Your home appliances add tremendous convenience to your daily household routine. It’s a huge hassle when anything breaks down. A broken refrigerator can force you to throw out hundreds of dollars’ worth of food, while a defective microwave can prevent you from having a quick and easy meal. When it comes to your septic system, there are household appliances that can affect its performance and ultimately affect your productivity. Let’s take a look at the 3 main ones and also look at ways to avoid septic problems that go along with them.
Washing Machine
This is where we see most appliance-related backups. Your washing machine uses a lot of water, and this can be taxing on your septic system. You want to spread out your laundry loads so that a manageable amount of water passes through your septic tank. Instead of washing 5 loads in one day, just do one load per day. We also recommend liquid detergents over powders because of the clay fillers that cause clogs. If possible, it is also a good idea to purchase high-efficiency washers that use less water.
Dishwasher
The same rules that apply to your washing machine also apply to your dishwasher. Make sure you only run your dishwasher when it is fully loaded. Avoid running the wash cycle for just a few plates and utensils. Your septic tank cannot properly filter wastewater when too much water flows through it on a consistent basis.
Garbage Disposal
Although the garbage disposal can make life easier for you, it makes things harder for your septic system. True, it does chop food into small pieces, but those food particles are dangerous to your septic system. They do not break down in the septic tank and end up in your leach field causing clogs. The end result is serious and costly damage to your leach field and pipes. We recommend throwing food scraps in the trash.
Appliances and Septic in Perfect Harmony
We’re not asking you to stop using your appliances. We realize they make your life a lot simpler. However, if you have a septic system, there are precautions to take or your life could get difficult really quick. Take our advice and you should have not septic troubles when using your appliances. For more wastewater tips, Contact Wind River Environmental.