For septic systems owners, proper maintenance can mean the difference between a long-lasting, trouble-free system and one that ultimately racks up thousands of dollars’ worth of problems.

Many private companies offer a solution: using low-cost septic additives on a regular basis reduces the need for costly pumping.

So what’s the truth? Does it work?

It is all Garbage. 

Yes, Garbage. 

There is no scientific, engineering, academic, or government source we’ve talked to that recommends the use of septic system additives. I personally know a partner at the most respected water and wastewater engineering firm in the world. They have designed some of the largest wastewater treatment plants in the world and they basically invented wastewater treatment as we know it today. These are the people who design massive engineering feats; 500-600 million gallons per day(gdp) treatment plants with pumps bigger than your house. He says we’ve been experiencing one of the greatest marketing scams ever.

Here is why bacteria additives are junk and a scam.

-Most of these products recommend treatment every 30 days.

The bacteria don’t live for 30 days. They may produce more of eachother but don’t love that long

-The system always has the balance of bacteria it needs.

As waste comes in, the bacteria propagate and become more abundant. When less waste or food is supplied, the bacteria begin to eat each other. That’s right, they are cannibalistic. That’s how the balance is kept in the system. Adding more bacteria to the system will only be giving food to your existing bacteria

-Additive vendors are hypocritical

When reading the many disclaimers and “lawyer speak”, you will find that they, themselves, say the very same thing. A popular additive on tv says all those things within their fine print. They go on to disclose, at the bottom, “With regular cleaning and pumping”. No indication is given as to how often that may be.

-Inconclusive Proof

A well-known company that runs ads on tv claims that “tests we ran, conducted by a university, showed less sludge.” This is inconclusive as no test parameters are indicated. i.e.: a vacuum or pump service could have been performed periodically during the test, which may or may not be reflective of the average consumer conditions. In that type of dest, dirty could be used and incur the same or similar results

Individual experience and expert advice all concur that there is more data to indicate that these products do not work than that data that they do

Septic Additives 101

In homes with septic systems, when the toilet flushes or the washing machines runs, wastewater leaves the home and collects in a septic tank. There, the natural bacteria in the waste break down most of the solid material into a liquid or gas. Heavy solids, bits of plastic, or other material that can’t break down drop to the bottom of the tank and form the sludge layer. Lighter substances such a grease or oil float to the top, creating a scum layer. From there, the relatively clear liquid in the middle of the tank, called effluent, flows to the aerobic chamber for further treatment over 24 hours. It then flows into the pump tank where it’s pumped out into a drip or a spray, or just gravity fed into the drainfield that surrounds the tank, It’s a relatively simple and natural process.

Septic tank additives (also called septic tank treatments, cleaners, restorers, rejuvenators, or enhancers) fall into two categories; chemical or biological. Chemical additives are marketed to open up clogged drains and to break up grease and oil. They include active ingredients such as sulfuric acid. These can be highly corrosive and cause structural damage to your septic tank and kill the bacteria.

Biological additives are made from bacteria, yeast, and/or enzymes. They are said to work as starter agents in new systems. This is news to us, as we’ve installed over 3,000 aerobic systems without ever using an additive or ever needing one. The companies also say it gives an increase in the efficiency of breaking down the solids in existing systems. Again, and I have personally inspected over 4,000 systems in my time in the industry, I have never seen this to be true. Biological additives are often sold as routine maintenance to be flushed down the toilet on a monthly or weekly basis to assure the septic system’s “balance.” We find this untrue and, at this point, comical. The system has an innate balance to it without any additives.

Most chemical additives, which clearly harm septic systems and the environment, are no longer marketed. Biological additives are mostly benign, but still unnecessary. They’re just concoctions with some bacteria in them being sold as a solution to a bigger underlying issue.

What’s The Hype?

The biggest issue is that people simply don’t know how the process works and get bad information on the systems themselves. The process is a natural biological process that does not need anything to help do its job.

Of particular concern is the claim that some products reduce or eliminate the need to pump the septic system on a regular basis. This is a major issue that,  as a septic company,  we face every day. Some of it is the homeowners’ fault and they simply will not listen even if they’ve been told by ten different people. They’ll swear up and down “it’s fine, it’s never been pumped in 20 years it’s supposed to be like that.” When they do start having issues it’s often too late; the field lines are shot, the tank is literally a solid mess that takes hours to pump. Then they have regular issues with the system and are repeatedly calling us asking why they’re having issues. Pumping solids out of the tank is a vital part of septic system maintenance. Encouraging homeowner to not pump their tanks will have costly and disastrous effects on their systems down the road. Some brown powder is not the answer.

