Excess Water In Your Septic System Can Result In Septic Problems

Septic Preservation Services regularly attend septic problems that could have been avoided if the property owner had better information and knowledge about how to ‘live’ in a home which has its own septic system and is not on town sewer. A mistake that many septic system owners make is to put too much water into the system. The decomposition process can become strained if there is too much excess water in the system, resulting in a variety of septic problems. Ideally, septic owners should only be using a maximum of 50 gallons of water per day, per person. The following averages for common household activities can help you keep track:

Dishwasher Cycle – 7 gallons
Washing Machine – 40 gallons per load (less with front-loader machines)
Toilet – 2 gallons per flush, 1.6 gallons for newer standard toilets
Shower – 2.5 gallons per minute (a 10 minute shower = 25 gallons)

It can be difficult to stay on top of usage, particularly for large families, but laying down some basic guidelines can help everyone to work together. New environmentally-friendly appliances, toilets and shower heads can help reduce usage without a lot of extra effort. A water meter can be helpful for households that feed off of a well. The government website http://energystar.gov also has a lot of helpful ideas and tips for reducing water usage.

Always remember that a septic system is installed based upon the number of people that are anticipated to be using it. If your base number increases, you might need to upgrade to a larger system.

We are providing a septic repair for a large family with a home in Hingham MA today and the root cause of their septic problems was that they were having a large laundry day once a week instead of spreading loads out over an entire week. This strained their system too much and has resulted in a repair being necessary. We have other septic repairs today in Marshfield, Plymouth, Carver, West Bridgewater and Stoughton MA. If you require a septic repair or if you have any questions about your septic system please do contact our Norton Office on 877-378-4279 or visit Septic Preservation Services