Septic Tanks? Please Help

[camprunner]

My dh has just informed me that I can not take very many baths any more. He says our septic tank is about to over flow. The house is about a year old. My FIL used to claim that when we lived in their house the dishwasher would be too hard on the septic tank. Is this right or are my dh and FIL over reacting?

I grew up with a septic tank and was never told to limit my baths and we always used a dishwasher. Please help.

[momto l&a]

How does he know the tank it going to over flow?

Anyway when the tank gets full the water flows out and into the drain feild.

Being your house is so new I assume that your septic and drain feild are new thus everything is to code correct? If so there should have been perc test done to make sure the ground is good draining for the drain feild. What kind of soil do you have?

Do you 'feed' (bacteria to digest watse) your tank?

I have used a barrel sunk into a hole lined with rocks and that was used for both dishwasher and washing machine, no problems whatsoever.

I have no clue as to why a dishwasher would be to hard on the septic tank or why a person cant take too many baths.

[camprunner]

Thanks so much for your reply. He says that there is water in the drain field.
We have a sandy soil.

We do not currently "feed" our tank. Is that something that we should do on a regular basis? if so what exactly do we feed it with?

Thank you.

[knitting gal]

You can dump old yeast packets down the drain occasionally...it helps break down the solid waste. Also, its important to make sure that the leach field is "healthy/well maintained" which means don't drive over it with cars, don't let horses (if you have any) trample over it. The leach field has channels of gravel in it. The watery/liquid "leaches" into the gravel channels so that it can evaporate. If the leach field is packed down by heavy traffic then the liquid cannot evaporate and the leach field cannot do its job well. This can cause a backup. Also if you have a old septic tank like one made out of redwood planks (I have lived briefly with one) it may be prone to overflowing. One more thing, there are different size tanks available, smaller tanks for smaller houses, bigger for bigger. It may be worth considering that your tank might be too small for your household .

Maybe you know all this stuff, but its worth passing along. Good luck.

[camprunner]

Thanks for the reply. Is it normal for the grass over the septic tank to be wet? maybe with standing water? He wasn't very specific but mentioned water in the yard.

[knitting gal]

If its raining alot the water table will be higher and the ground could be saturated. That might be why the grass is wet. Best thing to do is to do what your dh suggested and perhaps call a septic tank guy. He may have some other ideas.

When I was little, the redwood septic tank at our house overflowed, my dad replaced it with the biggest tank available. Years later we found out that the bottom few boards of the old septic tank were not removed and we had to dig 5 1/2 feet in the ground to remove them because the redwood boards were slowly decomposing and creating a noticeable dent in the ground. Just a couple of months ago I helped my dad dig a hole for a new septic tank at another house. I probably know more about septic tanks than I should. Anyway, I hope this helps and I hope that you get to take your baths soon .