We live out in the boonies and because of this we have a septic tank. Had it pumped last summer and found that it was nearly full of unprocessed material that the inhabitants won’t digest; such as coffee grounds and hair.
Since these are organic materials why won’t the bacteria and/or microbes digest them?
Are you sure you had a critical mass of bacteria working in there? Sometimes if you have certain chemicals running into your tank the poor little microbes can take a real population hit and have their effectiveness reduced.
Poor, poor poop-eating microbes. I feel their pain.
From here… (bolding mine)
Ok. Lots of sites list what not to put into the system. But on re-reading, that’s not answering your question. I think the answer is that theses items do decompose, but the time it takes to break them down is longer than the septic tank can effectively manage before becoming blocked.
I hear that throwing a dead cat / bird / hedgehog into your tank or whatever gives a real good kickstart to the poor little microbes levels. Maybe someone can actually verify this works?
Since I just bought a home with a septic tank I might as well throw a related question into this thread. I remember seeing a bottle of stuff that was supposed to boost septic tank bacteria levels (I think, this was before I owned a septic system so I did not loo to close). Does this stuff work?
How could you see what was in the tank? Doesn’t it go straight from the tank to the truck? Ewwww.
I use a powder called ‘Rid-Ex’ every month or so. Our water guys advised me to do so.
I have no evidence that it works or doesn’t work other than that I’ve had no problmes int he 6 years we’ve owned the place. Make of that what you will.
Ana, there are plenty of products that claim to boost the bacteria levels, but many actually work against the natural growth and can cause more problems than they solve.
Here’s a little speel about it. (PDF file)
Boy o boy…I’ve never done ANY maintenance to my septic tank and I’ve lived there for 15 years! We both throw butts down the toilet (or should I say, we USED to). Our kitchen sink drains out into a creek, so no problem there. I may have to look into this! (I don’t even know where our septic field is. We have a lot of trees on our lot, and I heard somewhere that they don’t put septic tanks in treed areas.)
If you have the platte for your land your septic field should be detailed there.
At least that’s the way it was for us.
Lucky you - I have a cesspool (and a septic tank and leaching field in my log cabin - but I’m not worried about that one)
Had it pumped once about 3 yrs ago - I don’t think it really needed it (I got sold ‘the bill of goods’ - hey you would buy anything if sewerage was backed up into your house too).
I have found that is is good to be aboe to measure it and find out where the critical lecels are. When you are close (or over) stop using water (as much) and get a bottle of ‘pequa cessflo’. THis is the only thing you can buy that I see actualy lowers the water level. I think it’s bacteria and a oxyengator.
I have also tried airating it with limited success. With a compressor blowing bubbles it seems to lower the water level in 24 hrs, with a fish tank aireator running for weeks it didn’t do $#!+. Also don’t use anything that stirrs up the bottom or all the solids will clog the system for some time.
Diverting the washing machine into your own homemade leaching field (or just letting it run out the window) is a big strain off the cesspool.
A quick answer. Hair would be digested by aerobic bacteria. Your septic tank is anaerobic. The hair would have to go into your leach field for it to be digested, so it just sits in the tank. If you stir the tank, introducing oxygen regularily, and add aerobes to the tank the hair should be broken down.
Here is a site that gives some good information on the care and feeding of septic tanks.
Thanx for the efforts and especially to Light Strand.
We had our tank pumped after 18 years. Never added anything such as robic, etc. Because part of our deck was over the tank I decided to have it pumped while I knew exactly where the tank & it’s lid were.
We did not really have any trouble, however the tank pumper said we were about a week from “total failure”
He also said that coffee grounds, hair and fats (grease, etc) will continue to fill the tank.
I quit putting coffee grounds into the drain, but grease form dish washing still goes into the tank.
I sould add a point of caution people with septic tanks, especially old ones. If your septic tank is close to your well, I suggest that you have your potable water tested for coliforms. I’ve tested far too many samples of well water that were contaminated by a poorly placed leach field.
This testing is easily done by microbiology lab. Look in the phonebook under laboratories. I don’t recommend that you have a company that specializes in water softeners, or something of that ilk, as they almost always find something wrong, as part of the sales pitch.
Also, you can easily compost your coffee grounds.
“Our kitchen sink drains out into a creek, so no problem there.”
WRONG ANSWER! The nutrients that you’re adding to the creek are very bad for water quality. Excess nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen more specifically) increase water turbidity, lower the dissolved oxygen in the water, and contribute to algae growth. You may also be breaking the law re: an illicit discharge to the waters of the United States.