Septic tank maintenance

septic tank treatments

Will hydrogen peroxide clean septics?

May 7th, 2013
by Service.
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This article will help the reader understand the age old question of will hydrogen peroxide clean septics? Septics are wastewater treatment systems that are especially designed and built for your household. It could only accommodate the number of household members that you have. If you have plans of increasing the number of people that live in your home, you may want to upgrade your septic as well. As you may know, the septic system is composed of two basic components—the septic tank and the drain field. It cannot be denied that the septics of your household experience a very strenuous experience of holding and treating wastewater.

Because of this, it is constantly exposed to tough stains and detrimental pathogens. It is definitely a must for the septic system to undergo regular maintenance and care. Sadly, not every homeowner believe in constantly looking after their septics. They usually just carry on with the old ways of just leaving them be or just dropping in yeast cakes every now and then. The septic system is a living organism underneath your property that you should take care of because it takes care of you. With this fact served up, you should adhere to the pump out and treatment schedules recommended by your septic expert.

The septics should be regularly cleaned as well. There are so many products in the market these days that are considered effective and safe for your septics. It can be very overwhelming to scan the aisles of septic stores to find the perfect one that you could use. You should keep in mind that the cleaning solution to pick should be economical and safe for you, the environment, and for your septics. One of the chemical additives that you should consider is hydrogen peroxide. But will hydrogen peroxide clean septics optimally?

Hydrogen peroxide isn’t like other chemical additives in the market today. This is truly a very versatile chemical compound because of its many uses both as a cleaning agent and an antiseptic/disinfectant. It is commonly used by women to instantly get rid of blood stains during their period especially when they are outside their homes. You could also find hydrogen peroxide in first aid kits because this compound is effective in removing blood and killing off any bacteria present in the wound area. Here are other uses of hydrogen peroxide that you may already be familiar with:

  1. If you want to remove tough blood or wine stains on fabrics, just spot apply three percent hydrogen peroxide.
  2. In dental hygiene, hydrogen peroxide can be used through the following ways:
    1. If you want to make sure that your toothbrush remains safe from bacteria when you’re not using it, soak it in three percent hydrogen peroxide especially when you store it in one container with the other toothbrushes at home.
    2. Your dentures should be rid of stains and bacteria as well. Soak them in three percent hydrogen peroxide solution for half an hour or overnight. Rinse it under running water before you wear it again.

 

  1. Lighten your hair, clean your face, and rinse your mouth with diluted hydrogen peroxide as well.
  2. One pint of hydrogen peroxide in a gallon of water could be used in disinfecting and cleaning walls, humidifiers, windows, and blinds.
  3. 50:50 parts of water and three percent hydrogen peroxide could be used in cleaning the bathroom areas (shower, glass doors, mirrors, floor, and sink).
  4. You could also use three percent hydrogen peroxide in cleaning your meats before you cook them. It could also be used in cleaning cutting boards, trash cans, refrigerators, dishwashers, and areas of the kitchen (sink, counter, floor, and walls).

Because hydrogen peroxide is effective in getting rid of the pathogenic bacteria in your septics, there is a significant change in the septic odors. It is practically odorless already after hydrogen peroxide usage. Remember to ask the guidance of your septic expert so that the proper dilution can be used in cleaning your septics. It may be very useful and harmless when diluted but when hydrogen peroxide is in its pure form, it can be dangerous already. Be sure to store your stock of hydrogen peroxide in a place that cannot be reached by pets or children. We hoped this article helped the reader understand the age old question of will hydrogen peroxide clean septics?

Septic tank preventive maintenance

Apr 15th, 2013
by Service.
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Septic tank preventive maintenance is the subject of this article. In a brood of five females, you have always been the responsible one. You were the eldest son in a huge way, you assumed the role of a guy so that you would be able to take care of your sisters and protect them when your parents were not around. It was a hard thing to do. As you grew up, you became very intimidating to every man you met. This resulted to a non-existent love life. But being tough had its advantages. One of them was being able to get things fixed around the house and being able to know more things about electronics and the septic system.

