Sir, are you a vegetarian?

[jinman]

This strange question came from my aerobic septic system service guy today. "No, we love meat," was my answer. He then told me that our filter was the cleanest one he had ever seen. He had been told that undigested meat was a reason for extra sludge. I could see he wasn't fooling. He was really puzzled how we could have such a clean system. He asked how old it was and how many times it had been pumped. When I told him it was 10 years old and had never been pumped, he just shook his head. "Amazing!" he said. I then said that we put all our laundry grey water into a separate system and that probably is the reason we have such a well-working system. He agreed. No soap or bleach in the tank lets biology do its job well.

When he checked my sprinkler heads, one of them was clogged. I recently cut some tree roots out of the clear water tank and am still getting some root pieces that clog the sprinklers. He went to his truck and brought me a new sprinkler head that he said was designed to pass larger particles. He just gave it to me for no charge and flushed the pipe before putting it on.

All-in-all, I was pretty happy with this regular service check. What's not to like?:thumbsup:

 

[ShenandoahJoe]

The wife is a vegetarian diet coach. I'll pass this on to her, as another selling point for potential clients. :laughing:

 

[magicheater]

Did not know septic pumpers checked sprinkler systems! Where is the "clear water tank" in the system? Is this a part of the septic? Never heard of that before.

 

[dcyrilc]

I'm right there with you Jim. That's why we raise cattle. Better meat.:thumbsup:

 

[Egon]

[QUOTEHe had been told that undigested meat was a reason for extra sludge. ][/QUOTE]

Were his sources really creditable??

When Septic Tanks Quit Working
Unfortunately, if the bacterial process is reasonably efficient for taking care of the normal human by-products, it was never well suited to other discards such as simple cooking grease, that can hinder system operation, let alone strong household cleaners, and other chemicals that might kill the working bacteria. These shortcomings can be further complicated by lack of proper maintenance and inflows of wastewater beyond the original specifications.

An excerpt from a Google article. Of course I cannot verify credibility.

 

[20 20]

This strange question came from my aerobic septic system service guy today. "No, we love meat," was my answer. He then told me that our filter was the cleanest one he had ever seen. He had been told that undigested meat was a reason for extra sludge. I could see he wasn't fooling. He was really puzzled how we could have such a clean system. He asked how old it was and how many times it had been pumped. When I told him it was 10 years old and had never been pumped, he just shook his head. "Amazing!" he said.

Back in yesteryear folks would put a dead animal{woodchuck road kill etc.} in their septic. This built up the bacteria, just like eating meat would. I would suspect being a complete vegaterian septic would clog easier??

I then said that we put all our laundry grey water into a separate system and that probably is the reason we have such a well-working system. He agreed. No soap or bleach in the tank lets biology do its job well.

I wanted to do this when we put our septic system in and sure enough codes doesn't allow it{of course what they don't know...... well that's pretty much anything. } I even argued and most agreed but know one wants to change a law :confused2: :drool:

 

[Bird]

Down in the country, we had the same kind of aerobic system. Ours had to be pumped after 4 years. And I can tell you why it was different from Jim's. In the first place, all discharge from the house, including the washing machine water went into the system, and secondly, after a big crowd, big feed, etc. for the family for a Thanksgiving dinner, a day or so later, the sewer drain stopped up. The line went straight out behind the house several feet, then turned 90 degrees and into the first tank. I discovered the elbow at that turn had settled and became low enough that the elbow itself stayed full, and then it had become clogged with grease. It's a great system, and the fact that ours had to be pumped after 4 years was our own fault (well, a little bit the fault of the installer).

 

[jinman]

Did not know septic pumpers checked sprinkler systems! Where is the "clear water tank" in the system? Is this a part of the septic? Never heard of that before.

The aerobic system has a raw sewage aeration tank, an effluent filtration and chlorine treatment tank, and a clear water tank that holds 500 gal. The raw sewage tank has an air pump that bubbles and swirls fresh air up through the raw sewage to aid bacteria to decompose the waste just like a city's sewer dept. does. When the clear water tank gets nearly full, a float turns on a submersible pump and sprinklers pump the water out onto the ground through a 2-head sprinkler system just like the ones people use to water their lawns. There is no odor whatsoever and the chlorine ensures no bacteria escapes the system. Grass around the sprinkler heads is "happy grass."

Here's a picture of my system when it was being installed.

EDIT: I found a brochure picture too. The brochure doesn't show the fresh water tank because some places would require an absorption field rather than sprinklers.

 

[smstonypoint]

Back in yesteryear folks would put a dead animal{woodchuck road kill etc.} in their septic. This built up the bacteria, just like eating meat would. I would suspect being a complete vegaterian septic would clog easier??

I seem to recall a neighbor way back when adding horse manure to his septic tank to facilitate decomposition.

Steve

 

[jinman]

I seem to recall a neighbor way back when adding horse manure to his septic tank to facilitate decomposition.

Steve

My engineer who approved my system suggested that I could get it started by flushing a 5 lb bag of dry dog food down the toilet to "feed the buggies" and get it going. An interesting side note is that in the winter time with snow on the ground, the snow melts first around the aeration tank because it is so warm in there; liquid compost.