor (plus any repair time).
One major problem systems have are Feminine Products, most are not compatible.

 

[woodchuckc]

It may fail tomorrow, but my septic tank and field has been working fine since 1983, when the house was built, without having the tank pumped a single time. I'm toying with the idea of having it pumped this spring just to see how much sediment is in it, but part of me thinks it may not be a good thing to mess with something that doesn't seem to have any problems.

 

[Artisan]

I'm not trashing anyone here, I am just stating a fact. . . I observe this, it has happened many a time and it is what it is. . .

A- So many folks have told me that after they added this, or after they added that "My problems are gone or substancially less" . I am forced to listen to this, and indeed I listen... Not just the guys in this thread...

B- Then these conversations come around and inevitably, the most well versed men, w/ BAs, MA's DRs PHDs and BVDs , (just a joke guys) the most knowlegable of men whom have studied and gone to school and really devoted a lot of their life to the science of septic tanks and systems etc. and these folks "usually" say that additives will not, and do not work. It is hard to not listen to these folks! I am listening, but dang, so many folks have these success stories! It can't be brushed aside!

After hearing the stories from "A", the people in the trenches, I have to take notice! That is when I opened the door to additives, maybe 12 years ago, heck I use BioClean, there are others as well, I am glad I gave them a chance. I simply have to go w/ what I hear from the boots on the ground vs the learned man, as hard as that is. ! If a client spends a lot of money w/ me I give them a can. It puts me out of a job! But my motto is, "I will only do to your property the same things I would do to it if I owned it myself" .

My own house, built in 1955 before I was born. We had kitchen sink drain issues, I was real worried, I cabled and jetted about 6 times, thru a tiny 1.5" hole that has a 5" horizontal nipple before the drop,(it was hard to do in other words and I had to cut the drop head off my 13/32" Spartan cable) and I still had issues, I started using Bio-Clean and I have not had issue for 4 years. I wish I could see underground! I wish I knew hands down, did my repeated cabling and jetting open it up or did the BioClean eat it open! It was both together. :thumbsup:

 

[JasG]

kind of amusing to read about those that think you need to get your system pumped regularly.

if you need it regularly.. you have a problem.

soundguy

What is regular?

I ask due to are you saying it should never need to be pumped?

As I said my dad is over 8-9 year now. He just has it pumped just as PM issue. It may never have needed it because it was never full. His though he routes all of the wash water to a different darin field and never entered the spetic tank.

I did like waste water in college, it was one of the more interesting set of classes I took. We went through 3 treatment plants of different sizes from different towns and the guy who taught it worked at a treatment plant for 20 years before becoming a teacher/professor.

 

[bucktaker]

So I gotta ask is there anything wrong with pumping a system out? Seems to me like it low cost maintenance or even prentative maintence.

I have had my tank pumpe twice in 15 yrs, no problems that Im aware of. We have laundry days where we do lots of laundry loads and always long showers

How would I know if a problem is begininng ??? how do I know if the system is working fine or needs attention?

 

[crackerjack222]

My system is 18 years old with no p0roblems that I know of. My concern is root infiltration. We are on a small lot (1/4 acre) and there are three trees within a few feet of the tank and drain field. Will copper sulfate kill the roots without killing the trees or the beneficial microbes that do the dirty work?

 

[schoolsout]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but I've always heard you should pour a beer down the drain/toilet from time to time

 

[JRobyn]

I have often wondered about the "rule" that one should not use a kitchen waste disposer with a septic system. How does well-ground food waste going into the tank differ from the same thing going into one's digestive tract and THEN into the tank? Granted, there is not an acidic "treatment" like in the stomach, but doesn't the bacterial breakdown in the tank "digest" ordinary food waste?

 

[Egon]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but I've always heard you should pour a beer down the drain/toilet from time to time

That will help. Even better if it is kidney processed first.:thumbsup: