Septic tank maintenance

January 16th, 2013:

How plastics and nylons from laundry water can cause clogging in a seepage pit.

This article will cover how plastics and nylons from laundry water can cause clogging in a seepage pit. As a homeowner, you are aware of certain components that help you maintain your entire property’s health and sanitation. You may have a cesspit or a septic tank but the main idea here is that they treat the wastewater that your household produces on a daily basis. Your wastewater is composed of greywater and blackwater. Greywater is the wastewater that comes from your dishwasher, drains, showers, and washing machines. If you do not have a greywater system or a drywell system, your greywater goes straight into your septic system. This increases your septic’s water load and adds in more solid waste materials—both biodegradable and non-biodegradable ones. Biodegradable waste materials are broken down by the anaerobic bacteria in your septic tank. The non-biodegradable waste materials cannot be degraded anymore so they just stay in the system and clog the process. Plastic is a synthetic material that can have organic substances. Though experts are trying their best to make plastics more biodegradable, they are still not completely decomposed. What’s more, when biodegradable plastics are decomposed, methane is produced. As you know, methane is toxic at high levels and is very flammable. You should know how plastics and nylons from laundry water can cause clogging in a seepage pit. The knowledge can help you prevent seepage pit and septic system failure.

Many people think of seepage pits as cesspools. Others think of cesspools as seepage pits. These two systems are very different from one another. A seepage pit system is much like a cesspool when you refer to its construction. It is actually a large pit made of masonry block or lined with hard concrete rings. It is also surrounded by gravel. Once the wastewater has already gone through the septic tank or cesspool tank, the first stage of treatment is already finished. The effluent is temporarily stored in the seepage pit and slowly seeps out into the surrounding soil absorption area. The seepage pit’s bottom is home to the biomat that is regulated by the aerobic bacteria. Since aerobic bacteria cannot survive in the pit, the biomat tends to accumulate and clog the system. The seepage pit is essentially a helper to your septic system or cesspool. Even if it is just a helper, it should also be well taken care of especially if your laundry water contains plastics and nylons.

If you don’t have a greywater or drywell system, the seepage pit also receives laundry water. Various fabrics are washed in your washing machine on a daily basis. This enables the plastic fibers to enter both the septic and the seepage pit systems. The seepage pit is a helper to your septic system because it helps absorb and purify the pretreated effluent before it is released into the surrounding soil absorption system. It only receives liquids and not solid particles because the septic tank has already dealt with that.  However, when plastics and nylons make it o your septic tank, these cannot be broken down by the anaerobic bacteria anymore. So, they enter the seepage pit as well. The seepage pit then experiences heavy clogging and eventual failure.

An efficient seepage pit effectively collects pre-treated effluent, which is free of solid waste materials. If  your laundry water has plastics and nylons, your seepage pit will surely get clogged and this could cost you your entire septic system. Additional filters should be installed in the inflow and outflow pipes of your septic tank so that plastic and nylon fibers won’t enter the seepage pit anymore. Remember that the seepage pit is not supposed to treat our wastewater anymore. It is only a purifying, quality control station where the pretreated effluent passes.

The seepage pit has a tendency to release harmful contaminants into the surrounding soil so you should make sure that it always functions efficiently. Ask your septic expert about it so that you will be able to maintain it properly.