hi I'm Jim Michaels and welcome to your
new home the next few minutes are going
to be about a very important component
of your new home one to which initially
you may not have given too much thought
your septic system if you've ever lived
in a home with a septic system before a
septic system is simply a device to
designed to handle the waste water your
home generates when City sewers are not
available a septic system breaks down
the impurities of the waste waterer then
allows the water to re-enter the ground
so come on
in now with us are various experts who
will help illustrate what a septic
system is what it does where it is and
how it got there and finally we're going
to tell you what you can do as the
homeowner just to make sure it functions
as efficiently as possible now at one
point your home looked like this it was
probably at this stage of construction
that the septic system was installed
system sizing as well as a permit were
both obtained from the local Health
Department prior to
construction we're going to start with
the house Plumbing which is the path to
the septic system from the drains to the
toilets and who knows more about drains
and toilets than a plumber let's go
visit
one joining us now is John Edwards of
Edwards Plumbing and heating hello John
thanks for helping us you all know John
that when we flush a toilet or put
things down in the drain they just seem
to go away is that a little naive well
it isn't an isn't Jim things do go away
but what happens when they do get there
can be a problem how so well let me show
you I'm installing this bathroom drain
right now mhm if you follow the drain
pipe you'll see it joins up with pipes
from all the other drains in the house
sinks tubs washing machines and toilets
they all join up here at the main pipe
going out of the house to the septic
system all these drains individually and
combin as I'm sure the man outside the
house is going to tell you can handle a
lot of water which can overload your
septic system if you're not careful try
to space out your water use don't do
your laundry take a shower and run the
dishwasher all at the same time all that
can can overload the septic system and
cause problems not to mention the fact
that that would be one cold shower but I
get the point John what else do we need
to know about what can go into and what
should not go into the septic system
well these drains can take a lot Jim but
just because you can put it down the
drain doesn't mean you should now take
your toilet you can't flush femine
hygiene products or cotton balls or
paper towel or ripped up bills from
plumbers especially those Jim it's even
a bad idea to to flush facial tissue
down the toilet once again because it
doesn't break down as easily that's good
to know John now what about the kitchen
sink just plain old white toilet paper
there too H very funny Jim but uh if the
kitchen sink has a garbage disposal that
that is tricky I mean the whole purpose
of the septic tank is to send waste
water from your home to a place where it
can break down quickly if you're putting
things down your garbage disposal they
eventually get into the septic system
most garbage won't break down rapidly
things like potato peels bacon grease or
ground up chicken bones they just sit in
the septic tank and begin to build up
you don't want that so use good judgment
if it doesn't appear to be something
that will break down quickly then just
wrap it up and put it in the trash got
it and any other advice remember it just
takes
three well okay John listen we're going
to let you get back to work now
appreciate you're taking the time no
problem Jim glad I could help all right
let's go
outside okay we're on back now and here
to fill us in on what happens outside
the wall is Phil shibano from Earthworks
Excavating hello Phil hi Jim Phil your
company specializes in putting in septic
systems and to me it looks like you dig
your work we sure do most septics
systems are completely buried under the
ground because the soil is such an
important part of the system now what
part of the system are we standing on
this is the first stop out of the house
for all Wastewater this is a septic tank
and what's its function as I said
everything flows through here the solid
waste settles to the be the bottom
begins to break down and the liquid
flows through this pipe into stage two
the distribution box now I'm going to
take a guess here and figure that the
water gets distributed from this
distribution box you catching on
distributed to what what to these pipes
out here in the yard they're sometimes
called fingers and they make up the next
stage of the septic system known as the
absorption field they're supposed to do
exactly what they say absorb if you'll
notice all these pipes have little holes
in them that allow water to trickle out
into the ground and the soil itself
becomes the final stage of the septic
system the ground then filters the water
as it finds its way back into the soil
that sounds pretty simple well it is as
a homeowner you have to be careful what
you put in your septic system and it's
also important to note that certain soil
conditions may require even more
treatment or a more complicated system
but for the most part a septic system
can be a simple means for getting rid of
all waste water right now John was just
telling us about that and he was saying
don't use too many water sources at once
and be careful what you flush down the
drains and the toilets limit your
laundry loads and be sure to fix those
leaky fixtures because all that stuff
contributes the extra water to a septic
system may not be able to hand it good
