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, Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:18:56
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I won't suggest that you can't ever have a disposal on a septic system, but it's high risk and I never would. To understand why, here's a short course in septic sytems.
A septic system consists of two major sections.
The first section is the a large tank that holds 1000 gallons or more. When waste leaves the house, is goes to the tank. THe tank has a pipe leaving it at some height above the bottom. AS waste flows in, the solid matter settles out and the liquid flows out the pipe to the second part of the system.
The second part is a distribution box and a leach field. The liquid flows to the distribtution box, adn from it to three or more pipes out into the leach field. The pipes in the leach field are perforated so that the liquid can flow out. The pipes are buried in sand so that the liquid cna percolate out and be purified by the natural cleaning action of the sand. Once the liquid passes through the sand it should be clean water that can recycle naturally through the eco system.
Natural bio action (bacteria in the tank) helps the solids break down and eventually flow to the field as liquid. A properly functioing system will continue to process waste for a long time - 50 years or more - just based on natural biologic action.
If the tank fills up with solids, they start flowing out to the field. The field quickly clogs. Then you need a new system for $10K to $50K depending on where you live, your lots soil chracteristics, and what the current reg's are.
A disposal adds a lot of solid waste to your waste stream. It's not "processed" waste such as that which we humans produce, it's just ground up garbage. Some of it is very solid and does not break down well - bone, fat, fibrous vegetables, etc. It needs to spend a lot of time in the tank to break down. As it sits in the bottom of the tank (taking many months to process) it reduces the space for other waste. The human waste that would normally sit in the tank and convert quickly sits up higher. It's quite possible that the solids rise up to the critical level and you lose the leach field. Repairs are as noted above.
So, it's easy to overwhelm a septic system using a disposal. Personally, I would not take the risk. I would really like having a disposal but in my area a new septic system can be $40K... so I don't.
If you do have one, have your septic tank cleaned at least every two years to remove solids.
Also, as a general caution for anyone with a septic system (disposal or not), avoid using bleach, drain cleaners or anti-bacterial soaps: they all retard the natural action of the septic system and can cause an early failure.
posted by 98.110.15...
, Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:17:04, Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:28:17, Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:05:41, Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:47:22, Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:21:48, Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:22:23
, Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:32:42, Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:18:56, Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:17:55
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