If wastewater is entering a septic tank, solids will be present. Period. End of story. The job of the trash tank is to keep as many of the solids in the tank(retention and settling) and to not let them move on to the next treatment process. This is often an aerobic treatment tank, a drainfield, or a pump tank. If a product claims the reduction or elimination of the need to pump it’s a flat-out lie. I would ask where then do the solids go if they’re no longer in the tank? “The bacteria ate them” okay, well the bacteria have waste also. Mass simply does not vanish. It can be broken down and filtered etc. But this happens naturally in a tank and does not require any magic powder you’ve poured down the toilet. For the cost of this powder, you can pump your system more often than is necessary and ensure the longevity of your septic tank.

What The Government Says

The state of Washington does not allow additive manufacturers to use the word “approved” for marketing purposes, but product materials may say “complying with Washington laws regarding harm to public health and water quality.” Other states may have similar or differing regulations and consulting your local authority is recommended.

What The Research Says

A lot of research is needed in this area but has already been done by most of the big engineering firms. If there were a better or faster way to treat waste they’d already be doing it. Not only is this of interest to practicing professionals in the on-site wastewater field, but also to many homeowners that waste a lot of money on these products.

In 1997, Dr. Hoover directed what has been called a “landmark” study by then-graduate-student Gregory H Clark. Using 48 septic systems in two mobile home parks, Clark set up three groups of tanks to receive additives and one to act as a control. The tanks were divided into groups that had been well-maintained(recently pumped), poorly maintained (rarely or never pumped in 15-20 years of use), and those that fell in the middle. The primary researcher collecting and analyzing the samples from the tanks did not know which tanks had been treated, and the study received no funding and had no involvement from the septic additive companies. The three products tested were from Drano, Liquid Plumber, and Rid-X.

Various measurements, such as the depth of the sludge(solids), the thickness of the scum, the number of floating solids, and the total amount of bacteria present in the tank were collected over the period of a year. The study concluded that “the additives tested did not provide any substantial or long-term statistically significant benefits compared to the control” for the items that they measure and in the conditions of this study. The authors also called for continued research under borders circumstances before “definitive conclusions” could be drawn. This study is published in the January 2008 Journey of Environmental Health

A second unpublished field study of bacterial additives done by the National Association of Wastewater Transports, Inc (NAWT) followed 12 septic tanks for two years. They similarly concluded there was no change in the sludge accumulation at the bottom of the tank or in the number of floating solids. They did find a 30% reduction in the floating scum layer; a statistically significant finding. However, they also found an increase in fats, oils, and grease in the septic system outflow to the drainfield, which could cause other problems. The NAWT concluded that the additive seemed to have no detrimental effect on the septic systems, but does not hold an “opinion, positive or negative, as to the use of bacterial additives in the septic tanks.”

CONCLUSION

Our conclusion is this: you have been duped and it’s a sad thing because they have built an entire industry on these additives. Some of these ideas come from the chemical plants there additives work in the chemical process and they add certain bugs to things. These are not the same bugs or additives, this is not a chemical process but a biological one, and one that needs no help to happen. Save your money for a pump out. The cost of additives for one year is about the same as a complete pump out in most areas so it’s cheaper to do it right. Get your tank pumped!

The post Do Septic Additives Work? appeared first on Aerobic Septic System.

Condoms are other things that don't biodegrade. They stay in the system and wrap around pumps; burning them up. They get on diffusers and cause back pressure on aerators. They never go away. They also make for awkward conversations with the customer as we must tell them what we found in the tank because they are not suitable for the system. So, if they have a daughter and dad's there you can see the "I’m going to kill someone look" come on pretty fast. Plenty of times we have told the husband hey we found condoms in the septic system and they are not good and got back "We don’t use condoms” so that’s always uncomfortable. Extra discomfort because we haven’t gotten paid yet and then ask for the money for the job.

When I pull up to a job I always ask "how long has it been since you had a clean out?". For my worst job ever, the man said about a year and a half, so I think okay you probably don’t need a cleanout maybe just snake a line. He said the toilets are not flushing and it's backed up. So, we prep everything, open the access closest to the house and tank, and my guy says we have a problem. He sticks the stir stick in and can’t break through to stir the tank pads. There is no way to tell how many are in the tank due to how they tangle up and the weight of them. You have to guess. Our guy has been with us 20 years and he has seen it all. He does tons of cleanouts; he said it's bad and it was. The guy's daughter, who did this before because it happened the last time, also just didn’t want to listen and flushed pads down like it was the thing to do. It took us 4 hours to do one tank and cost the guy 850 dollars for that one tank. That one 500-gallon tank took 2000 gallons of water. That was the first time our guy said it's too bad and wanted to walk away. I told him we had to finish. He had never said that before and hasn't since.

