What You Should Know About Your Septic System

When you move into a new house with a septic system rather than a municipal sewer plumbing system, you may find yourself confused and unsure of how to deal with the situation. After all, if you are used to standard municipal sewer systems, the entire concept of septic tanks can be completely foreign to you.

Get to know some of the important facts about septic systems so you can be sure you are doing what is best for your home's plumbing going forward.

Leaks Are Serious Business When You Have a Septic System

One of the major differences between having a septic system versus a sewer system is how much leaks can impact your plumbing system. When you have a sewer system, leaks can lead to higher water bills and annoying dripping sounds, but that is about all.

When you have a septic system, though, leaks, dripping faucets, toilets that run on their own or for long periods of time, and the like, can all mean serious problems. Your septic tank system is a finite system, meaning the tank can only hold so much wastewater at any given time.

If you have extra water going through your system every day, even if it is a slow drip from a leaky faucet, that water will eventually add up and can cause you major issues. Your septic tank will not have enough time to process the wastewater from your home and the tank will get full. Then, it will overflow causing sewage to seep into the ground and eventually saturate the soil all the way to the surface.

This can create a huge mess for you and your home. Sewage water that has not been processed by your septic system is extremely dirty and dangerous to come into contact with. It is smelly and unpleasant and will generally make your home unpleasant to be in.

It will require septic tank pumping and cleanup from professionals to be dealt with, as well as the costs to repair the leaks causing the problem in the first place.

Your Septic System Will Require Regular Maintenance

When you have a plumbing system that connects to municipal plumbing, you will likely ignore your plumbing system until something goes wrong. However, when you have septic system, you do not want to wait for an issue to arise. The best plan is to perform preventive maintenance on your system to keep it up and running.

Septic tank inspections are one aspect of the regular septic system maintenance that you should keep on your calendar. Once every year or two years, you should have a professional come out and inspect your septic tank and the system in general. They will check the levels of the wastewater in your tank, check the pH and chemical balance inside the tank, and even test the soil in your drain field.

All of this is a way to ensure that your septic system is functioning properly and to detect issues in their earliest possible stages if they arise. This will prevent those major messes that could turn your drain field into a smelly sewage swamp.

In addition to that routine inspection, you will also have to have your septic tank pumped from time to time. While the system releases processed and cleaned water into the drain field of your septic system, the solid waste from your household will remain in the tank indefinitely. Eventually it builds up enough that it needs to be removed.

For an average household that watches their water use (i.e. takes moderate showers, does not use the garbage disposal for food waste, and generally watches their water use), the tank will only need to be pumped every three to five years.

However, if you have a family member that takes hour-long showers, or you have more than the average four people living in your household, the pumping may be more frequent.

Now that you know some of the important facts about your septic system, you can be sure you are treating your new home's plumbing as well as possible. ​