Do you rely on a home septic system to handle all of the wastewater and waste that you produce in your house? If you do, it’s going to be very important for you to get into the habit of performing septic tank maintenance to keep your septic system as healthy as it can be.
When homeowners fail to maintain their septic tanks in Portland, it can lead to them experiencing all kinds of problems. In some cases, they’re even forced to replace a residential septic system because it has fallen into a state of disrepair.
Would you like to make sure that this doesn’t happen to you? Here are a bunch of tips that you can use to ensure your home septic system stays healthy for the foreseeable future.
Don’t Overload Your Septic Tank
The average person uses more than 80 gallons of water each day. They utilize this water to brush their teeth, use the bathroom, take showers, and more.
As long as you stick to using right around 80 gallons of water each day, you shouldn’t have to worry too much about overloading your septic tank. But if you begin using way more than that, it’ll only be a matter of time before your septic tank gets overwhelmed by all the water coming in its direction.
You can steer clear of overloading your septic tank by doing simple things like shutting off the water when you’re brushing your teeth and taking shorter showers. You can also do it by keeping an eye and ear out for any water leaks in your home and getting them fixed ASAP.
Studies have shown that even small leaks can send up to 100 gallons of extra water spilling into your septic tank. This could do some serious damage to your home septic system if you don’t have leaks repaired.
Don’t Use Your Toilet as a Garbage Disposal
People who have septic tanks in Portland need to be extremely careful about what they put down their toilets. Waste and toilet paper are really the only two things that should be placed in toilets when your home has a septic system.
Unfortunately, not everyone with a home septic system abides by this rule. They will often flush all kinds of foreign objects down their toilets, and it typically results in them encountering problems with their septic systems.
Here are a handful of things you shouldn’t ever flush down your toilet and into your septic tank:
- Baby wipes
- Paper towels
- Feminine hygiene products
- Floss
- Cigarette butts
Septic tanks aren’t designed to break these types of things down. You’re going to put yourself into a position where you’ll have to go through the process of cleaning a septic tank more often than you should have to when you flush these items down your toilets.
Don’t Pour Grease Down the Drain
After you finish cooking a meal in your home, you might have grease left over that you will need to dispose of. In an effort to get rid of it quickly, you may be tempted to put it down the drain in your kitchen sink. This is one of the worst home septic system mistakes you can make.
When grease is put down the drain, it can congeal and cause clogs in your septic system. You will have no choice but to arrange to have your septic tank cleaned and repaired when this happens.
Instead of putting grease down your drain, you should throw it out with your regular trash. It’ll prove to be a much safer way to dispose of grease that you don’t need anymore.
Use Septic Safe Products
There are lots of different household products that you’ll use that might end up in your septic system. From your toilet paper to your dishwashing detergent, it’ll be important for each and every one of these products to be septic-safe.
Septic safe products will usually have a big “SEPTIC SAFE” label somewhere on them. You should always look for this label prior to purchasing any household products that you know will make their way into your septic tank.
Use Water Efficiently
As we alluded to earlier, you will need to be mindful of how much water you’re using each day when you have a home septic system. Using water efficiently will stop water from flooding your septic tank and creating issues.
At the same time, you might also want to replace some of the fixtures and appliances in your home to make sure they’re using water efficiently, too. Check out several ways in which you can do this below.
High-Efficiency Toilets
The toilets in a home account for about one-third of all the water that is used in it each day. Because of this, you should go ahead and install high-efficiency toilets in your home if you haven’t done it already.
These types of toilets will utilize just a fraction of what regular toilets will. You won’t have to worry about more water ending up in your septic tank than necessary.
Faucet Aerators and High-Efficiency Shower Heads
In addition to installing high-efficiency toilets in your home, you should also make it a point to update all the faucets and showers in your house. You can do this by placing aerators in your faucets and by swapping out your old shower heads for high-efficiency ones.
Even though you might not be able to tell the difference, taking these steps will reduce the amount of water that you use while washing your hands, taking showers, etc.
High-Efficiency Washing Machines
A standard washing machine that isn’t high-efficiency is going to need upwards of 20, 30, or even 40 gallons of water to get a load of clothes clean. A high-efficiency washing machine, on the other hand, can get that same load of clothes clean with under 10 gallons of water in many cases.
For this reason, you should upgrade to a high-efficiency washing machine if you haven’t done it already. It’ll be well worth whatever you pay for it, and your home septic system will thank you for making this move.
Use These Tips to Keep Your Home Septic System Safe
By making septic maintenance a part of your normal property maintenance plan, you should be able to keep your septic system healthy. But if you ever run into any problems with your home septic system, we would be happy to assist you with them.
We specialize in helping homeowners to maintain, pump, and clean septic tanks in Portland. You can count on us for all your home septic system needs.
Contact us now to schedule septic system services.
