I have heard many stories about these products. Yes, they apparently clean
out your septic tank by churning all the sediment up and allow it to be
dispersed into the drainage tiles also known as the leach field. That is why
there is little left to pump out. However, by dumping the sediment into the
leach field which is designed to only handle liquid, they can become plugged
or have their ability to disperse water reduced requiring an entirely new
leach field at several thousand dollars.

My parents had problems with a new septic tank, and was advised not to use
such products but to buy a couple of pounds of ground pork, leave it out the
fridge for several days then flush it down. I don't know if this really
works, but it can do no harm other than the smell while ageing it. Their
system worked perfectly after this treatment.

"KC" wrote in message
...
On Jan 16, 1:07 pm, hobbes wrote:
On Jan 16, 1:24 pm, "Mamba" wrote:





Recently I was at the local hardware store buying some Rid-ex for our
cabin's septic system. (It is a fairly occassional use place, and we
have
no laundry facitlites there, hence limited grey water outage.)

I met an aquaintance there who is mainly a septic system
contractor/excavator. He noted my pending purchase, and warned me that
Rid-ex and other septic system treatments were largely a waste of money,
and
that they in fact conflicted with the natural bugs that grow in the
septic
tank and break down wastes.

At the time, it sounded good and I decided not to buy the product. Now I
think a second opinion would be in order. Anybody have any solid (no pun
intended) info to support or refute the claim that septic system
additives
do not enhance the performance of the system?

Tnx

Hi,

I have heard also that septic systems have natural bugs / bacteria
that
normally do the work. Flushing alot of chemicals down the toilet that
kills them
will sort of damage that natural effect.

My 2 cents is if your septic system is working O.K. it is safer not to
mess with it.
We live in a non-sewer area, and most guys just basically leave their
systems alone except to have them pumped out every two to three
years .....

Best, Mike.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You'll get varied opinions on this subject, and here's mine.
It all has to do with what you put into the system and how much of
it. Natural body waste bacteria "can" keep a system operating
properly if you are careful of what else goes into it. For example,
keep chlorine based cleaners to a minimum. Don't put waste food
products, especially grease, into the system. (Not having a laundry
is a plus.) Keep feminine hygene products out of the system.
Don't run an undue amount of waste water into the system.(dilutes/
flushes bacteria).
If you haven't used the cabin in a few months, good bacteria may be
reduced and a dose of Rid-X may help kickstart the action again, but
other than that it probably isn't necessary. But I seriously doubt it
would cause any problems if you did use it.
I used my cabin, with a septic system, for 10 years and once every 3
months gave it a Rid-X treatment. Not knowing what was going on in
the septic tank after all time, I requested a clean-out. They found
about 2" of sludge on the bottom of the tank and nothing floating on
the surface. In otherwords a perfectly normal tank. So I can't
definitely say Rid-X made the difference, but I can say it did no
harm.

KC