Septic tank maintenance

August 5th, 2013:

How to landscape around drain field lines

This article will cover how to landscape around drain field lines. Every homeowner should know and understand how to landscape around drain field lines. Plants are good to have as natural decoration for your home’s perimeter but they should not damage or disable your septic system. Landscaping should be done with the help of knowledgeable professionals who can help you with your landscaping decisions. You should not take a risk and just randomly plant anything you want on your lawn. Root systems of higher plants can damage or clog your drain field lines. If this happens, your entire septic will fail. Here are some tips on how to landscape around drain fields:

  • Plan the landscaping for your drain field lines.Your drain field lines should not be interrupted during the wastewater treatments process. Pause and look at your lawn for a moment. Think about how it would fare for years to com. Your landscaping should not interfere with the normal flow of wastewater treatment. With this in mind, you should never place structures such as sheds, patios, parking areas, driveways, decks, swings, and driveways over your drain field lines. These will only be huge obstacles in accessing your drain field system during maintenance, care, repairs, and replacements. Plan all these well before you design and install your drain field system.
  • Keep access points in sight.Remember that accessing your drain field lines is vital. The elements in your drain field should be found right away so that drain field line care and pump outs can be done easily. The septic systems decades ago had access ports that were installed underground, about 6 inches to 2 feet. That is why it was so difficult for them to find. Homeowners usually have sundials, potted plants, sculptures and bird baths to mark the location of the access point. Modern septics have access points that can be seen above the surface. However, homeowners tend to disguise them by placing movable planter boxes over the access points. This is an effective way to easily pump ut the septic system so that the drain field lines won’t be clogged.
  • Care for water and soil
  • Make sure that irrigation systems and runoff drains are not placed over the drain field. The excess water load that enters the drain field will only stop the normal flow of wastewater treatment. The raw sewage will go back into your home and over your lawn. The flooding will kill off the aerobic bacteria in the drain field. As you know, the aerobic bacteria regulate the biomat and breakdown particles that may still be present in the pre-treated effluent. The biomat purify the effluent but if they’re not regulated, they clog the drain field. Any irrigation system should be installed at least ten feet away from your drain field lines.
  • Make sure that heavy vehicles and animals move over your drain field. Their heavy weight causes soil compaction that reduces the number of bacteria that treat wastewater, and negatively affect the performance of the drain field system.
  • Never use bark, landscape fabric on over the drain field. These only store moisture and decrease the amount of air being exchanged.
  • Make sure that large animals do not graze over the cesspool area because they also cause soil compaction.
  • Do not use mulch, bark, or landscape fabric over the cesspool. These decrease the amount of air that is being exchanged and also retain moisture.
  • Discuss the design with your landscape expert. They have know-how about the techniques in making your property an ideal place for your drain field system.
  • Decide on your plants wisely. Experts recommend using small, low maintenance, and low water plants that have shallow roots. Grass and herbs are good because they provide sufficient cover over the drain field while leaving your drain field alone to do its job efficiently.Go forth and express your love for plants through landscaping. Just make sure that your drain fields will not suffer during the aesthetic change.

Commercial grease trap cleaner

This article will cover grease trap cleaner and cleaners as well as their uses. Modern times have brought forth so many conveniences to mankind. Medicines, machines, clothes, houses, and food are instantly produced according to the preference of the target market. Among these major industries, machine and food businesses are the biggest contributors to the FOG (fats, oils, grease) crisis. This is because of the by-products that they produce—FOG.

It’s really quite saddening to realize that the price of convenience is the harm that it gives to the environment and to man himself. FOG continues to overwhelm highly industrialized countries especially the United States. The US is a country known to be run by entrepreneurs and businesses that pop are machine and food production. More and more businesses like these pop up every day and as a result, more FOG is produced. This is the reason why there is a call for a good commercial grease trap cleaner.

But before the commercial grease trap cleaner is given focus, the government created a grease ordinance or a pretreatment ordinance for every food and machine establishment to follow. The ordinance mandates the business owners to have grease traps installed and maintained in their premises. The traps should have permits from the Department of City Government so that they could be inspected at any given time. Maintenance of the grease traps needs to be performed on a regular basis. This includes a thorough inspection every week. Pumping out the grease traps depends on the size, location, and accessibility. The large outdoor grease traps need to be pumped out every quarter. The smaller, indoor grease traps should be pumped out every month. But even with these basic schedules, most companies prefer having their grease traps pumped out every week. They would rather pay for weekly pump outs than face environmental lawsuits and pay large fines for FOG overflow.

The process of pumping out the grease trap is already established. All that’s needed is a stable schedule and a certified hauler for the waste. The critical aspect here is the commercial grease trap cleaner that should be purchased and used on a regular basis. There are so many products out there that promise to eliminate grease permanently once you use them. The most common of them are the enzymes and chemicals.  The manufacturers of these grease trap cleaners tell their customers that the FOG problem is considered solved once they use the products. When the customers apply these cleaners into their traps, the FOG seems to disappear or melt away. What really happens is that the FOG just gets emulsified and mixed up with the untreated effluent. The FOG cools down within the pipes, solidifies, and sticks to the walls of the pipelines, blocking the normal flow of the wastewater that’s supposed to reach the wastewater treatment facility, already pre-treated or FOG-free. Everything just gets far worse because the wastewater backs up into the business establishment and contaminates everything.

The most efficient commercial grease trap cleaner is the additive that’s composed of bacteria. Bacteria are primitive microorganisms that have survived even nuclear fallouts. They have continued to exist even in the harshest of environments. Realizing their potency to consume and to survive, they are now utilized as a type of commercial grease trap cleaner. Bacteria can digest or consume the FOG and the solid waste materials in the grease trap. They also get rid of the awful, offensive smells and keep the surrounding environment free from pollution. There are several forms of bacteria that are available in the market today—powdered bacteria, liquid bacteria, bacteria pumps, bacteria blocks, and grease trap tablets. Among these forms, the grease tablet is the latest modification. It contains buffers, aerobic bacteria, nutrients, and active oxygen to facilitate the faster breakdown of FOG and solid wastes.

The use of bacteria as a commercial grease trap cleaner should be encouraged. With bacteria, companies could save on pumping out bills every week. They also help in preventing environmental lawsuits and large fines.