When you own a home, it is important that all the home's systems work well. Your home septic system is equally important to keep wastewater out of your home and avoid sewage back-ups. Here are some recommendations to make sure your septic system remains in top condition and works well for your household.
Complete Professional Repairs
Your tank and drain field will last many years as long as you keep them maintained over their lifetime usage. This includes making sure you check for problems and address them quickly before they damage your system. Your drain field lines need to be kept cleaned and free of debris to keep them working properly. Because your drain field lines are only meant to deliver wastewater from your tank, they will become blocked if any solid waste gets into them from the tank.
Contact a local septic professional to clear out the blockage from your drain field lines. They can use a water jet cleaning system or an auger snake to clear the lines. Doing so will remove the blockage, whether it is a tree root, solid waste, or foreign object in the line. If any damage was done to the line during the blockage, the drain line will need to be replaced. Your septic professional can excavate the line, repair the damage, and replace the soil to get your system working well again.
As the water flows through the tank, it will empty into the drain field lines, then flow out into the surrounding soil. Your drain field lines will also start to malfunction if too much water goes into your system. But if too much water exits the drain field lines, from a leaky faucet or broken pump float, the water will saturate the surrounding soil and cause the area to smell bad and become very soggy when you walk upon it. If you notice that the grass growing above the drain field site, this can indicate too much water is draining into the leach field and the system is getting overburdened.
Repair the water leak or reduce the excessive water usage and allow the drain field to dry out. If this does not occur within a couple of days, contact a septic tank drain field repair service.
Use Your System Appropriately
When your home is on a septic system, it is important to not flush anything damaging or dangerous to the system. This includes the wrong type of toilet tissues, harsh cleaners, and excessive kitchen disposal waste. In fact, even if your home has a disposal in the kitchen, you should not use it for every kind of food waste. Instead, scrape leftover food into the trash and then rinse the dish with water.
Balance your home's water usage to keep your system from being overburdened. For example, don't do all your wash on one day, but instead spread it out over the week or do one load of laundry per day. This will help you be able to use your dishwasher and showers regularly throughout the week.
