A septic tank is important for households – for those who have it – especially in the areas of Jacksonville, Florida where houses with septic tanks are prevalent. Those who have a septic tank for years might already know the drill of its maintenance, like inspection, pumping, cleaning, repairs, and more. However, apart from all procedures, people still do some things which should be avoided.
If the money and effort you are spending on the maintenance of the tank are getting swept away because of the mistakes you are doing with your tank, then ultimately the life of your tank is getting shorter and none of your financial and durational investments are paying off anything.
Therefore, apart from fulfilling the maintaining duties of the tank, it is also important to NOT do things that are harmful to the tank and can lower its performance level.
On that note, we have included mistakes that most septic tank owners commit but they should learn to avoid that. Without further ado, let’s get on with it.
1. Too Frequent or Very Rare Inspection
It is known that a septic tank needs inspection at least once a year (for an average-sized tank) to make sure that there is no complication or error that hinders its good performance. However, if you are totally oblivious about it, there is a chance that you ultimately forget that you had to get it inspected. This forgetfulness will have you miss out on problems or errors that might have already caused the damage.
On the other hand, if you get the inspection too frequently, it will not only waste your money and effort unnecessarily, but would affect the performance of the tank; the tank isn’t designed to be exposed to the air that much, and if it gets opened and checked again and again, its performance will eventually get low.
2. Pumping the Tank to Fix the Clog
Clogged pipes are one of the problems that septic tank owners have to go through at some point in their experience. When you are absolutely sure of the clog, your job to unclog it gets easy. However, if you don’t know where the clog is, it is better to leave the job in the hands of a professional; because professionals of septic tank services know how to find a clog.
But some people try to get the clog fixed by pumping the tank, thinking that the power of the vacuum will ultimately unclog the pipe. That’s not true. If you are pumping the tank because any of the pipes in the septic system are clogged, it won’t fix anything. What you need to do is to call a professional and let them find a clog to fix by themselves.
Pumping without any need or requirement is as bad as not pumping at all. And that’s elaborated in our next point.
3. Pumping Without Inspection
Inspection is a core part of the process where the septic tank later gets pumped and cleaned and keeps performing in the best manner. However, a lot of household owners with septic tanks believe that inspection isn’t necessary. They just get their tanks pumped at intervals and feel free to use the tank without any obstacle.
While pumping the tank every 2 or 3 years is a necessary process, it cannot be done perfectly without inspection. The inspection is the key to finding out when and how the tank is going to be pumped or cleaned. Furthermore, the inspection also figures out if there any errors or damages that need to be rectified and repaired before the pumping process to make it easier. If you are going to pump before the complete inspection of the septic system, there is a heavy chance that the job will not go as planned. For guaranteed inspection and pumping, you can visit the best septic tank pumping in Jacksonville Florida.
4. Adding too many Additives
Additives or bacteria additives are basically bacteria which is added into tanks to make it better. What happens is when people drain chemicals, medicines in the drain holes, it kills the bacteria which is responsible for breaking down the solids in the tank. Some people also drain other things in the tank, like toilet papers, paper towels, photographs, cigarettes, etc. These things might be too much to be broken down by the limited bacteria and eventually clog the pipes.
Therefore, to get rid of all these things – which shouldn’t be in the tank in the first place – people use additives. While using additives in a decent and required amount is okay, the preferable option is to avoid them. It would require you to prevent the toilets from being used as a trash can or drain point for chemicals and medicines. Because if you make it a habit to use additives, you can use too much of them without knowing and eventually break your tank and ruin the internal structure of the septic system—and that would be a disaster that needs to be avoided at all costs.
5. Totally Forgetting About the Drain Field
The drain field where the pipes from the septic tank go is an important part of the whole septic system. Since your drain holes are connected with the septic tank and your septic tank is connected with the drain field, any problem that occurs in the drain field would also impact you. So, you shouldn’t forget the drain field like it doesn’t belong to you.
For instance, if any pipe of the drain field is clogged, the water will back out from the septic tank, which will throw the water back to the drains, and it will be a nasty situation for you. Therefore, make every effort to shield the drain field from harm, such as vehicles, animals, plants, rocks, etc.
Those were five of the many things that you need to avoid to make sure that your septic tank lives its complete life and doesn’t ask for maintenance and repairs again and again.