It costs city sewer a considerable amount every year to deal with these products and they pass that cost along. From 2005-2017, the cost for city sewer services has gone up 200 percent; mostly due to these products. A city sewer has massive equipment that not much can get in the way of, but in the pipes coming to the plants is where most of the issues happen. So, thirty to forty dollar increases in people’s bills happen every month. You will never get that back even if everyone stopped using wipes, the government never goes down on fees. If you are okay with an increase every four-five years, then keep doing it. If not, then please stop flushing these products.

The post Flushing These Items Ruins Your Septic System. appeared first on Aerobic Septic System.

#1 Don't

Don't get frantic when you hear the septic alarm. Systems should be designed with free board or extra room so you can still use the bathroom or do dishes. Hold off on laundry as it uses a lot of water. The alarm panel should have two lights; amber and red. We’ll cover what they each mean later in the article. If you are not comfortable reading through and finding an answer in here, call a licensed septic company when your alarm sounds or the light turns on and reduce non-essential water usage.

#2 Do

Do hire a septic company that is competent. People in the business for a long time generally know what they are doing. Picking someone just because they’re cheap is generally not the best call, you do get what you pay for. Some people say to use proprietary parts… that's a joke. No company manufactures parts; we know what parts are what. Most pumps are Franklin or Sta-rite and most aerators are Hiblow or Gast.  Unless you’ve got a Norweco or Jet. Then I feel bad for you.

#3 Don't

Don't ignore the alarm. It went off for a reason and the longer you wait, the more costly it will become.

#4 Do

Do look at your chlorinator to make sure it has chlorine for final disinfection. If your system smells, it's not because of chlorine or lack thereof, it's something else.

#5 Don't

Don't shut the system off then forget. It doesn’t take that much power, so just leave it running. If you do decide to shut the system off so you don’t get sprayed while mowing or doing yardwork, don’t forget to turn it back on.

#6 Do

Do check around your aerator for ants, they love to ruin your system. If you have a Clearstream and it was put above the ground because the installer was lazy, you will need to check this more often as the ants can easily access the aerator and control panel. If your service provider or person who maintains your system installed the system and put the panel on the ground, fire them and find someone with common sense. Sorry, I have no mercy on this. The lazy design and lack of forward-thinking costs customers a lot of money.

#7 Don't

Don't put chlorine tablet buckets in enclosed areas. Chlorine is corrosive and eats everything. Also, be sure to keep it away from fire, it’s highly dangerous near a fire. Store chlorine in a ventilated and dry area.

#8 Do

Do use ant killer to kill ants if they start mounding by any part of the system.

#9 Don't

Don't use swimming pool chlorine tablets for tablet chlorinators. Only use calcium hypochlorite tablets that are designed for treating wastewater.

#10 Do

Do make sure all parts of the system are easily accessible at all times (do not build over any part, use landscaping that could grow over, etc).

#11 Don't

Don't fall for statements like: "If you don’t use a licensed person, it’s illegal and the poop police will get you" or "It will void your warranty if we don't install it" The only things that void a warranty should be in your actual contract. Besides those, a two-year warranty lasts for two years period. If a maintenance provider says "I am turning you into the authorities get another one" why would you want to hire someone who just threatened you find someone new? A lot of states and counties make it mandatory you have a contract, but don't police the contractors. There are honest ones out there, but there are a lot of shady ones also because the states won't pull licenses. Stand your ground and find someone new.

#12 Do

Do have your system pumped if your maintenance provider says it needs to be done and he is honest. Too many times we hear that a provider noted that no sludge was in the system but then the next month it's suddenly full. That is impossible and I would be highly suspect of their motives if they said this. Get a second opinion, there are a lot of people out there that take advantage of people.

#13 Don't

Don't put just anything down the drain or toilet. Whatever is put down those will go into the septic system and have to be treated. Be mindful of this. Aerobic systems are designed to treat domestic wastewater but that's it. We’ve written an article on it here

#14 Do

Do space your laundry out if you have a large family. Don't do ten loads in one day or you will overload the system. Space them out. Planning a load in the morning and a load at night is better than 10 in one day. Will this be a disaster if you do it once every three months? No, it won’t, but don't make this a practice. It's not good for any septic system, especially an aerobic septic system.

