I had thought I was once told that you can't place a garbage disposal on a system with a septic tank. I can't recall any reasons given why not, it was many years ago that I had heard this.
So, can you have one on a septic? Are there any drawbacks?
Thanks,
Dan
You can have a garbage disposal on a septic system. However, most homeowners choose cheap over quality and therein is a problem. Choose a disposal that produces the most finely gound waste possible. A disposal will double the amount of solids introduced to your system and if your system is not able to digest it then you will end up pumping out your tank more often than normally required.
There's no law that says one must use single-ply toilet paper, either.
people with garbage disposals tend to throw anything and everything into them and grind it up. therefore you get more solids into the tank which wont break down like poo will.
thats the problem. when the solid get too high, they go into the leaching field and clog it.
now, if your family is like mine, they rinse plates off and the small bits go down the drain. I put a garbage disposal on mine but use it only to grind up the smal bits that get rinsed off. the wife and kids are supposed to throw the big stuff in the garbage can.
so yes, you can have a dispopsal. just dont throw bones and huge pieces of food in it and youll be fine
Personally, I dislike disposers because people think they are a cureall for saving on garbage bags. I was impressed that Insinkorator disposers added a chemical feed bottle that injects an enzyme when it is used. They tout that this is for septic systems. Follow the previous post advice and you should be fine. Good luck.
If you have a septic system and garbage disposal, the EPA recommends grinding as little as possible. This is because too much organic material gets passed in the the septic tank where it can cause too much scum and too much sludge build up. Worse than worries about build up in the septic tank is clogging the drain fields.
Septic tank enzyme additives are usually in such small amounts that they have little impact. Bacterial additives have also been found to have little impact when a septic system is overwhelmed with solids. Most septic system failures are due to clogged drain fields.
We do it the same as aarcuda posted above. So I think I'll add one we should be fine.
On a sort of related note. I am a homebrewer am constantly pouring out 1/2 gallons of yeast out behind my barn. My brother who started working for a plumber a few months ago told me I should start dumping it down the drain into my septic tank. Should I dump all of it, about a 1/2 gallon of yeast slurry every few weeks, or just every once in a while. This should help chew up those larger pieces that make it through.
Thanks for the advice,
Dan
Growing up we put a cake (about 1 cubic in) of activated yeast down the toilet at least once a month. It does not take much. And, I don't know the difference between raw yeast and activated yeast, if any. I'd do a little googling before I put any of it down there.
A working septic system needs no help from you.
A working septic system needs no help from you.
There is a delicate balance of bacteria vs food in a septic tank, adding chemicals merely upsets this balance. Throw in bleach, and you kill down the bacteria, which has to recover, letting food levels build. Throw in an 'enzyme' and you increase the bacteria level, do it to often or to much, and they will eat all the available food and then die.
There is absolutely NO reason to add any kind of 'septic tank aid'. Bacteria is self regulating based on the available food levels.
Originally Posted by Pendragon
A working septic system needs no help from you.
A working septic system needs no help from you.
There is a delicate balance of bacteria vs food in a septic tank, adding chemicals merely upsets this balance. Throw in bleach, and you kill down the bacteria, which has to recover, letting food levels build. Throw in an 'enzyme' and you increase the bacteria level, do it to often or to much, and they will eat all the available food and then die.
There is absolutely NO reason to add any kind of 'septic tank aid'. Bacteria is self regulating based on the available food levels.
That's very true too...
And, I cannot buy into the premise that too many solids will get into your leech field. Today's designs make it nearly, if not totally impossible to get solids into the leech fields. Even the older single compartment tanks that I installed years ago took years (meaning 10 or so) of gross neglect to start washing solids into the leech field.
Originally Posted by mdtaylor
And, I cannot buy into the premise that too many solids will get into your leech field. Today's designs make it nearly, if not totally impossible to get solids into the leech fields. Even the older single compartment tanks that I installed years ago took years (meaning 10 or so) of gross neglect to start washing solids into the leech field.
The only 'solids' I would consider truely bad for a septic system are ones that don't decompose. Cooking oils/grease, mortar mix , plastic candy wrappers, things like that. Any FOOD products will eventually decompose and get eaten, even if they do manage to make it into the leech lines.
That being said, I never recommend garbage disposals.
The sink isn't a trash can, and shouldn't be used as one.
It is certainly faster to scrape food into the trash than to fuss with a garbage disposal.
Tags: garbage, disposal, septic, tank, septic system, septic tank, into leech, solids into, available food, food levels, garbage disposal
