10/30/2026
Ten Tips for Maintaining Your Septic System
Pump your septic tank every two to five years, depending how heavily the system is used.
Insist that the pumper clean your septic tank through the manhole in the center of the top of your septic tank, rather than the inspection ports above the inlet and outlet baffles.
If you use a garbage grinder (a.k.a. "dispose-all"), pump your tank every year.
Garbage grinder use leads to buildups of grease from meat scraps and bones, and insoluble vegetable solids such as cellulose.
Keep kitchen grease, such as bacon fat and deep fryer oil, out of your septic system.
It can clog your drain field and cannot be dissolved by any readily available solvent that is legal to introduce to groundwater.
Install low-usage water fixtures.
Low water usage showerheads (2.5 gal/minute), toilets (1.6 gallons), dishwashers (5.3 gallons) and washing machines (14 gallons) can reduce the amount of water entering an average septic system by 20,000 gallons per year!
Space out laundry loads over the course of the week and wash only full loads.
The average load of laundry uses 47 gallons of water. One load per day rather than 7 loads on a single day makes a big difference to your septic system.
Choose your laundry detergent wisely.
Some powdered laundry detergents use clay as a "carrier." This clay can hasten the buildup of solids in the septic tank and potentially plug the disposal area.
Install a septic tank outlet filter in your tank.
These sell for $100 to $200 and can catch small floating particles and lightweight solids, such as hair or suspended grease, before they can make it out to the disposal area and cause trouble.
Minimize the amount of household cleaners (bleach, harsh detergents) and similar potentially toxic substances entering the septic system.
Note: some substances are not allowed to be introduced into septic systems or groundwater tables. If in doubt, contact your Local Plumbing Inspector or the Subsurface Wastewater Unit for more information.
Do not use disinfecting automatic toilet bowl cleaners, such as those containing bleach or acid compounds.
The continuous slow release of these chemicals into the septic system kills the micro-organisms which treat your wastewater.
Do not put special additives into your septic system.
While some of these products will remove solids from your tank, they will ultimately end up in the disposal field, where they can seal off the disposal area and cause the system to malfunction.
It is not necessary to "seed" a new system with yeast, horse manure, and so forth. While these products will not harm your system, normal human waste contains enough bacteria for the septic tank, and other microbes are already present in the soil and stones of the disposal area.
