subject: Septic Tanks Work With The Environment To Break Down Sewage [print this page] When moving your family from the city to the rural areas, you may notice something strange in the garden where your new home sits. A large circular, cement lid on the ground. Before you scare yourself into thinking your new home sits on a burial plot, realize that the cement lid may go to your septic system.
Many rural homeowners rely on septic systems to treat the wastewater from their homes. If you do not live by a water treatment plant, then your home needs a septic system to treat the dishwater, water from the toilet when you flush it, washing machine water, and the water after you take a bath. Every drain connects to a set of pipes that lead out of your home. Since you have no sewage lines in your area, the discharge pipes instead go into your septic tank.
What Is A Septic Tank System
To know what a septic tank is and how they work, you need to know about all the equipment that is a part of a septic tank system. Most septic tanks come in two types:
Traditional Masonery Septic Tanks
GRP Onion Septic Tanks
These systems are comprised of large tanks, pipe work, pumps, and access caps (that round cement lid sticking up in your yard). The system also has a leaching bed where the pipes pump the clarified water to so it can be treated by the environment. The Traditional Masonery Septic Tanks consist of one-to-two masonry chambers, with pipes running laterally from a filter pump to a leaching bed. A GRP Onion Septic Tank is also a chamber, but the pipes run horizontally from out the chamber to go upward to the ground's surface.
Whichever system that you use, the septic tanks will have pipework leading into a chamber where the effluent (wastewater and solids) from your house will go inside. The heavier solids sink to the bottom of the tank. Lighter solids, such as grease and fats, float at the top in a layer of scum as septic tank bacteria digest and break it down. The wastewater between the two solids may enter a secondary chamber for further filtering, or will be pumped through pipes to the ground's surface.
A leaching bed consists of perforated pipes laid out in a network inside a trench filled with gravel and topsoil. The clarified wastewater leaves the pipes through perforated pipe holes to create a biomat, which is a layer of soil bacteria and other organisms that feed on the effluent. The bacteria further break down the effluent in an enviornmentally-safe manner. As for the heavy solids in the tank, homeowners pay professionals to have the solids pumped out the chamber through the round cement access caps when the chambers become too full to function properly.
Maintaining Your Septic Tank
Now that you know about septic tank how the work, you can perform the proper maintenance so that your septic system lasts a lifetime. Have the system pumped out every three to five years to keep the level of solids at the bottom at an appropriate level. If you have a new septic tank system with an effluent filter, change the filter periodically to prevent the screen from becoming clogged.Try and make sure you do not use harsh household chemicals which can destroy the biomass inside the tank. This needs to be protected and maintained as much as possible.
