Septic tanks - uh oh!

[Medibeagle]

Anyone have one? We have never had one before and wondered how easy/tricky they are to manage etc. Pitfalls? (no pun intended!)

we have one, last emptied (it seems) in 2006 and all working fine in the 2 years we've been here. I find it hard to believe it will never need emptying but we check drains regularly and all is well. No nasty smells or evil looking ponds so far. :-)

main points:

• nothing down toilets except body waste and toilet paper (same as any drain)
• do not use bleach for sinks or toilets. Boiling water and vinegar work. We do have a dishwasher and there is a little bleach in dishwasher powder.
• do not have a waste disposal; they are an eco-disaster anyway.
• nothing down the sink except water; use a debris catcher for food bits. Oh, and don't empty coffee grounds down it either, they block up the tank.
• as I don't have a dryer I do washing by weather; so if there are three washes on a sunny day the top of the 'drain field' can get a little squelchy. Try to spread out washing if you can.
• make sure the drain field isn't compressed - don't lay a driveway over it or take a heavy car over it.

that's it, really.

We had one for 20 years it was fine.
Never had a squelchy drain field. Are you sure yours is running right special?
No waste disposal, use liquid laundry detergent and Liquid dishwasher detergent as the powder stuff built up in our pipes and we had a back up in the first year.
I totally agree with the nothing in the loo but body waste and toilet paper.
Dh used to do the care and maintenance on ours, we got the instructions from the manufacturer of the pumps in ours and did it every 6 months or so.
Never had any smells or back ups after the first year with the powder detergents.

Had one for 18 Years, never emptied, never any probs.

Wow thank you for the reassurances! So, um, no tampax down the loo?

no! You shouldn't do that anyway! Bathroom bin with lid is the way to go. Wrap and bin. A discreet word with female guests is far preferable to some work with drain rods.

NOTHING is flushable except toilet paper. Regardless of what the manufacturers say. Not wipes, not dental floss, not tampon outers, and especially not sanitary towels and nappies.

squinkies - I think all is ok (we have a garden that gets a bit swampy) BUT I've recently changed to powder washing stuff which is supposed to make the machine less gungy. Sounds like I'd better go back to liquid!

Medi, tampax should never go down any loo....ever.

Find out when the soak away (drainage field) was last installed. I've had mine redone after about 12 years which is standard. Not a difficult job (took a day) but not pleasant when it needs doing.....

I didn't know about the tampax, or dental floss even . Will find out about drainage fields and such. Already use liquid whatsits so that's a help.

We had a new septic tank and soak away installed about 25 years ago and we have it emptied every two years. It should NOT be left for years and years! We put everything down ours - bleach, tampons etc! We just have it emptied. Makes life easier and it really is no problem to have it emptied.

the people I know who put bleach etc down their tanks need the frequent emptying. We don't and there seems to be no problem.

correlation?

don't see much hassle in binning tampons.