Septic System Maintenance For Residential Septic System

you you this housing development is like thousands across the country it has the house the yard maybe a deck off the back it also has something we're going to talk a lot about over the next few minutes all the houses in this neighborhood like millions across the country have their very own decentralized wastewater treatment facility can you see it I'm standing right on it it's the septic system these septic systems are so popular as an alternative to centralized municipal sewer systems they treat about a quarter of all domestic wastewater in the u.s. that's about four billion gallons that's billion with a B of wastewater every day four billion gallons of wastewater anyway the point is septic systems are important and just because they're underground and kind of forgotten about doesn't mean we don't need to take care of them because if we neglect them they're very difficult to ignore once they start acting up and I know you don't want me to show you what that looks like so let's get to know our septic system you know that little pipe that sticks out of the roof that's your vent pipe it allows air to enter and leave the system as liquid flows through the pipes oh and it vents noxious gases to all the various drains in the house are connected to one main exit pipe called the sewage lateral that's the Buried 4-inch pipe that goes from the house to the septic tank it usually goes through the home's foundation wall but may also go through the home's basement or crawlspace floor everything that goes down every drain in the house ends up in your septic tank yours may be made of what a tight concrete or plastic and some older ones may be made of cinder block or steel regardless of what it's made of the septic tank is where the wastewater separates into solid and liquid and where the first stage of biological treatment occurs the tank will have several access hatches that allow inspection and pump out of the tank typical modern septic tanks hold 1000 or 1500 gallons tanks can be connected one after another in series if the design requires the tank may have a single compartment or two compartments some two compartment tanks may have a submersible pump in the second smaller compartment to pump liquid to the leach field if the outlet of the tank is lower than the leach field when all the material is sucked out of the tank during servicing that material is what is defined as septage the liquid in the tank flows by gravity through a buried four inch diameter pipe called the effluent line to the distribution box some systems use a pump to push the effluent through a small diameter pipe to the distribution box sometimes a larger wet well that contains a submersible pump is located between the septic tank and the D box this is done when placing the pump into the septic tank is not practical the distribution box or D box is a buried concrete or plastic watertight box with an access cover typically about two feet wide on each side and is used in nearly all modern septic systems it serves to equally distribute the liquid effluent to the different pipes in the leach field so now that we know about the working parts of our septic system otherwise known as do you remember a decentralized wastewater treatment facility let's take a look at what's actually happening down there the inlet pipe forces the wastewater to turn toward the bottom of the tank preventing the wastewater from flowing directly across the top portion of the tank the solids that are heavier than water sink to the bottom and the lighter than water solids like oil grease and plastics rise to the top in between is the liquid that will become the effluent that eventually flows into the leach field while this liquid is cleaner than the wastewater that flowed into the tank it still contains dissolved biological matter and water-soluble chemicals the outlet pipe is designed so that only liquid leaves in a properly functioning tank the top of the pipe is in the air above the grease layer while the bottom of the pipe is in the liquid above the bottom solids layer for every gallon of wastewater that flows into the tank a gallon of effluent leaves the tank in the tank primitive anaerobic microbes live and feed on the biological matter these microbes don't need oxygen to live and they reduce both the volume of the settled solids and the concentration of the dissolved biological matter in the liquid the leach field is the most important part of a properly operating septic system the most expensive to replace and the easiest to damage the reasons for this are simple all the liquid portion of the wastewater that leaves the home must be dispersed by the leach field or the septic tank overflows or wastewater backs up into the home and due to the intricate design and typical location of the field it's easy to compromise one or more of the critical design features by either improper operation or care or by physically damaging the field by inadvertently crushing or cutting the pipes the leach field is typically a set of pipes with small holes in the bottom that are laid in a trench which allows the effluent to flow into the soil after first flowing over gravel the pipes are covered with additional gravel and finally topsoil the flow of the liquid down through the gravel and into the surrounding soil pulls air down into the soil which allows oxygen using microbes to further breakdown the dissolved biological matter further down the soil depth where no oxygen is present other microbes finish the biological treatment process the soil itself also acts as a filter to remove many of the other chemicals and minerals in the effluent so what can you do to protect your septic system well the first thing to know is where your system is located if you don't know you can contact the subsurface Bureau of the DES if the system was installed after 1975 they should be able to provide drawings showing where your systems components are if the system is older than that there still might be enough information in the archive to help you locate the components if you can't locate the components using drawings you may want to contact a licensed septic system designer or installer to help you locate your system components it's important you know the location of your septic system in order to avoid accidentally damaging a critical component damage may occur by digging a hole for a poster foundation in the wrong spot you should never place anything on top of the leach field because it will interfere with the proper air flow into the ground never plant anything except grass over the leach field as roots from bushes and trees will damage the structure of the field which could lead to failure never drive over the leach field this will compact the soil and reduce the ability of the soil to accept liquid and transfer air in severe cases the weight of the vehicle can crush the pipes and don't past your large animals like horses over the leach field because over time they can compact the soil too in the winter avoid removing or compacting snow cover above all parts of the septic system snow is a great insulator and even though the ground can get cold it's a lot warmer than the minus 20 degree Fahrenheit air temps we can get around here snow cover will keep the ground around the system components above freezing make sure there is easy access to the covers of the septic tank and d-box for servicing finally keep the vent pipes clear debris and even small animals can get into the pipe clogging it preventing the free flow of air into and out of the system leading to possible system backups don't pour household hazardous waste paints or used cooking oil down your drains these can kill the vital microbes in the entire septic system and in severe cases clog the leach field leading to total system failure proper understanding and care of our septic systems helps us to protect the natural water resources we're blessed with here in New Hampshire it takes every one of us to make sure we do our part to assure this life-giving resource stays clean and healthy for generations to come you

Channel: Altos

Views: 561,805

Rating: 4.5904698 out of 5

Keywords: septic tank maintenance, septic system maintenance, septic tank problems, septic tank cleaning, septic tank pumping, septic tank, septic system

Id: HQJXEog1VXk

Length: 9min 42sec (582 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 21 2009