#15 Don't

Don't put a garden around your system, making it hard to get to. People have emergencies then need things pumped and fixed fast. Some homeowners go as far as to say "don't damage the plants." Your house has sewage in it and you're worried about the plants? A septic system is about function not form. It doesn't need to be ugly, but plants and trees should not be planted next to it. Plants and trees need water and the aerobic septic system is full of nutrient-rich water. As soon as they find it, the roots go crazy and cause damage that costs a lot of money. Do not plant vegetable gardens in or near the field lines or spray areas. Dangerous bacteria are in the system and you can get very sick from eating vegetables from areas like this. They will look fantastic because of the water but don’t eat them.

#16 Don't

Don't treat the system as a city wastewater treatment plant. Using water when needed and not wasting it helps prevent hydraulically overloading the system. Don’t let leaky faucets and toilets go unfixed. You may not think it’s a lot of water, but in 24 hours they average 100-150 gallons of water use. It's just unnecessary usage of your effluent pump.

And that concludes our 16 Aerobic Septic System Do's & Don'ts. We hope this list will help you manage your aerobic septic system more effectively. With just a little bit of care and attention, you can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on maintenance and pumping costs. This kind of education is what we’re all about!

The post 16 Aerobic Septic System Do's and Dont's appeared first on Aerobic Septic System.

For septic systems owners, proper maintenance can mean the difference between a long-lasting, trouble-free system and one that ultimately racks up thousands of dollars’ worth of problems.

Many private companies offer a solution: using low-cost septic additives on a regular basis reduces the need for costly pumping.

So what’s the truth? Does it work?

It is all Garbage.

Yes, Garbage. 

There is no scientific, engineering, academic, or government source we’ve talked to that recommends the use of septic system additives. I personally know a partner at the most respected water and wastewater engineering firm in the world. They have designed some of the largest wastewater treatment plants in the world and they basically invented wastewater treatment as we know it today. These are the people who design massive engineering feats; 500-600 million gallons per day(gdp) treatment plants with pumps bigger than your house. He says we’ve been experiencing one of the greatest marketing scams ever.

Here is why bacteria additives are junk and a scam.

-Most of these products recommend treatment every 30 days.

The bacteria don’t live for 30 days. They may produce more of eachother but don’t love that long

-The system always has the balance of bacteria it needs.

As waste comes in, the bacteria propagate and become more abundant. When less waste or food is supplied, the bacteria begin to eat each other. That’s right, they are cannibalistic. That’s how the balance is kept in the system. Adding more bacteria to the system will only be giving food to your existing bacteria

-Additive vendors are hypocritical

When reading the many disclaimers and “lawyer speak”, you will find that they, themselves, say the very same thing. A popular additive on tv says all those things within their fine print. They go on to disclose, at the bottom, “With regular cleaning and pumping”. No indication is given as to how often that may be.

-Inconclusive Proof

A well-known company that runs ads on tv claims that “tests we ran, conducted by a university, showed less sludge.” This is inconclusive as no test parameters are indicated. i.e.: a vacuum or pump service could have been performed periodically during the test, which may or may not be reflective of the average consumer conditions. In that type of dest, dirty could be used and incur the same or similar results

Individual experience and expert advice all concur that there is more data to indicate that these products do not work than that data that they do

Septic Additives 101

In homes with septic systems, when the toilet flushes or the washing machines runs, wastewater leaves the home and collects in a septic tank. There, the natural bacteria in the waste break down most of the solid material into a liquid or gas. Heavy solids, bits of plastic, or other material that can’t break down drop to the bottom of the tank and form the sludge layer. Lighter substances such a grease or oil float to the top, creating a scum layer. From there, the relatively clear liquid in the middle of the tank, called effluent, flows to the aerobic chamber for further treatment over 24 hours. It then flows into the pump tank where it’s pumped out into a drip or a spray, or just gravity fed into the drainfield that surrounds the tank, It’s a relatively simple and natural process.

Septic tank additives (also called septic tank treatments, cleaners, restorers, rejuvenators, or enhancers) fall into two categories; chemical or biological. Chemical additives are marketed to open up clogged drains and to break up grease and oil. They include active ingredients such as sulfuric acid. These can be highly corrosive and cause structural damage to your septic tank and kill the bacteria.

Biological additives are made from bacteria, yeast, and/or enzymes. They are said to work as starter agents in new systems. This is news to us, as we’ve installed over 3,000 aerobic systems without ever using an additive or ever needing one. The companies also say it gives an increase in the efficiency of breaking down the solids in existing systems. Again, and I have personally inspected over 4,000 systems in my time in the industry, I have never seen this to be true. Biological additives are often sold as routine maintenance to be flushed down the toilet on a monthly or weekly basis to assure the septic system’s “balance.” We find this untrue and, at this point, comical. The system has an innate balance to it without any additives.

