• Discharge all of the sewage wastes form household into septic tank.

• Do not run laundry wastes directly into drain field since soap or detergent scums will quickly clog the soil pores causing failure.

• Additives should not be used with septic tank since they have no benefit and some may do great harm.

• While excessive amounts of any household chemical should not be used, normal amounts of detergents, bleaches, drain cleaners, and other household chemicals can be used and will not harm bacterial action in the tank.

• Do not deposit coffee grounds, cooking fats, wet-strength towels, disposable diapers, facial tissues, cigarette butts, and similar non decomposable materials into the system. None of these materials will decompose, and they will cause rapid accumulation of solids in the septic tank.

• Avoid dumping cooking fats or grease down the drain. This material may plug sewer pipes or build up in the septic tank and plug the inlet.

• The color of toilet tissue should have no effect upon the septic as long tissue breaks up easily when wet. High wet-strength toilet tissue often cause plugging problems with septic systems. Many scented toilet tissues are of high wet strength.

Maintenance Pumping

Although a septic tank should be maintained on a regular basis, many homeowners wait until problems arise with sewage systems. The amount of time between maintenance pumping is dependent on size of family and tank. A 3 to 5 year span is the general time period.

Septic system maintenance means one simple thing. Sludge that accumulates in the bottom of the tank must be pumped out periodically. How frequently depends on the size of the tank, the use it gets, and the condition of the system. There is no additive that you can put in the tank that will deal with the sludge. It must be pumped out. If not pumped out it will eventually overflow into the soil absorption area. This will clog the system which will need to be replaced at a great expense and inconvenience.

Your septic tank could be overflowing solid material into the soil right now, and you will not know of it until it blocks the soil so badly no more drainage is possible. This blockage takes a varying periods of time depending on the soil structure.

Fact: A neglected system will get blocked: it will overflow; it will have an obnoxious order; and will contaminate and pollute.