Do you use bleach-based cleaners? Odds are excellent that you do. Many, if not most of the cleaners on the market today contain some level of bleach. That leads many people to ask the question ‘how much bleach is too much for a Nokesville VA septic system?’
After all, bleach is deadly to bacteria and your septic tank relies on bacteria to do its work. In light of that, the question makes a lot of sense.
The good news is that the answer to the question ‘how much bleach is too much for a Nokesville VA septic system?’ is a lot more than you might think. You’d have to go to the store, buy a couple of gallons of bleach and pour it directly down the drain to do any serious harm to the bacteria living inside the tank.
Given that, you don’t need to worry in the least about those bleach-based cleaners. They won’t introduce enough bleach to the system to cause any harm.
Unfortunately, asking the question ‘how much bleach is too much for a Nokesville VA septic system?’ may prove to be problematic, not because there’s anything wrong with the question itself, but rather, because the question may distract you, drawing your attention away from other potential issues that could cause even greater damage to your home septic system.
Here are a few examples of what we’re talking about:
- Grease – While most people know that it’s not a good idea to pour grease down the drain, it happens with surprising regularity. There are two big risks here. First, some of the grease will remain in your tank, and the only way to get rid of it is to have your tank pumped out.
Second, some of the grease will escape the tank, leeching into your drain field. Once there, it will float to the surface and harden, creating a problem called grease capping, which will keep your drain field from processing waste effectively.
You may have heard about products that claim to be able to dissolve the grease so that it flows out of the system safely and naturally. Don’t believe the hype. Not only do these products now work as advertised, but many of them will cause serious harm to the bacteria living in your tank. - Chemical Drain Cleaners – While the answer to the question ‘how much bleach is too much for a Nokesville VA septic system?’ can be measured in gallons, it only takes about a teaspoon of chemical drain cleaner to devastate the bacteria in your tank. If you have a home septic system, unless you just want an expensive repair bill, these should never be used.
- Excess Water In Your System – At first, this one might make you scratch your head. After all, your septic system is tied into your home’s plumbing, so it’s got water flowing through it all the time. How can that be a bad thing?
The problem is that too much water in your system will cause the soil in your drain field to become supersaturated. When it reaches the point where it can’t absorb any more water, it will lose the ability to process waste. Not good.
Excess water can be introduced into the system in any number of ways, but there are two main culprits. The first are the downspouts connected to your gutters. Make sure these are angled well away from your drain field and they won’t be a problem.
The second are your faucets and toilets. If you have any slow drips, or toilets that run constantly, these can add a tremendous amount of water to your system. As soon as you notice things like this, it’s important to call a plumber or break out your tools and fix the issue so it doesn’t potentially cause damage to your septic system. The last thing you want is to face a situation where you suddenly have raw sewage backing up into your home!
Again, it’s not that the question itself, ‘how much bleach is too much for a Nokesville VA septic system?’ is a bad thing, it’s jut that in asking it, you run the risk of losing sight of some of the other issues that can cause serious damage to your system.
This, of course, brings us around to the topic of maintenance.
In the examples above, we mentioned having your tank pumped a couple of different times. Our recommendation is to have that done every three to five years. You should also have your system inspected in that same time interval, and in practice most of our customers have both done at the same time.
As the area’s top-rated septic service company, we offer both of those services and are happy to help make sure your septic system doesn’t give you any problems.
We’re a locally owned and operated company and we’ve been proudly serving the area for more than thirty years. At this point, there’s not much our seasoned experts haven’t seen, so even if it’s been a while since you had your tank pumped out and your system inspected, we’ve got you covered. Just give our office a call to schedule your appointment and we’ll make sure you’re taken care of.
We’ve built our reputation by exceeding the expectations of every customer we serve, and we’d love to add you to our growing family. Give us a call today.