Garbage disposal/ septic question

[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.