How Cleaning Products Adversely Affect your Septic Tank

As a rule of the thumb, septic tanks need an anaerobic bacterial environment in order to do the work of digesting organic solids that enter them from the drains. The microbes will digest and break down the waste and reduce them to the sludge that settles at the bottom of the tank and which can be emptied every 1 to 3 years. However, the use of antibacterial household cleaning products ends up destroying the beneficial bacteria found in the septic tank and over the course of time; the septic tank will stop working completely.

When you have an ailing septic tank system at home, it finally begins letting solid waste to go into the outlet and after the passage of time, the absorption of the soak away or the drain field gets blocked completely. There are at least three things that you will be required to do when this finally takes place: you will have to install a completely new soak away; you will have the septic tank emptied regularly because of backups or you will have to add the beneficial anaerobic bacteria into your septic tank.

Option number one can be quite expensive but it can only last until there are enough solids to cause another blockage again. The truth is that a new soak away will cost you thousands of dollars and what’s more, you need large space for you to have it installed. On average, a soak away for a family of four people will need at least 100 square yards and this is supposed to be clear of buildings and also away from paths, drives and patios as well as impervious surfaces; most houses don’t have that type of space for installing new soak aways.

The second option is also quite expensive since hiring septic tank drainage tanks doesn’t come cheap. More important though is that fact that the emptying frequency will continue to become shorter and shorter as the soak away is nearing the end of its life. Perhaps the more affordable option would be trying to add back the healthy bacteria that were destroyed by antiseptic cleaning products before you decide to spend money on the more expensive options. However, the challenge here is that there are so many products in the market that most people will not know how and where to buy the right products.

As with all other systems, prevention is always cheaper than cure. It is important to try and resist the use of drain cleaners because they will certainly kill the good septic tank bacteria and they also do untold damage to the entire septic tank system. If you have a septic tank installed at your home, you cannot afford to buy and use cleaning products without reading the fine print if you are going to avoid using products that are lethal to your septic tank.