Most chemical additives, which clearly harm septic systems and the environment, are no longer marketed. Biological additives are mostly benign, but still unnecessary. They’re just concoctions with some bacteria in them being sold as a solution to a bigger underlying issue.

What's The Hype?

The biggest issue is that people simply don’t know how the process works and get bad information on the systems themselves. The process is a natural biological process that does not need anything to help do its job.

Of particular concern is the claim that some products reduce or eliminate the need to pump the septic system on a regular basis. This is a major issue that,  as a septic company,  we face every day. Some of it is the homeowners’ fault and they simply will not listen even if they’ve been told by ten different people. They’ll swear up and down “it’s fine, it’s never been pumped in 20 years it’s supposed to be like that.” When they do start having issues it’s often too late; the field lines are shot, the tank is literally a solid mess that takes hours to pump. Then they have regular issues with the system and are repeatedly calling us asking why they’re having issues. Pumping solids out of the tank is a vital part of septic system maintenance. Encouraging homeowner to not pump their tanks will have costly and disastrous effects on their systems down the road. Some brown powder is not the answer.

If wastewater is entering a septic tank, solids will be present. Period. End of story. The job of the trash tank is to keep as many of the solids in the tank(retention and settling) and to not let them move on to the next treatment process. This is often an aerobic treatment tank, a drainfield, or a pump tank. If a product claims the reduction or elimination of the need to pump it’s a flat-out lie. I would ask where then do the solids go if they’re no longer in the tank? “The bacteria ate them” okay, well the bacteria have waste also. Mass simply does not vanish. It can be broken down and filtered etc. But this happens naturally in a tank and does not require any magic powder you’ve poured down the toilet. For the cost of this powder, you can pump your system more often than is necessary and ensure the longevity of your septic tank.

What The Government Says

The state of Washington does not allow additive manufacturers to use the word “approved” for marketing purposes, but product materials may say “complying with Washington laws regarding harm to public health and water quality.” Other states may have similar or differing regulations and consulting your local authority is recommended.

What The Research Says

A lot of research is needed in this area but has already been done by most of the big engineering firms. If there were a better or faster way to treat waste they’d already be doing it. Not only is this of interest to practicing professionals in the on-site wastewater field, but also to many homeowners that waste a lot of money on these products.

In 1997, Dr. Hoover directed what has been called a “landmark” study by then-graduate-student Gregory H Clark. Using 48 septic systems in two mobile home parks, Clark set up three groups of tanks to receive additives and one to act as a control. The tanks were divided into groups that had been well-maintained(recently pumped), poorly maintained (rarely or never pumped in 15-20 years of use), and those that fell in the middle. The primary researcher collecting and analyzing the samples from the tanks did not know which tanks had been treated, and the study received no funding and had no involvement from the septic additive companies. The three products tested were from Drano, Liquid Plumber, and Rid-X.

Various measurements, such as the depth of the sludge(solids), the thickness of the scum, the number of floating solids, and the total amount of bacteria present in the tank were collected over the period of a year. The study concluded that “the additives tested did not provide any substantial or long-term statistically significant benefits compared to the control” for the items that they measure and in the conditions of this study. The authors also called for continued research under borders circumstances before “definitive conclusions” could be drawn. This study is published in the January 2008 Journey of Environmental Health

A second unpublished field study of bacterial additives done by the National Association of Wastewater Transports, Inc (NAWT) followed 12 septic tanks for two years. They similarly concluded there was no change in the sludge accumulation at the bottom of the tank or in the number of floating solids. They did find a 30% reduction in the floating scum layer; a statistically significant finding. However, they also found an increase in fats, oils, and grease in the septic system outflow to the drainfield, which could cause other problems. The NAWT concluded that the additive seemed to have no detrimental effect on the septic systems, but does not hold an “opinion, positive or negative, as to the use of bacterial additives in the septic tanks.”

Conclusion

Our conclusion is this: you have been duped and it’s a sad thing because they have built an entire industry on these additives. Some of these ideas come from the chemical plants there additives work in the chemical process and they add certain bugs to things. These are not the same bugs or additives, this is not a chemical process but a biological one, and one that needs no help to happen. Save your money for a pump out. The cost of additives for one year is about the same as a complete pump out in most areas so it’s cheaper to do it right. Get your tank pumped!

The post Should I Use Septic Additives? appeared first on Aerobic Septic System.