Your sisters usually ran to you or called you if they had problems with their plumbing or septic system. You wore not a septic expert but when the problem was too big for you to handle, you told them to call the real guys in. One of the things that you always educated your sisters about was proper septic tank preventive maintenance. If they knew a great deal about it, then they would be able to save a lot of money.

Many homeowners are surprised at the amount of money that they have to prepare when their entire septic system fails. A new septic system could cost up to 30,000 USD. With this, your sisters were grateful that you always made time for them whenever they needed your help. Septic tank preventive maintenance is always beneficial.

The following are the basic things that you have told your sisters: 

a)       You should just allow the ordinary wastewater and biodegradable tissue paper to enter your septic tank. Avoid dumping kitchen grease, cigarette butts, tobacco buts, sanitary napkins, tampons, car grease, and diapers into the tank. These are known as non-biodegradable materials. As you know, these cannot be broken down by the resident bacteria in the tank. These substances just stay in the tank until the time they completely clog block the incoming wastewater or get dispersed into the drain field. This is a common cause of septic tank failure.

b)       Leaks or damages in the plumbing and fixtures should be repaired or replaced immediately. The leaks contribute to the backing up of wastewater.

c)       Never allow vehicles to drive over or park on your septic tank area. Relocate your construction projects away from your septic tank area. These cause the soil to be compacted over the septic tank. Soil compaction causes damage to the tank and also to the drain field.

d)       Know the exact location of the septic tank so that you may prevent damaging it through the planting of trees, parking of vehicles, and performing construction. You could do this by asking the help of the department that issued the permit for your septic system to be installed. Find out for yourself by tracing the dry or soggy grass areas on your yard. These indicate the location of the drain field and the septic tank. It will be much faster if you ask the help of your septic expert. He could charge you extra for that.

e)       A septic expert should regularly inspect the tank before any treatment is done to it. Inspection is needed to see if there are any damages in the tank, if there are any trees or hardwood plants on or around the tank, and id the level of sludge in the tank is normal.

f)        Only color safe oxygen bleach should be used

g)       A schedule for your septic tank’s preventive maintenance should be maintained

h)       The septic expert should perform the following septic treatments:

  1. Activator, restores the normal population of the resident bacteria
  2. Porosity restorer, restores tanks, drain fields, and dry wells
  3. Regular pump outs
  4. Septic maintainer, improves septic tank function, quickly digests paper/detergents, protects drains, and stop septic odors

Even if it took forever for you to meet the love of your life, it was all worth it. You were proud to be there for your sisters even if it was about household technicalities. Septic tank preventive maintenance will save homeowners thousands overtime.

Leach field treatments

Apr 11th, 2013
by Service.
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This article will touch basis on leach field treatments and the importance of treating a septic system. You have always been the type of homeowner that is considered hands-on. When it is about your home, you always made sure that every component is set according to what your septic expert recommended. You do this because you believe that your home is your legacy. It would be your shelter and the shelter of future generations in your family. Even if it meant having to devote an entire day for your home’s care and maintenance, you gladly did it. You would rather do the maintenance than have an extensive and expensive repair.

One aspect of your home that you always focused on was your septic system, particularly, your leach field. It was something that you thought had to be given special attention because if it failed, you knew that your home and the surrounding environment would be negatively affected. You knew that if the leach field suddenly stops functioning, it would mean that you and your household would be surrounded by septic odors and septic water. Diseases would infect everyone and everything within the area. That thought never left you that was why you did everything just to keep the leach field and the entire septic system optimal.

