Septic System Maintenance Tips and Resources.

Some tips to help keep your septic system working worry free;
Firstly, you are not alone, just in Ontario there are about 1 million household septic systems and most people don’t even think about them until it’s too late when they have a problem.

  1. Consider your water usage, just think 20 baths or 200 flushes (about 6 a day for a month) will fill the average septic tank completely.
  2. Cut down on the paper you throw into it, remember it isn’t a garbage disposal and paper fibers are the hardest to breakdown.
  3. Ease up on the soaps, detergents, oils and cleaning products that enter the drain as they are all damaging to the breakdown process.
  4. Don’t waste anymore money on chemical additives, they are proven not to have any lasting effect and may actually cause damage.
  5. It seems obvious but keep stuff off your tile bed, building something over it, driving and parking vehicles or planting trees or shrubs can ruin the drain field operation.
  6. Pump it out, regardless of whether you experience a problem or not, you should pump out the solids that haven’t been able to breakdown every 3-5 years.
  7. Get to know your system, it helps to better understand what’s going on and where the components are when you need to access them.
  8. Install an effluent filter, most existing units don’t have one to keep solids out of the tile bed which can cause blockages.
  9. Divert unnecessary run off, some home’s roof drains go into the tank and even your water softener discharge is hurting you system.