Septic Care 101: What You Need to Know

Although a septic system usually does its business without needing much interference, there are certain steps for septic tank care. These are basic actions with which any homeowner should become familiar. After all, you don’t need to wait for your septic system to start showing problems to take a look at it. If anything, doing the items listed below will help prevent issues before they start.

How To Care for Septic Tank Systems

The best way to take care of a septic tank is to practice efficient and safe usage of the appliances connected to a septic system. This means taking good care of your toilet, washer, sinks, and tubs. 

From the start, you’ll want to make sure your septic tank is installed properly, as plumbingauthority.ca explains. Conducting inspections and pumping the septic system on a regular basis can also help ensure that your septic tank stays in good condition. 

To maximize the water usage and efficiency of appliances, use the reduce, retrofit, and replace options. Simply reduce water usage of appliances like toilets and washing machines, modify and update parts for efficiency, or replace the units with energy-efficient models when that is in your budget and capacity. These steps will help your septic system last as long as possible without running into major problems. 

Practice Efficient Water Usage

As epa.gov points out, the average single-family house takes up to 70 gallons every day of water to run. With a toilet running constantly or a leaky toilet, that water amount can triple. Since every water source in a home leads to the septic system, efficient water use is an easy way to make sure that the septic system stays in top shape.

You can choose faucet aerators, shower flow restrictors, and high-efficiency showerheads to maximize water use. You can also wash laundry loads on the setting that matches the load size to avoid excessive use of water. 

Get Rid of Refuse Properly

When it comes to providing good care for septic tank systems, you will probably be unsurprised to hear that flushing anything outside of toilet paper can complicate things. Likewise, you can’t send the wrong materials down a garbage disposal, sink, bath, or other plumbing receptacles. Whatever you push through a drain will impact your septic system, even if you only sneak it into it one time.

In terms of toilets, you shouldn’t flush anything other than products of waste elimination and toilet paper down it. Even some “flushable” materials like flushable wipes or cat litter may not live up to their promises and wreak havoc on your septic system despite their claims of septic safety. 

Feminine products, condoms, wipes that are not labeled as “flushable,” and most other materials are not suitable to flush down the toilet. If you have to ask whether something can be flushed, the answer is probably a hard “no,” so don’t risk hurting your septic system for a moment of convenience.

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