Kenneth_2003 said:
Never understood the need for RidX etc. Your daily ritual should be putting plenty of the needed bacteria in the system.
Like others said, no fat/grease and avoid using the disposal as much as possible. The only solids should be TP and your daily constitutional.
schmellba99 said:Kenneth_2003 said:
Never understood the need for RidX etc. Your daily ritual should be putting plenty of the needed bacteria in the system.
Like others said, no fat/grease and avoid using the disposal as much as possible. The only solids should be TP and your daily constitutional.
Cheap insurance to help keep your bugs alive.
Dont use if if you dont want to. I do, and I probably have more experiwnce with WWT than anybody on this board, but thats just me.
Yep, we've been in our house with aerobic system for almost 16 years. The only time we put an additive in is when we are leaving home for a week or more. Our original septic guy told us to put a cup or two of dog food the toilet to feed the good bugs while gone but the last several years we have used a packaged product and toss a pod in before we leave on our trip. We've had our tank pumped out twice.Kenneth_2003 said:
Never understood the need for RidX etc. Your daily ritual should be putting plenty of the needed bacteria in the system.
Like others said, no fat/grease and avoid using the disposal as much as possible. The only solids should be TP and your daily constitutional.
What is that based on? Our washing machine is not high efficiency. Water goes into the system and gets pumped out as the level in the finish tank comes up. Where is the problem? Almost 16 years at our current home with aerobic system and excess water has never been an issue.n_dagley said:
Make sure your washing machine is high efficiency. The regular washers use too much water for an aerobic system.
Mine reports only. They always say low on chlorine, even when it's full. I use the chlorine pucks.GSS said:
Does your county burden you with the required "maintenance contract" (which typically provides zero maintenance, just reports data to the bureaucrats)?
Hopefully your chlorine tablets can be user-supplied.
Only if you want to take it that way I guess.Newoldarmy said:schmellba99 said:Kenneth_2003 said:
Never understood the need for RidX etc. Your daily ritual should be putting plenty of the needed bacteria in the system.
Like others said, no fat/grease and avoid using the disposal as much as possible. The only solids should be TP and your daily constitutional.
Cheap insurance to help keep your bugs alive.
Dont use if if you dont want to. I do, and I probably have more experiwnce with WWT than anybody on this board, but thats just me.
Humble brag?
My system is liquid. I don't think either are better or worse. I've had to repair my eductor suction tube once, so I added a good filter to the end of it to keep debris out. Outside of that, no issues.skelso said:
Glad to see you chime in about this one, especially on Rid-X. This has been an ongoing debate around here because the house we just bought has an aerobic system.
My dad, licensed master plumber for over 50 years, has had an aerobic system at his house for about 12 years. He puts Rid-X in his once a month and recommended we do the same. However, one of the stipulations to us closing on this house was the sellers had to have a septic person come out and get everything working because the system had been off for a year while the house sat vacant. Dad was here with me when the septic man came out and they got into a pretty good dick swinging contest over who's been in the industry longer, knows more, etc. The septic guy who came out has been doing this about 10 years and holds a chemistry degree from TAMU. He told me that Rid-X is absolutely not necessary and is actually harmful for an aerobic system. And... that's when it all started... He tried to convince us, using a lot of scientific terms, why Rid-X is bad and that there is another product similar to Rid-X that is made specifically for aerobic systems.
After their blow up, I was still a bit confused about use or not use. But at the end of the day, my old man has rarely steered me wrong so I dumped a box in... Knowing your background, and seeing as you agree it's cheap insurance, I'll continue the practice.
What are your thoughts on tabs vs liquid injector?
Septic man is trying to get me to buy an injector. Dad told me if he was in my shoes he would keep using tabs...
Have 2 girls plus the wife at home. Have never had an issue with too much water volume. If your system is sized properly, this shouldnt' be an issue.n_dagley said:
Doing a lot of washes in a row causes the 1st tank to overflow to the second tank before the gray water has a chance to settle thus sending more solids to your second tank. These solids will toast your lift pump quicker than it should. We have two young kids so tons of laundry. Might be different in your situation. There's lots of info online about it.
Edit to add: Also, I'm on well water so I prefer the HE washer's use of a fraction of water as our old one did.
schmellba99 said:
It's really not a big deal.
Limit grease, fats, etc. down the drain. I have a grease container I pour as much as I can when I use oils in cooking in before I wash pots and pans in the sink.
Use septic safe toilet paper (almost all of it is). No wipes of any kind, even if they claim they are septic safe (they aren't). No rags, femine products, etc. Basically don't be an idiot.
Once a month use Rid-X or a couple of teaspoons of baker's yeast - flush down the toilet. Helps keep the good bacteria in your aerator and digester alive and doing what it does.
Once a month check your chlorine in your finish water tank. Odds are it is a liquid chlorine eductor system, fill the chlorine tube up with bleach. Periodically check to make sure the suction line isn't clogged. Your maintenance contract should leave a report when they come letting you know what your residual is or if any extra things need to be done.
Once every 6 months or so clean the air filter on your air compressor to keep it running.
Once every 5 years or so pay the $250 and get your sludge tank vacuumed out, new bugs put in and any sludge in your finish tank vacuumed out.
Don't run over your spray heads. I ended up lowering mine so that they were flush with the ground when they weren't spraying - makes mowing easy. Just have to be a little more careful when I'm mowing the back acre to make sure one doesn't pop up on me while I"m on the mower. Hasn't happened yet.
It's only 2 of us in our house most of the time, but the system that was put in was based on the size of the home (3200 sq ft) not the normal number of occupants. Our laundry gets done in "spurts" with a lot of loads done consecutively and we've never had a problem. In 16 years, the lift pump is about the only active element that hasn't failed.schmellba99 said:Have 2 girls plus the wife at home. Have never had an issue with too much water volume. If your system is sized properly, this shouldnt' be an issue.n_dagley said:
Doing a lot of washes in a row causes the 1st tank to overflow to the second tank before the gray water has a chance to settle thus sending more solids to your second tank. These solids will toast your lift pump quicker than it should. We have two young kids so tons of laundry. Might be different in your situation. There's lots of info online about it.
Edit to add: Also, I'm on well water so I prefer the HE washer's use of a fraction of water as our old one did.
Only time I've ever heard of problems is during flood events - in which case you need to shut your pumps off so they don't burn up trying to pump flood water.
