When you flush your toilets, take showers or wash laundry, wastewater enters a sewer line that slopes toward your septic tank. The septic tank treats the water before it flows to your absorption field.
Never flush non-septic-safe items such as hair, dental floss, diaper wipes, cigarette butts, grease or cat litter. These will disrupt the natural breakdown process and clog your pipes. Click Here to learn more.
All wastewater from your home’s toilets, kitchen sinks, laundry machines, and bathtubs goes into your septic system. This waste water, referred to as wastewater or sewage, travels through a sewer line that slopes toward your septic tank. Your septic tank serves to collect and partially treat this wastewater. It allows the waste to separate into three layers: sludge settles at the bottom of the tank, fats and greases drift to the top, and liquid waste flows out of an outlet pipe.
To reduce odors and encourage the growth of bacteria that digest suspended solids in your wastewater, a vent pipe releases gases through a mushroom-shaped vent on your roof. These gases are mostly hydrogen sulfide, and it may have the distinct odor of rotten eggs. If your septic system is equipped with an alarm, this will alert you if hydrogen sulfide levels in the wastewater are too high and need to be reduced.
After the septic tank treats your sewage, it discharges it into what is known as an absorption field or drainfield. This is a system of pipes that extend into your soil, and the wastewater is absorbed into the ground by microbes in the ground and grass above.
A conventional decentralized septic tank is most commonly installed at homes, small businesses, and commercial buildings that are not connected to a municipal sewer system. These tanks have an average lifespan of 30 years.
Septic systems require regular maintenance to function properly and avoid failure. This includes having your septic tank pumped, which should be done at least every three years. Keeping your septic system pumped prevents solids and sludge from building up, which can overflow into the house or cause clogged pipes and wastewater to seep into the groundwater supply.
It is also important to protect your septic system by not flushing items that cannot be broken down biologically, such as paper towels, tampons, cigarette butts, latex products, and feminine hygiene products. These items disrupt the biological breakdown process in your septic system and can lead to tank clogs or even pipe failure.
Sludge
When water enters your septic tank, it contains a variety of solid waste materials. Aerobic bacteria in the septic tank decompose as much of this as possible, but some solids sink to the bottom of the tank and form a layer called sludge. If the septic tank isn’t cleaned regularly, the sludge can build up and overflow into the absorption field.
The sludge in your septic tank is made up of organic matter, inorganic materials, fats, oils, and grease that’s flushed down the drains. These solids eventually settle in the tank and form two layers, with a liquid layer between them called effluent. When the sludge is too thick, it can overflow into the absorption field, clogging it and reducing its efficiency.
To avoid this, you should use a septic system treatment product like EnviroZyme’s Concentrated Grease Control 10X and Septic Treatment. This product works by helping to dissolve the sludge and promote anaerobic digestion, which reduces its volume. This reduces the size of the sludge layer and prevents it from building up to an unsustainable level.
If the sludge layer gets too thick, it will cover the inlet and outlet tees in your septic tank. This will block the septic tank from releasing wastewater into the absorption field, which can clog and cause system failure.
Septic systems are often used in rural areas where there’s no access to municipal sewer systems. When a house is connected to a septic system, it’s up to the homeowner to ensure that the septic system is maintained properly and pumped out regularly.
If you’re unsure whether your septic tank is full and needs to be pumped, contact a local septic service provider. They can diagnose the situation over the phone and provide recommendations for a solution, which may not involve septic tank pumping. This includes septic tank treatments that can help break down the sludge and reduce its thickness, extending the time between septic tank pump outs. For best results, these products should be used in conjunction with an annual septic tank inspection. This inspection is required to ensure the safety and proper functioning of your septic system.
Scum
Septic tank sludge and scum layers are a natural part of the process that household wastewater goes through. These layers help your septic system work properly and efficiently. If these layers are not present or appear too thin, there may be a problem with your septic tank that needs to be addressed.
When water enters your septic tank, it is mixed with everything else icky that goes with it. The heavier material sinks to the bottom, where it forms a thick layer called septic tank sludge. The lighter matter that floats to the top is known as septic tank scum. In between these two layers is the bulk liquid, which is mostly clear water. The sludge and scum layers drain into the septic tank’s drain field, also called a leach field, where the soil itself further treats the waste.
Over time, the microorganisms inside your septic tank break down organic materials and reduce the volume of the sludge layer and the thickness of the scum layer. This is called anaerobic decomposition. The process can be accelerated with the use of biologically based waste digestion products like Muck Munchers.
The goal of the septic tank is to provide relatively calm conditions to allow settleable solids to sink to the bottom and floatable material to rise to the top. Sometimes the layers get mixed up, often due to turbulence from things such as large leaks into the septic tank or high-flow events.
If you find that the septic tank is regularly experiencing turbulence, it could be because the sludge level has been getting too low. This is an indication that the septic tank needs to be pumped (physically removed of the waste).
It is recommended to check the sludge level in your septic tank about every six months. This can be done by grabbing a long pole or stick that you don’t mind ruining and ‘waggle-ing’ it in the tank to see how far down into the sludge the water is. You can also use a septic tank gauge, but this is only accurate if the septic tank has been emptied recently.
Effluent
Your septic system treats wastewater from toilets, bathtubs, kitchen sinks and washing machines. It also filters out some solid waste and other contaminants. A healthy population of anaerobic bacteria feed on and digest organic waste at the bottom of your septic tank. This keeps your tank from overflowing and reduces the frequency of septic tank pumping.
A septic tank is a large, underground container made of concrete, fiberglass or polyethylene. It holds a combination of heavy and light solids in the form of sludge and scum. The solids that are heavier than water settle to the bottom of the septic tank, forming the sludge layer. The lighter solids, such as grease and oils, float to the top of the wastewater, forming the scum layer. A partition and an outlet baffle separate the sludge and scum layers from the liquid effluent.
When you flush a toilet or run water in your home, hydraulic pressure forces the wastewater through your pipes into your septic tank. This creates an airtight seal that prevents sewage from exiting your house, which helps reduce the risk of disease-causing bacteria and other pollutants entering surface waters.
Your septic tank stores the wastewater for an extended period of time. This is necessary for the anaerobic digestion process to be effective. If the septic tank is too full, the beneficial bacteria will not have enough room to break down the organic waste and it will begin to overflow.
Once the tank has sufficiently treated your wastewater, it is ready to be dispersed into your drainfield. Your septic system’s drain field, also known as an absorption field or leach field, is a shallow area of uncovered soil that filters untreated wastewater through rocks, dirt and sand. This natural filtering process allows your septic system to safely remove impurities and return the resulting clean wastewater to groundwater sources.
To help protect your septic tank and absorption field, limit the amount of water you use. For example, install low-water appliances and showerheads and wash clothes over several days rather than back-to-back. It’s also a good idea to keep shrubs, trees and other long-rooted plants away from the absorption field. This will prevent root intrusion into the septic tank or pipe connections.