Garbage disposal/ septic question

[jinman]

I believe my permit was $400, the engineer's fee was $125, and the cost of my aerobic system was about $6250 including a two year maintenance contract.

 

[J35]

I have never lived where we used a public sewer system, always septic tank and leach field.

My place in S AZ I traded a 5lb rooster for my septic system, 1500 gal tank and a hundred feet of leach line, 4 feet of stone in the ditch.

Ran my laundry wash water in a ditch and planted 10 fig trees on ea side of the ditch, tree's thrived and i dug earth worm's for fish bait from along side the ditch for 22 years.

My place in E VA I have a 1500 gal tank 320 feet of leach line 2 feet of stone $3000 in 1999. After all the county inspectors were gone for good, I ran a separate leach line for my wash water, can't use a ditch here because it will freeze in the winter.

Never heard of having a tank pumped until moving here, county ordinance says once every five years.

I blew them off till this year and had it pumped. I believe having the tank pumped is a dumb thing to do and a unnessary expense not to mention a health hazard in itself, they drag that hose across your yard, you can still see the crap on it from the last tank they pumped. The truck won't leave your drive way.

It chaps my hide I have to pay because of other peoples ignorance and laziness.

Have fun

 

[Pirate]

I would really like to take my clothes and dish washers out of my septic system but at this point it would be too much work and I don't have a good place to run it. I stopped using my garbage disposal and put lint filters on my clothes machines.

 

[jinman]

I would really like to take my clothes and dish washers out of my septic system but at this point it would be too much work and I don't have a good place to run it. I stopped using my garbage disposal and put lint filters on my clothes machines.

Pirate, I don't know about TN, but TX requires dishwashers and kitchen sink drains to be on the sanitary septic system with all commodes. The bathroom sinks and bathtubs/showers can be on the gray water system. The public works inspector told me that kitchen sinks and dishwashers had to be sanitary because of food waste.

I could probably reduce the amount of water into my system at least another 60-100 gal/day by removing the sinks and bathroom/showers, but the extra plumbing for a system like that is what made me just go with my laundry drain. It was very easy to re-route since it is on an outside wall of my garage and on the ground level.

 

[Western]

x2 what Jinman said

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I will say... Our softener dumps into our septic, which seemed to have caused real issues with our effluent filter clogging really routinely. After scheduling one regen per month, it's been a world of difference.

We used to also use septic treatments to introduce good bacteria... But that didn't seem to do much at all.

We use 60 gallons of water per day average in a 1500 gal tank. Our only real issue has been the effluent filter needing cleaned. The septic company said to clean it every 6 months, and if I do that, it will clog and the tank will back up. Therefore I have it on a 3 month schedule now.

 

[ponytug]

I will say... Our softener dumps into our septic, which seemed to have caused real issues with our effluent filter clogging really routinely. After scheduling one regen per month, it's been a world of difference.

We used to also use septic treatments to introduce good bacteria... But that didn't seem to do much at all.

We use 60 gallons of water per day average in a 1500 gal tank. Our only real issue has been the effluent filter needing cleaned. The septic company said to clean it every 6 months, and if I do that, it will clog and the tank will back up. Therefore I have it on a 3 month schedule now.

While you can dump your softener regen into your septic, it would be preferable to dump it directly into the field lines if they can handle the flow. Otherwise, you run into the issues that you are having with the high flow of the regeneration back wash cycle(s) stirring up s$## in the tank and flushing it out to your exit filter. My concern would be the debris that gets past the exit filter into the drain field.

FWIW: My exit filter has been in for fifteen plus years and never needed cleaning.

All the best,

Peter

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I will say... Our softener dumps into our septic, which seemed to have caused real issues with our effluent filter clogging really routinely. After scheduling one regen per month, it's been a world of difference.

We used to also use septic treatments to introduce good bacteria... But that didn't seem to do much at all.

We use 60 gallons of water per day average in a 1500 gal tank. Our only real issue has been the effluent filter needing cleaned. The septic company said to clean it every 6 months, and if I do that, it will clog and the tank will back up. Therefore I have it on a 3 month schedule now.

While you can dump your softener regen into your septic, it would be preferable to dump it directly into the field lines if they can handle the flow. Otherwise, you run into the issues that you are having with the high flow of the regeneration back wash cycle(s) stirring up s$## in the tank and flushing it out to your exit filter. My concern would be the debris that gets past the exit filter into the drain field.