One way to keep the leach field unclogged and in good condition is to apply leach field treatments. In today’s day and age, there are so many developed leach field treatments that you could choose from. The treatments are categorized into inorganic, organic, and biological. Inorganic leach field treatments use harsh chemicals such as strong alkalines and acids that often kill off the resident bacteria and corrode the physical components of the system. The organic leach field treatments use baking soda or yeasts that benefit the system for a time. It is advised that the organic treatments should not be used for long because they could affect the performance of the leach field and the entire system as well. The safest, most recommended leach field treatment is the biological one. This leach field treatment is made up of non-pathogenic, cultured bacteria and enzymes that significantly improve the performance of the resident bacteria in breaking down the solid waste materials.

There are studies that show how unnecessary the use of enzymes in leach field treatments. According to these experts, the simple dumping of human wastes could already provide the enzymes that accelerate the digestion of the solid wastes in the system. But it’s still the homeowner’s prerogative whether to use the leach field treatments or not. You just have to make sure that the leach field treatments are done according to standards, with the proper procedure.

Even if you have decided to use leach field treatments, you still have to do your part in taking good care of your leach field. It all starts in the home. You should make sure that your household properly uses the entire septic system. Drains, toilets, and sinks should not be treated as waste receptacles. This means that you should not dump your food scraps, grease, disinfectants, tampons, toilet paper, and diapers into them. You should also refrain from using antibacterial household cleansers that destroy both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in the system. If you have a rain gutter that directs the rain fall directly onto the leach field, you should redirect it at the soonest. This would only increase the water load in the system and prevent the leach field from taking in water. Any form of construction and vehicle should not be placed over the leach field. The heavy weight will cause damage to the leach field components such as the lateral lines and the d-box. Heavy footprints could also cause this same destruction. It is best to have that leach field area off limits.

Leach field treatments are just there to help you improve the leach field’s condition and performance. They are not magic potions that “cure” your leach field of any ailments. You have already done this and you don’t seem to have any plans of stopping.

What is a septic system?

Apr 9th, 2013
by Service.
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What is a septic system and how do they work is a common question asked by many new homeowners. It’s not a yes or no question. It is something that you have to know a great deal about to elaborate the presented term. If you don’t have access to the city or town’s sewage system, you have a septic system installed in your property to take care of your wastewater production. It is has been known to be a very effective means to collect, treat, and dispose of the produced sewage in suburban and rural households.

Wastewater is called as such because of the filth, contaminants, and pathogens that will definitely cause a health and environmental havoc in the surrounding system. With the help of the septic system, the wastewater is treated and purified before it is safely returned to the environment. Two main components make the system efficient—the septic tank and the drain field.

The septic tanks size is determined and built according to the number of people that it has to accommodate. When the wastewater is collected in the tank, the pre-treatment already starts. Here, three layers are formed—scum layer (top—lightweight solid particles), effluent (clear liquid layer), and sludge (bottom—heavyweight solid particles). At the bottom part, the anaerobic bacteria take action and digest the solid wastes.

The drain field then received the clear, pre-treated effluent from the tank. There are up to 5 trenches installed in this area. These trenches have lateral lines that are perforated to enable the dispersion of the effluent. A d-box or a distribution box is also situated here to allow equal distribution of the treated effluent. The drain field or leach field is also known as the soil absorption field or nitrification field. It also has the aerobic bacteria and the biomat that purify the pre-treated effluent before it reaches the nearby lakes, estuaries, ponds, or rivers.

What is a septic system? The function of the septic system actually depends on the soil that you have around your home. If the soil you have has a good percolation rate and could effectively purify the effluent, then the septic system could serve your household well. But if the soil in your property is not capable of performing the effluent purification and distribution, then a health and sanitation problem is bound to happen. When the soil isn’t right for the septic system, the drains and toilets will back up and the groundwater will be contaminated. The type of soil should be bright red, yellow, or brown with gray spots. This is known to be very wet soil. The texture should be just right—not too clayey or sandy to the feel. To know if your soil is really fit for the septic system, you should ask the help of your environment health professional or sanitation professional so that a proper inspection may be conducted.