advice because if you allow too many
solids to build up too quickly they'll
get out of the septic tank and out into
the field where they'll block those
little holes that we just looked at and
that's a problem you also need to be
careful when using harsh cleaning agents
chemicals petroleum products or any
other toxins that you put in your drains
or your toilets why not I mean they're
liquids they're not going to block those
little holes well for one thing these
chemical compounds are
poisonous and they may stop or slow down
the natural breakdown of the waste water
it's a fairly delicate balance down in
the septic system and if it's poisonous
to you it's probably bad for the septic
system and once again if the natural
breakdown doesn't occur in the septic
tank it may cause problems out in the
absorption field which is not a good
thing so Phil what do you recommend
people do with this
stuff well there are a number of
household hazardous waste collection
points in the area that specialize in
the safe disposal of this stuff just
look up in your phone book contact the
County Health Department or Waste
Management District in your area so
bottom line you take good care of your
septic system it'll take good care of
you very nicely put Jim thank you but
can't you just buy one of those septic
enzyme additives that they sell at the
stores and flush it down the toilet to
make the system work better many experts
don't recommend it plain old household
Wastewater is all that's needed for the
natural breakdown process you're better
off to take care not to mess with the
balance that already exists let nature
take its course pay attention to proper
maintenance that'll keep your septic
system running efficiently all right
Phil I sure appreciate the advice now if
that's all you've got for us why don't
you go back to your installation so the
health department can come out and do
its inspection just one more word of
advice Jim what's that it just takes
three okay we' made it through the
drains as well as the septic system and
now we're going to visit with an expert
in the area of septic system mate
maintenance he's the guy you should call
regularly to have your septic tank
pumped our expert today is Roger Bates
from bait septic service and here he is
now Roger how's it going great Jim how
you doing super since we're under
construction here let's just do a walk
through of what your job's all about and
then be sure to give us any tips or
recommendations you might have
sure what my company does is pretty
straightforward over a period of time
silence will build up an a septic tank
system uh that either won't break down
or broken down as far as they can
uh based upon the environment they're in
what we do is come out remove the cap or
the lid off of the septic tank system
pump out all the contents of the septic
tank system with one of our big pump
trucks so how do you know when it's time
to drain a septic system great question
you know there's really no way to
gauge whether or not a septic tank is
almost filled to capacity so what we
suggest is that you have it pumped prior
to moving into a pre-existing home oh
good idea and one year after that just
to get off for
starters after that a
reputable Septic
company will come out and give you an
idea of how often based upon your water
use the tank is filling and uh predict
how often in the future you should have
it pumped so what's typical well you
know let me show you a number of factors
can affect how quickly solids build up
for example uh the size of the tank how
old the septic system is the
soil uh the number of people in a
household how much water they use all
these things have a direct effect on the
septic
system but typically every two years but
if you have a big household and you use
quite a bit of water uh and your garbage
disposal a lot you know it might be
wiser to have it pumped out annually ah
Roger the old garbage disposal again so
you're saying that you can have some
control over how frequently the septic
tank needs to be pumped by being
conscientious about what you put down
into it and how much water are you use
oh absolutely well what happens if you
just simply forget to have it pumped
well over time the septic system solids
will fill up uh backing into the house
you know through your bathtub through
the drain uh it can get to be a real
mess oh that does not sound good there's
a lot you wouldn't like about that
another thing that happened is the
solids make their way into the fiill
system and reduce the ability of the
septic system and the soil to disperse
the water what happens there is that the
area over the FI septic system becomes
wet and Soggy if it gets to that point
it's very expensive damage has been done
to the septic fuel
system so the old saying is true an
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure it couldn't be more true all right
Roger thanks for the inside scooping all
this ah let me give you one more bit of
advice what would that be it only takes
three gem all right already three what
what are we talking about it only takes
the three Simple Rules ah gotcha good
advice so that's it in a nutshell really
it boils down to these three Simple
Rules one be careful how much you put
into the septic system at one time two
be careful what you put into the septic
system and three keep a regular schedule
for having your septic system pumped
it's really that simple if you have
questions we have an answered or you
notice a problem developing with your
septic system the best idea is to call
your local Health Department a little
advice early on can go a long way to
preventing major problems good luck and
enjoy your new home