To feel panicked about this in a holiday cottage we have arrived at?!

[Ubghren]

Arrived at a holiday cottage this morning and there was a large sign saying septic tank so be careful with only flushing loo roll.

I know nothing about these apart from once reading that they can allow dirty water into the bath/shower facilities or into drinking water. Is this remotely possible due to a tank like this? I am so stressed and been worrying all day as have young dc.

Omg. Are you actually reading anything I’ve written?

How on earth would it get into your bath or shower water?

@bert3400 so the water coming into the bathroom for a shower or bath wouldn’t be affected but it could technically come back via the toilet?

This must be a wind up.

@Hesonlyakidharry i thought drinking water was separate but the rest all connected? No need to get annoyed, I just don’t really understand the systems

Its possible we could all get hit by a metor but very unlikley

It is absolutely 100% never ever, not possible, nada chance going to come through your taps into the bath water or through your shower head into your shower or through your taps into your sink or through the toilet cistern for when you flush the toilet with clean water.

There is no link at all between your freshwater pipes and your sewage pipes. They are not attached. They were never attached. They will never be attached.

It is literally no different from the water water system you have at home. It is no different from when you flush your toilet at home.

Nothing is going to enter your freshwater. Nothing is going to get into the bath or shower or sink.

Maybe you should just go home. It sounds like you need another adult around.

You think that the pipes bringing water to your shower head and the taps on your bathroom are connected to your waste water pipes? Really? That’s what you think?

We have septic tank. No it cannot come back through the toilet/bath/shower or anything else.
You have to be careful with what you put down it. But tbh you shouldn’t be flushing wipes or towels or anything else anyway. Stop bloody stressing about this nonsense and enjoy your holiday.
Then when you get home seek some help for your anxiety. This level of stress over something so minor is not normal

I'd say go home now OP, its too risky.

I have a septic tank. The drinking water comes from the mains like anywhere else (you have to be extremely rural to have a private water supply, and that I think has to be tested regularly). Waste goes into a tank, the "solids" are collected and it has to be emptied regularly. Water filters away to a field or under the garden, possibly being treated first.

The worse that can happen is if you put the wrong things down you get a blockage.
Then there can be smell, and waste can back up. But this can also happen with mains drainage - think if "fat bergs".

@Hesonlyakidharry years ago we had a blockage in the loo and it made the bath plug hole gurgle so I’ve assumed they were connected

Are you ok OP? You really are overreacting.

I would say the cottage owner has had clueless guests flush stuff down the toilet before that shouldn't be flushed which probably blocked the pipes hence the warning. No need to worry about contamination.

I'd definitely go home OP. Time is of the essence.

You're being absolutely ridiculous.

OP i live in a rural village where all the village waste goes into a giant septic tank under the village green.

In ten years living here I've never had a problem.

If you hear drains gurgling there is a blockage in a different part of your plumbing, not in the septic tank!

OP

Imagine a motorway, you've driven on those before right?

The left three lanes go north, the right three go south.

There's a barrier in the middle right?
The lanes can't mix.

Right. Hold that thought.

Now imagine waste water is the left lanes, all flowing one way...
Clean water is the right lanes.. all flowing the opposite way..
They're separate like motorway lanes.

Does that make sense?

Now.

If the left lanes of a motorway gets blocked..
More often than not, it doesn't affect the right lanes that much. The blockage gets cleared and the traffic flows again.

Same with waste water. If the lane gets blocked, it may back up a little bit its still separated from the other 'lanes'

There would have to be a truly truly catastrophic issue for any waste to flow all the way back into a sink, bath or shower. The overflow outlet would have to be blocked the main lines would have to be blocked and it would have to have not been emptied since Jesus Was Kid..

And for it to get into drinking water? Not a chance. Clean drinking water is a separate system linked to the water lines and doesnt connect to waste lines.

Only in the same way a normal mains sewer can back up into your bath. I’m an ex sewerage technician and I’ve seen that happen with a blocked main sewer.

in fact I would say a septic tank has less chance of backing up than a mains sewer.

you will be absolutely fine. The water you drink and bath in will be normal mains water, treated and chorinated. The grey water may drain off into the septic tank or it may be totally separate and drain into a surface water sewer. I used to live in a house with a reed bed in the garden and the grey water went into there and filtrated into a stream……went nowhere near the septic tank. Actually the poo didn’t go near the septic tank either but we’ll gloss over that! 🤣

I grew up in a house in the country with a septic tank.. my uncle lives there now . The sign is purely to make sure guests don’t put things they shouldn’t down the loo which can block the tanks . Septic tanks are the norm where a property might be unable to be connected to the main waste drainage system

OMG. Of course the bath plug hole would gargle. That’s a waste water pipe!!!

Your toilet flush pipe, your sink plug hole pipes, your bath plug hole pipes and your shower plug hole pipes are all waste water pipes. They all takes waste water from the home down to the sewage system. They are all linked. They also all have fuck all to do with the freshwater coming out your taps and shower head anywhere in the house.

All the waste water leaves through the toilet or a plug hole and goes to the septic tank. It does not come back up. The only way it can come back up is if it is overfilled and not emptied but when that happens, it will come out of a drain somewhere outside of the property. It will not come back up the toilet or plug holes in the house unless there is some huge blockage causing it to come back up. This is the exact same issue you would have in your home if there was a blockage in the pipes. The septic tank is no more in danger of that than your own house is. Literally, no difference whatsoever. Nothing is going to come back up. Your bath and shower do not have waste water coming up the plug hole.

Jeez. You need therapy.

All it means is that the flush goes into a tank not into the street drains. It has nothing to do with where the tap water comes from.

OP, we have a version of a septic tank which is our own waste water treatment system. We also have a holiday cottage next door to our house; both are on the system.

Clean water comes in via the water main, supplied by South West Water. Waste water from the toilet, bath, shower, sink or washing machine goes into the waste treatment system. Like your cottage, we tell guests only to flush poo, pee or paper as anything else can block the system. We have the sludge pumped out twice yearly, which is possibly more than we need, but in 18 years of living here, we have never had any issues with waste water coming back. Even when a pump failed, all the waste stayed outside - it would have taken weeks for it to come back into the house.

Don't worry, enjoy your holiday and only flush the 3 P's!

Not even remotely possible. If they go wrong they usually let out into the ground around d them - why threy are always located a good distance from the house.

She’s probably confused thinking the pipes which drain your bath and shower are connected to the waste water pipes. 🤷‍♀️. In fairness they can be. In my current house they all drain into the same manhole/sewer in the back garden. Technically a very bad backup could come up through my sink I guess. I mean I’d have the rods out well before then 😁

Yes, because you had a blocked drain, and the plughole is a drain. You can have a blocked drain anywhere, it's nothing to do with septic tanks particularly.

The taps of your bath and shower are not drains. The water that comes out of your taps, regardless of if it's 'drinking water' or not, is not from a drain.

Sewage cannot get into your taps.

Waste water, if the drains are blocked, could back up and come out of a plughole, if you chuck stuff you shouldn't down the drain and then ignore all signs of it being blocked and keep flushing water and waste down there like a raving fool. This is no more likely with a septic tank than it is with mains drainage.

In fact, a septic tank for a holiday cottage is likely to have been renewed at some point, requiring it to comply with relatively modern regulations, and the drains are probably in a better state than countless period properties around the UK. So you're probably less likely to have any issues with anything backing up into the house even if you do manga to block a drain.