To have a septic system installed in your property, there should be a permit issued by the local health department. It must be understood that proper maintenance and care should be given to the septic system:

  • Lessen your daily water load
  • Do not dump non-biodegradable materials or grease into the system (only wastewater should be present in the system
  • Install a dry well to take care of the grey water (helps lessen the septic water load)
  • Know the exact location of your septic system
  • Keep construction activities and vehicles away from the system area
  • Adhere to the regular pump out schedule
  • Avoid planting gardens or trees over or around the septic system area

The homeowner’s main responsibility is to maintain the regular pump out sessions with the help of the septic expert. You have to discuss the living situation in your home so that a stable pump out schedule can be established. Biological or bacterial treatments could also be used to enhance or improve the performance of the resident septic bacteria. Aeration could also be performed. This process increases the number of aerobic bacteria that helps break down even the smallest solid waste particles. We hope we helped you in determining what is a septic system?

Septic additives do help leach fields

Oct 11th, 2012
by Service.
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Your best friend was going to drop by to discuss a real estate project with you. It was a perfect excuse to cook and clean up, which you didn’t do on a regular basis because of all the office and charity work that you had to do. After making pasta and cheesecake, you decided to start cleaning the bathrooms. Then, you vacuumed everything and swept the yard. You still had an hour to wait so you turned on your computer and started browsing through your favorite websites. After a while, you smelled something weird. You just cleaned the entire house but faint, disarming smells wafted through the house. To resolve this, you lit up your aromatic oils to mask the horrid smells until your best friend arrived. You should have remembered that septic additives do help leach fields.

When your best friend entered your home, she went straight to the bathroom. There was silence for a few minutes but she immediately went out covering her nose and mouth. She said that the drains were backing up and she wasn’t able to finish flushing because she was afraid that the toilet would back up and flood the bathroom as well. You wondered why this happened. You just had the drains checked by your plumber the other day and he said that there was no problem. But apparently, there was. Your best friend suggested that you should call up your septic expert instead. This was way bigger than just superficial clogs. Something was wrong with your septic system.

You apologized to your best friend and decided to have your meeting at the front yard. You brought out the food and covered them as you waited for your coffee to brew. The septic expert arrived with his equipment. You invited him to join you for a while before he started dealing with the septic problem. The first thing the septic professional said was that septic additives do help leach fields. After a few minutes of eating and having coffee, the septic expert excused himself and went to work. He assessed the septic system and discovered that your leach field had a minor clog. He suggested that septic additives should be applied to help make the leach field improve.

As you may know, the leach field is the part of the septic system that purifies the outgoing effluent before it is distributed into the surrounding environment. If the leach field is blocked or clogged up, the wastewater will back up into your home and onto your yard. This was the reason why the sinks, drains, and toilets in your home were backing up and septic odors were wafting through your home. This could be avoided if monthly leach field treatments are given to your system. There are many septic additives to choose from these days. But biological additives are the best that you could use. Biological additives are bacteria and enzymes that increase the efficiency of the resident bacteria. This is bacteria- and environment friendly so you can be confident that no harm will befall your septic system, its resident bacteria, and the surrounding water systems in your area.

The septic system’s real fuel is the bacteria that break down the solid waste materials and purify the effluent. If the anaerobic bacteria are always kept in large numbers, the degradation of the solid wastes is maintained. With this, the effluent is kept clear to be dispersed into the leach field. In the leach field, the aerobic bacteria are responsible for eliminating the disease-causing microorganisms in the effluent.

Your best friend was surprised at why you didn’t use septic additives in your leach field and that septic additives do help leach fields. It was exactly what you needed in your subdivision development project. You only refused to use septic additives because you wanted to maintain the old ways that you grew up to. You only pumped out your septic tank and that was it. With septic additives, the leach field will be greatly improved because the clogging will be immensely lessened. No homeowner would want a failing leach field after all.