Septic tank question

ss55 · Feb 1, 2016

Does anyone run all their drain water through their septic tank, or do most people only run "brown water" (toilets) through their septic tank and send all the "gray water" (sinks, shower, tub, dish washer, clothes washer, etc.) through a "gray water bypass" that goes around the septic tank?

rrlund · Feb 1, 2016

I run everything in to the septic. My brother put it in and he's been installing them most all of his working life,so I have to trust him on it.

bobwny · Feb 1, 2016

not to mention building codes require everything goes in the septic except gutters and rainwater.

Married2Allis · Feb 1, 2016

I doubt that many people have had their home specifically plumbed to separate the toilet drain water from the rest. I only run my washer rinse water to a separate outside drain.

Russ from MN · Feb 1, 2016

Everything goes into septic tank, never had a problem, gray water can be nasty too! The only bypass I would ever consider would be water softener discharge, so the salt brine doesn't go in the septic tank. We have run the softener discharge into the septic in our last 2 housed with no apparent problems for the last 35 years though.

JayinNY · Feb 1, 2016

My brother, dad and I all have septics, everything goes into the septic tank, with the exception of dad and moms washing machine, dad built a dry well for that, I'm not sure why.

JF in MI · Feb 1, 2016

In My last house (just sold it) my washer, dishwasher and utility sink went into a separate dry well only because that well was built with the house in 1960. As bobwny says; now codes would not let us do that.

John M · Feb 1, 2016

Here, its illegal to do that......

Billy NY · Feb 1, 2016

Lint from washing machines can plug leach fields, so its good to send that somewhere else if possible.

John T · Feb 1, 2016

A couple enemies of a septic system is lint (clothes washer) and grease (kitchen sink) so those two drains I dump into my outer foundation perimeter drain so it runs down over the hill in the middle of my 40+ acre tract (35 years NEVER a problem and cant even see any difference in the drain area) . Of course if that's illegal or you dont have a suitable place to do that (like middle of 40 acres) it cant be done like that. In the alternative perhaps a grease trap in the kitchen sink drain which you can clean out as required. I'm a believer in having the septic tank pumped out at times also.

John T

Ken Macfarlane · Feb 1, 2016

Most old farmhouses here drain the grey water to a drywell. Its not permitted by our code now but it certainly helps your leachfield live longer.

Mike(NEOhio) · Feb 1, 2016

Everything into the septic. Mine is below the basement and floor drains go it too.

37chief · Feb 1, 2016

I don't send my washing machine water to my septic system either. I drain it to some trees near my house. I made a separate covered pit for my dish washer water. The washer pump, pumps it out with no problems. I have my tank pumped every three years. Stan

Deere54 · Feb 1, 2016

Nearly all systems now put all the water into the septic, but a lot of the older ones used to run the washer water separately, into a dry well, daylight in a field or ditch or in a gutter in the basement (one place I knew of when I was a kid). Kitchen waste water will help the septic action, as long as there is not too much grease. It is highly variable how long your septic will go without pumping. Ours, in Northern NY, with a 1000 galloner in sandy soils and two people, running all water including washer into the septic, we went 6 years and then decided to pump it, and when we opened it there was virtually no sludge. The book says 3 to 5 years, but you can establish your own experience record after a couple of pumpings.

Teakettle · Feb 1, 2016

It's definitely not up to current code but our laundry room connects to its own cesspool (dating to the 1920s) separate from the septic system.

D beatty · Feb 1, 2016

Only toilets run through septic tank and have gray water (Sinks & washer) running through grease trap and then into leach field past the septic tank. I had my tank pump at 32 years of use. I put milk that is turned and yeast down toilet every so often. If a septic is working right you can see it working( it looks like its boiling).

JayinNY · Feb 1, 2016

They also did away with leach fields years ago, now you have to build a transvap, which is more costly, and unsightly.

buickanddeere · Feb 1, 2016

Water softener brine, laundry lint and laundry chlorine are all detrimental to septic systems.

W_B · Feb 1, 2016

(quoted from post at 16:59:00 02/01/16) not to mention building codes require everything goes in the septic except gutters and rainwater.

Health Code requires this in my county.

GregCO · Feb 1, 2016

All water here goes in our tank. We are no longer allowed to run the washer or bath water out to a dry well or pool. Older homes in the area still do it, but the newer ones cannot and when an older homes system fails they have to run everything into the new system. So far so good here. I have ours pumped about every 10 years or so.
My neighbors had a heck of a time years back. Their tank would fill full of paper and then plug the leach pipes in the field. I finally borrowed a backhoe and dug them a new leach field and so far no more problems. Their field was just completely saturated and the ground could not take any more water. The original field only had two leach pipes and they were close together and short to boot with very little gravel under them and none over the top. I made the new runs 50 feet long and put in four, spaced them out more and put 24" of gravel under them and 12" over the top. So far knock on wood it has been working fine. I hope it holds out for them.

Greg

David G · Feb 1, 2016

I have a 2500 gallon tank with four 150' runs. I think they are 15-20' apart.

That is what perk test said.

showcrop · Feb 2, 2016

When I went before the planning board in 1975 about an addition to my home I was told that a laundry washer on a septic system was a "bad actor". For years now it has been the law, even though the chemicals are hard on the bacterial action of a septic tank. Septic systems have been regulated and inspected for many years while dry wells rarely are. I expect that many people abused the use of dry wells causing most states to enact legislation against them.

Blackhole49 · Feb 2, 2016

I'm not able to post a link, but I read some of the CA Gray Water regulation and it doesn't sound like you are coming close to meeting it.

Septic tank question

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