Septic Pet Peeve

[CalG]

Just saying that a typical comfortable size home with several people and a yard are very use to using a 100 gpd in drought stricken California.

In Washington, my Septic was "Sized" by the county based on the number of bedrooms.

I understand. Same here.

 

[PILOON]

Wow, that has to be stinky and gross to keep used toilet paper in a basket instead of flushing it. :ill:

In a properly designed system, toilet paper would not be a problem. If they are worried about it, they can go with a SludgeHammer system which will break up the solids in the tank.

We have been told by a gov't environmental group that only WHITE TP should be used in a septic system, seems that the inks or dyes render the TP to be less decompostable, mind U they also advocated single ply.

 

[CalG]

We have been told by a gov't environmental group that only WHITE TP should be used in a septic system, seems that the inks or dyes render the TP to be less decompostable, mind U they also advocated single ply.

I suppose it's best to use the kind of paper with the 1 inch hole in the center of each sheet. ;-)

 

[PILOON]

I suppose it's best to use the kind of paper with the 1 inch hole in the center of each sheet. ;-)

LOL, I know the punch line to that but think it would not be appropriate to print it.

 

[teejk]

All depends on soil I think...my septic system was built in 2010...house was sized as a 4 BR house...having been burned on 2 other houses that I bought where the builder/realtor classified one of the rooms as a "den" solely to save a few $$$ on the septic size (reducing the # of bedrooms), I did the math. This house will sell as a 4 BR house even though for the most part we would only need a septic for a one bedroom house (unlike the NY house where we thought we bought a 4BR house only to discover that it was a 3 BR house with a "den"...same realtor on both sides and was offended when I fired her on the sell side after the news that we were selling a 3BR house instead of the 4BR house we bought). Wisconsin probably leads the nation on private septics. Inspection required every 3 years (fines for non compliance are steep). My septic guy is on my phone's "contact" list. For $150 every 3 years comes out to less than what most people spend on coffee. Dunno if mentioned above but we learned the hard way...do NOT use that extra strength TP. Btw, our system with a 3 chamber tank coming out of the house 9' below grade with a pump in chamber #3) and long 2 pipe field cost me $7G (including soil tests). Granted we built in a sand/gravel pit area (glacier thing) but everything is fine.

 

[roadhunter]

I always skim off the crust (which seems to be mainly tp) on my tank each year when I bubble the tank. I lay down some brush and scoop it out with what amounts to a homemade pitchfork with a long needle and the tines welded at 90 degrees. Then burn it.

Then I take another pipe and reach down in the corners of the tan and run air through the line to mix up and oxygenate the tank. I had it pumped this year and plan to start pumping myself each year with a cheap harbor freight trash pump. Plan is to use tractor to punch some holes down around some trees nearby and get those nutrients down into the soil where the roots can use them with some biochar mixed in. This year I just dug a hole out in the field and he dumped it there.

 

[ultrarunner]

Having no paper at all being flushed is why my friends had a system like new after decades...

The leach field was a big expanse of lawn...

Each time the county inspection was done the pumpers always said it was the cleanest they ever come across.

 

[TomSeller]

I suppose it's best to use the kind of paper with the 1 inch hole in the center of each sheet. ;-)

Sure, then you can reuse those sheets since they would be clean. No sense flushing them.

 

[TomSeller]

When I was looking at houses to buy a while back I saw one with a urinal and a butt gasket dispenser above the toilet. There was a sign above the urinal that read "my next husband will be normal"

 

[ultrarunner]

Friends returned from Japan and one high end Hotel had no Toilet Paper... the toilet washes and drys your butt as they explained it... must be similar to a drive through car wash?