If your home is not hooked up to a public sewage system you have a septic tank and leach field to process your sewage waste. The septic tank is usually a 1,000 to 1,200 gallon dual chamber tank and the leach field is approximately 1, 000 square feet for a three bedroom home. Many homeowners don’t know how important it is clean and care for the septic tank.

Unfortunately if the septic tank is not properly maintained it will contaminate the leach field with solid waste. When the leach field becomes contaminated it will fail to work properly and will cost many thousands of dollars to repair. Thinking about a nasty old septic tank doesn’t bring pleasant thoughts to mind but ignoring it can be disastrous.

Maintaining the septic tank starts with the homeowner. He must decide what does or does not go into your septic tank. Before putting thinks in the sink drains or toilets you must think about the types of things that could be damaging to your septic tank and leach field. This includes almost all non-organic materials.

Toilet paper is obviously unavoidable but other common bathroom items such as Q-tips, paper towels, dental floss, and other hygiene products can potentially harm your system. They can disrupt the delicate balance maintained by a slew of microbes that live in your tank. The microbes cannot break down non-organic matter. As a result they will fill the septic tank much quicker than organic materials.

These same items can also cause blockage in waste drain pipes which can lead to a backup of waste products in the plumbing system, This can be very unpleasant to deal with and be very costly to fix. Insure all members of the household are educated on what is and is not appropriate to deposit as waste material.

Maintaining a proper septic tank cleaning and maintenance schedule is the second most important thing you can do for your septic tank. The average tank needs to be pumped every three to five years. Ignoring pumping the tank can lead to a messy and expensive consequence. If you're unsure when your tank was last pumped contact a septic tank cleaning service to help you determine if it needs pumping and set a schedule for you based on the size of your septic tank and leach field.

In addition, do not fall into the trap of putting additives such as a septic tank cleaner in you septic tank. There are many products and septic system treatments that promise you instant cure for a failing system. The manufactures of these products claim that their product helps the microbes in your tank to work better or quicker and prolong the period in between pumping. In most of these cases these products do not work well or not at all. In cases where they do help they work at such a slow rate that it makes no difference. These products give you false confidence that can result in potential complications.

The cleaning and care of the septic tank is vitally important for properly maintaining a septic system to insure it continues to operate properly. If you don’t, the result cans be very costly.

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