Wastewater IQ
Seasonal Tips for Winter
12/1/20093:16:44 PM Link | | Add comment
The holidays are coming, bringing together family, friends, and a few plumbing emergencies. A majority of Americans take part in holiday parties with 11 or more guests around Thanksgiving and Christmas. These extra guests put a serious strain on a home's septic system which results in more evergency calls to us.
Big holiday meals require a busy kitchen. Too much grease and food finds its way into the kitchen drain or disposal. Holiday guests equates to extra showers, baths and lots of extra toilet flushes. It all adds up to potential plumbing disasters. Pipes clog because of a gradual buildup of grease, hair, soap or food particles. All it takes is one major overload, like a house full of guests, to exasperate the situation and create a clogged drain.
Holiday Tips:
- Avoid pouring fats or cooking oils down the drain because liquid fats solidify in the pipes and create clogs. Wipe congealed grease from pots.
- Never put hard-to-grind, stringy, fibrous waste into the garbage disposal (poultry skins, carrots, celery, pumpkin pulp or banana peels). The disposal can't sufficiently grind these items and they will clog your sink drain.
- Run cold water down the drain for about 15 seconds before and after using the garbage disposal to flush waste down the main line.
- Turn on the disposal before adding food debris.
- Run the dishwasher and washing machine at night or at off times to conserve water temperature and pressure for your guests.
Roots
9/3/200911:29:28 AM Link | | Add comment
During the summer months tree roots actively grow as they search for moisture, often leading them into your underground sewer pipes. Roots can work their way through the tiniest cracks and joints, and once inside, they grow, grow, grow.
Eventually toilet paper, tissues and other debris become tangled in the roots and form a clog. Left unchecked, tree roots will grow so large inside the pipes that they will begin breaking the joints and destroying portions of your sewer line.
Seasonal Tips:
- Do not plant trees or large shrubs in close proximity to water and sewer lines in your yard.
- Pay attention to slow household drains. If running slowly, treat with a clog-clearing product. If drainage does not show significant improvement, you may have a more serious clog and may have roots in your main sewer line. A plumbing company will be able to inspect the line with a special video camera to determine what is causing the clog.
- Have your septic tank and sewer line professionally cleaned every 3 years, especially if it's been previously treated for root infiltration.
WHY AEROBIC
5/12/20093:38:28 PM Link | | Add comment
Conventional anaerobic septic systems provide adequate treatment under many conditions; however, because they discharge contaminated wastewater into the natural environment they depend on natural processes to complete the waste treatment. They require a substantial thickness of free draining soil, and groundwater must be located well below the disposal lines. If these conditions are not met then septic soil conditions and/or groundwater contamination can result. By removing contamination before the effluent is discharged, aerobic treatment expands the conditions under which on-site disposal of residential sewage can be safely performed. Aerobic treatment also allows the use a shallow drip irrigation tube for effluent disposal, which makes it particularly beneficial for replacement of existing systems since the lines can be installed with easy equipment and can be routed to avoid landscaping, driveways, outbuildings and other existing features on developed lots.
Shallow groundwater or bedrock
Septic systems typically require at least 5 feet of soil cover above groundwater or bedrock. Aerobic systems can usually be installed in locations with as little as 24 inches of soil cover. In many cases this distance can be further reduced by installing properly designed engineered fill.
Small lots
Aerobic systems typically require smaller disposal areas than septic systems. Small lots that are unbuildable with a conventional septic system can become buildable with an aerobic system; a lot that is only suitable for a two-bedroom house can become suitable for three or four bedrooms.
Adverse ground slope.
Slopes that are too steep for conventional septic systems may be suitable for aerobic systems. Also, since gravity flow is not required, the treatment system and drain field can be placed in virtually any convenient location.
Irregular sites
Drip lines are highly flexible allowing them to be routed into the corners of lots, beneath narrow planting areas, or around obstructions; making full use of available areas.
Adverse soil types
Aerobic treatment is suitable for a variety of soil conditions that are either too permeable or not permeable enough for a conventional septic system.
Replacement systems
Aerobic treatment offers advantages on a developed lot where a backhoe or other earthmoving equipment could cause excessive damage. The shallow drip lines can be installed using small equipment or even hand labor to prevent disturbance to landscaping. The treatment system itself can be installed in virtually any accessible area.
"I Can't Afford It"
4/17/200910:54:39 AM Link | | Add comment
While I was working on one of my first jobs and trying to keep a young family afloat, a doctor I met at a meeting asked how long it had been since my last checkup. "I can't afford to take off to go to the doctor ," I replied. "You can't afford not to go to the doctor," he said, a look of utter shock on his face. He was right, of course. And what he said is true of many things we all claim at some point that we can't afford.
Allow me to suggest here that you can't afford not to provide your septic system the maintenance and care it requires to function as a viable wastewater treatment unit for years to come. If you own a septic system it is recommended industry wide by Professionals and Academia's to pump your system once every three years. Your septic system is used every day and we expect it to function as designed. Consider your car, you use it every day and you expect it to start and function as designed. Every 3000 miles you change your oil. Changing your oil on schedule keeps the grundge and gunk that accumalates in your oil filter and oil pan from entering the engine and causing irreversible damage. Think of your septic tank as your oil pan and your septic field as your engine. Pumping your septic tank every 3 years cleans the solids that sludge from your tseptic tank that does not liquidfy. If not removed, this sludge will transfer through the septic tank to the septic field and cause such irreversible damage that most septic systems are unrepairable and have to be replaced.
Pumping your septic tanks every 3 years is preventative maintenance that keeps your septic system functioning as designed without potential water quality issues and expensive repairs. Can you afford a new septic system due to poor maintenance?