While it may well not be among the most glamorous jobs in the world, looking after your septic tank should certainly be a priority that you don’t forget about. After all, it is essential to the proper running of your home and if it goes wrong, this could lead to a potential disaster at home. With this in mind, you need to make sure that you are doing all that you can to keep it properly maintained. This blog post will check out just a few of the top tips that you can put into practice to take good care of it.
Don’t overload the tank
The tank is only designed to accept a certain amount, and the first tip that you need to follow is not to put it at risk of overloading. Essentially, this means being careful about how much flows into it. If it is overloaded, this puts an unnecessary amount of strain on it. Alternatively, it may overflow entirely, which is going to lead to a difficult cleanup job. So, pay attention to how you are using the water system at home. An overflow is more likely to happen when the whole household is using water all at once.
Make sure you get it drained when necessary
Closely linked to the previous point above, you also need to do more to get the tank drained when needed. You can call in the pros to take care of septic tank pumping for you. Part of this comes down to being more mindful with how you are using the tank and ensuring that you take action before it is at risk of getting worse.
Pay attention to your water usage
When you have a septic tank at home, it is worth being more aware of your water usage to ensure that you are not at risk of putting the tank under any undue strain or stress. There are plenty of easy ways that you can cut back on water usage without having to make any major adjustments to your lifestyle. To begin with, you can try taking showers rather than baths. You can also invest in water saving devices such as a low flow shower head which will reduce how much water is allowed to come out of the shower. Think about how often you are using the washing machine and dishwasher, ensuring that they are full before switching them on. Also, you can try using the eco modes rather than always relying on the main setting.
Consider what cleaning products are flowing into the system
Ideally, you are going to want to reduce the number of contaminants that are flowing into the septic tank as much as possible. Waste digestion can be impacted as you can risk reducing the population of bacteria in the tank which are needed. While it may feel like it is the easy option to pour these types of chemicals down the sink or the toilet, knowing that they are simply going to flow into the septic tank to be dealt with later should start to ring the alarm bells in your mind.
Avoid flushing larger items down the toilet
You should throw items in the trash rather than down the toilet that could end up blocking up the septic tank. While it may feel like it is the easy option to throw cotton buds, wipes, or sanitary products down the toilet, they all contain plastics, which are simply going to end up in the tank, and can easily result in a blockage which can be time consuming or expensive to put right again. Ultimately, you need to have a bit of mindfulness to prevent this from happening.
Be wary of fats and grease
Some of the other blockage causers are fats and greatest, but many people will simply throw these down the sink without a second thought. Ultimately, the problem often comes when people are not used to having a septic tank and they have to make adjustments as they are used to always doing it a certain way. As much as possible, you should try to wipe up any fats and grease before you wash them up to prevent them going down the sink and clogging up the septic tank as a direct result of this.
If you follow all of these different maintenance tips and tricks, it is much more likely that you will have a fully functioning septic tank that you don’t have to worry about going wrong all the time.