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Helping You Make Your Home Your Castle |
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Cleaning the Septic Tank
Overview: If you live in a rural area or an area
where there is no public sewage disposal system,
you must care of your home sewage and waste water
treatment system.
Rural
sewage and waste water disposal consists of a
septic tank and a leach field. These two items
process the sewage and waste water from your home.
The septic tank requires periodic septic tank
maintenance to insure that the leach field is not
clogged with solid material. The septic tank works
with a leach field as a complete waste treatment
system.
Waste water and
sewage leaves your house through a four inch sewer
pipe to a septic tank. The septic tank is a large
concrete structure that is beneath the ground where
the sewage and waste water begins the treatment
process. Although most septic tanks are constructed
of concrete, fiberglass septic tanks are becoming
more popular because there lighter weight is easier
to work with. The size of the septic tanks depends
on the number of people residing in your home as
determined by the number of bedrooms. The average
septic tank is 1,000 gallons, based on a three
bedroom home.
The septic tank
design consists of two or more chambers. As the
waste material passes through the first chamber the
heavier solid material settles to the bottom of the
chamber and the waste water passes through to the
next chamber. More of the solid material settles in
the second chamber and the waste water flows out of
the septic tank to the leach field through a
distribution system of sewage pipes. The pipes have
holes in the bottom that allow the waste water to
leach down into the field.
It is imperative
that septic tank maintenance be performed
periodically to remove the solid material from the
tank before it becomes overloaded and runs into the
leach field. Septic tank maintenance is limited to
having the tank pumped. If the solid material
reaches the leach field it will clog the leaching
pipes and field. If the leach field becomes clogged
with solid material it will have to be replaced.
Replacing a leach
field can be very expensive, usually several
thousand dollars. Replacing the leach field
requires that the entire field be dug up and
removed, replacing it with new material and pipe.
This can be avoided by having the septic tank
periodically cleaned. If your leach field fails you
will soon know it as well as your neighbors. The
unprocessed sewage will leak through the sides or
top of the leach field causing a very toxic odor.
Septic tank
cleaning consists of pumping the solids form the
tank. Each chamber has as entry cover that is
buried just below ground level. The septic tank
pumping service removes the covers from each
chamber and pumps all the liquid and solids out. It
is important that each chamber be pumped. Some
pumping service companies only pump the first
chamber. The solid waste in the second chamber is
denser with a sludge consistency that settles on
the very bottom of the septic tank. It must be
removed during the cleaning process.
Of course the
frequency that your septic tank should be cleaned
depends on the amount of sewage that flows into it.
Usually every five years is adequate if you have a
1,000 or more gallon tank. However, if you have a
garbage disposal or other high generator of waste
material, it should be cleaned more often. If you are buying a used house insist that the leach field be no older than twenty five years and that the septic tank is pumped before signing a sale agreement. Related articles:
Clogged
Sink Drains - Clogged Toilets
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