What Is A Septic System?
When you’re buying a new home, it’s important to know and understand how your septic system works – especially if you’ve only ever dealt with sewer systems before.
Where sewer systems pretty much run on their own without any intervention from you, a septic system needs proper cleaning, inspection and maintenance to keep it operating efficiently. In other words, it needs attention. When taken care of, septic systems are pretty simple and will last a very long time.
How Drains Flow And What Your Septic System Does
Your septic system starts from the stub out of your home, where plumbers have piped all your drains, including sinks and toilets, into one or more pipes.
From the stub, the pipes carry the effluent to the septic tank, where the bacteria eat up all the solids. Unfortunately, these bacteria secrete a sludge that builds up over time at the bottom of your tank.
Most tanks will have a baffle to separate the main chamber from a secondary chamber, where most of the liquids will filter through. After the majority of solids are filtered, you may have another filter sitting right at your outlet on the septic tank.
From this outlet, your septic system may include a lift station, which is a sub tank with a pump and alarm. This tank will predominantly contain liquids that are ready to be pumped out to the drain field. It’s not uncommon to have some solids in this tank if you don’t have a filter in your main septic tank. These solids can cause a lot of damage to your pump, and worse, your drain field.
Moving from the previous septic tank – whether your lift station or your main tank – the liquids will move into the drain field and will filter down into the water system or evaporate into the air, thus completing a natural and safe cycle.
Always Keep Your Septic System Maintained
All in all, your septic system is fairly easy to understand, and amazingly easy to maintain properly with a pump-out every three years and a filter cleaning every six months to prevent sludge from building up and getting into your drain field.
Note that this work should be done only by licensed professionals who are fully insured for your protection. Quality Septic Inc. has served customers throughout the greater Land O’ Lakes, Florida, region for more than 25 years with expert septic tank cleaning, septic system repairs and inspection and complete installation of all parts and components of modern septic systems.
