On 9/5/2019 11:14 AM, Frank wrote:
On 9/5/2019 10:57 AM, Arlen G. Holder wrote:
On Wed, 4 Sep 2019 16:38:12 -0700, Bob F wrote:

How do you know you never needed it? Aren't you at risk of a trashed
septic system if you don't have it checked once in a while?

How am I supposed to know if there is no "problem" extant?


I'm hoping we don't have a ****ty day.Â* Our septic is being pumped this
afternoon.Â* Been a few years and hopefully there will be no problems.

You do have to be careful who you hire around here as a couple of big
plumbing outfits are told to tell customers that they do have problems
when they don't.

After clean out yesterday, my wife asked the pumper about additives and
he advised bakers yeast.

Looking this up this am I found this which makes a lot of sense and
answers your question about household cleaners:

http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/pdf/ww/septi...ves_sfqw02.pdf

Bacteria and yeast break down household waste and too much chemicals can
deactivate them. Part of my curiosity was needing a new well this year
where well is shocked with hypochlorite (bleach) to the point of not
being able to drink the water for a couple of days. Turns out my system
was fine and not overcome.

Yeast additive makes sense as it aids in breakdown of cellulose. You do
not have to add bacteria like in Rid-X as the toilet supplies plenty of
them.

Might also mention that a few years ago the pumper showed me a cake of
fatty material in the tank and advised use of liquid detergents in the
washer to help avoid this build up. We have been doing it since and
pumpers have not said anything about this since.