FWIW: My exit filter has been in for fifteen plus years and never needed cleaning.

All the best,

Peter

Maybe that would be preferable, and I run the softener as water/salt efficient as I possibly can. I have it tweaked right out. We plan to build again in 5 years, so maybe not a concern here, but in the future home. I do wish they would have thought of a dry well or something of that nature for the softener, instead of the current setup. The septic guys said they don't think a well set up softener would be an issue in the septic tank at all.

 

[JasperFrank]

Three years ago, i though we had a problem with the septic tank. Things were not draining, and backing up. So I thought the thought we all have that after 25 years of use it might need to be sucked out. So hired a septic cleaner, that took 1500 gallons out and the septic guys says he sees almost no solids here. Tank is good. You have a Coupling failure. So dug some more, and this was the case. Stupid installers didn't support the pipe to the tank when they back filled. I was very surprised, the tank itself had so few solids and almost no sludge after 25 years. No one on a septic tank should use a garbage disposal grinder. We don't compost, we just always make sure we only buy the food we need and have very little waste. And of course you have to tell city folk, what they can and can not flush.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

dawzie you make sense. I have rural water ( city water) and a septic. The chlorine has to be killing the bugs. I also soften the water. Should I throw a dead chicken int he tank to get her going???

I have her ona three year pump out.

You should crap in the tank to get it going.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Hi, I'm a septic company owner. According to code in NY, if you are considering a disposal, you are supposed to up the tank to next bigger.

But, from what we see, it doesn't help.
Using a "good" septic additive and getting the tank cleaned is the best thing to do.

"When should I clean my tank?"
That all depends on what and how much is being dumped into it.

Lets say you have a thousand gallon tank, two adults, two kids, no sink grinder, no water conditioner, no town water, yes you have a washer machine. Pumping the tank every five years is good maintaince. It's like changing the oil in your car when you're supposed to.

If you have a water conditioner that uses salt or clorine, the regeneration water is NOT supposed to go into the septic. Salt eats concrete!!! It also hinders the bacteria growth in the tank and also causes the solids to stay suspended in the water. Now that "dirty" water is going to your feild. Someday it will cause problems out there. I know that the water conditioner "man" will tell you different, but I know what I see.

and clorine is there to do what?? kill bacteria, it does it in your septic system too. Using lots of bleach in your laundry?? Got a clean freak in your house who disinfects everything then dumps the water down the drain? Flushing them old drugs down the toilet??

Lets get them tanks cleaned every year or two.

"I haven't cleaned my tank in twenty years"!!!

I know, and good for you. Your neighbor didn't either, cost him $18,000 !!! for a new leachfeild that had to be built to todays standards too. !!

I expect my comments to generate many questions, so ask away.

Dawes Septic & Repair
since 1952

Listen to the expert. He knows what he is talking about.

We're water limited, so have water saving appliances. Low flush toilets. American Standard works great, particularly the 1.6 gallon flush. Front loading washer. Energy star dishwasher. The only extravagance is that I took the flow restrictors out of the shower heads, but we only have a 35 gallon water heater set to 125, so the shower valve is on full hot and when it starts getting cooler it's time to get out. Our domestic use is about 100 gallons a day, into a 1000/500 2-chamber tank. It gives the solids plenty of time to settle out, and has 3 baffles to skim any grease.

Our drain field is 50 years old. We replaced the tank in 2005 and dug it out to the first D-box, which was clean. We want to keep it that way. Septic standards 50 years ago were a different world, since the drain field is within 50' of a creek. When we replaced the tank, the DEQ dumped tracer dye into it and tested downstream, and it passed, so we're not contaminating any waterways, but they would never let us install a replacement field anywhere near the house. We do laundry with Boraxo from time to time to keep tree roots out of the drain lines.

We pump the tank every 5 years. Interestingly, there is always sediment in the second tank, so it's catching some solids that otherwise would have made it into the drain lines. I want those solids to stay in the tank where they belong. We have a garbage disposal, but compost our garbage and send grease to the landfill. The only thing that goes down the drain is the last little cruddies from rinsing out the sink.

 

[oosik]

No question - a garbage grinder/disposal adds a load to a septic system. The real question is - are you willing and able to monitor and maintain your septic system?

Most folks are the type - "out of sight - out of mind". This does not fare well with a septic system.