Septic Systems?

Question

My wife and I are in a debate. I think we should use Rid X she says many people have told her not to. Our system is only a year old and we had it pumped yesturday. The guy who pumped it said it was full. Should we use Rid X?

Answer 1

Use something!! One year is a very short time.If not ridx then something from a hardware store.

Answer 2

Rid X will not hurt it but you have a problem with what you are putting into the tank if you had it pumped after one year. Septics are delicate to a point. Avoid harsh chemicals in volume. Bleach and ammonia will kill the "good" bacteria that make the system work. Grease and oil take a long time to be treated. used to be a saying that "if it didn't go through you, it shouldn't go through the septic". This is overkill but has merits.

Answer 3

If the tank was just full of water, that may be one problem. If the tank was full of solids, then that's another. If water, then you may want to check for water running continuously. This may come from a toilet, or water conditioner. If solids, you may not have a tank the correct size for the number of people in the house. Hope this helps. Rid X won't hurt a thing.

Answer 4

Our septic guy said to use yeast, baking type yeast, especially after a pumping.  Use a whole jar. Just flush the yeast down the toilet.

He also warned about household chemicals.......really think hard about their use as they also kill the bacteria in the tank.

For keeping the drains clean, he suggested going to the furthest sink drain and pouring in a tea kettle of boiling water every week...before bed or before going to work, giving the hot water time to work its way down the system.  Be careful, avoid splashing onto the sink, just the drain.  

Back to the chemicals, avoid chlorine bleach going down the pipes.  Set aside a place outside where you can pour the bucket of water and detergent, bleach, etc from cleaning house.  It will probably kill plants if poured on top, but some out of the way spot is fine.  Never down the driveway into the storm sewer.  

Also try for the least amount of paper and cotton products going down the system.  I'll leave that up to your imagination.  

Don't use the garbage disposal, that is adding way too much solid to the system.  Learn to compost fruit and veggie matter and throw away meats and grease.

Eventually the leach field may fail as it breaks down from the laundry soap.  Sodium destroys the soils ability to drain...especially if you have clay soils.  That's what happened to us.  The leach field became saturated and when pumped, the water flowed back into the tank requiring the tank to be repumped until the water stopped flowing back in.