Summer is a challenging time for septic maintenance in Prior Lake, MN. Between demands on the septic system and a continuing influx of people on your property, disasters are always likely. Fortunately, most are avoidable if you take precautions and keep up to date on preserving your system. Here are common misadventures with septic systems—and how to avoid them:
- Flushing the wrong items: There are some items that are not meant to be flushed down a toilet. On city water and sewage, these are inconvenient incidents that require a toilet plunger and, sometimes, a professional-grade pipe snake courtesy of a plumber. However, on septic systems, this can be catastrophic. Flush enough baby wipes, action figures and other inappropriate items, and you will experience backups.
- Never pumping the tank: Arranging for this maintenance is essential on any property, but imagine if you have a retail business and all your customers can smell is the septic tank. Worse yet, the same customers may use your bathroom and experience sewage bubbling up from the drains. Do not risk this nightmare and chase your earnings away. Pump regularly and avoid smelly backups.
- Installation without a leach field: If your septic tank installation does not involve a leach field, ask why. It may be due to land space or other aspects, but know that if you do not have this feature, you will need to pump the tank more often. Just like buildup can lead to backups, so can existing without a leach field while avoiding needed maintenance. Septic systems are not something to take for granted and ignore. Always be aware of the care they require to function properly.
- Disguising the septic cover: It is understandable—your septic cover is not exactly an outdoor sculpture, and you may be tempted to build playground equipment or a fire pit over it so you do not have to let it distract you from your lovely yard. This is a bad idea. Not only do these additions reduce access to your tank when it is needed, but they can also damage it. Without a cover, your tank will have a shorter life from lack of protection. Resist the temptation to decorate and leave the cover visible.
- Remaining ignorant: People may live in a home for 15 to 20 years and not know the location of their septic tank or even remember to keep up with its maintenance. When conditions get bad, they call us and hope we have a magic way of finding the tank and the problem. This can get expensive quickly, since it often means performing research at the property assessor’s office. If you buy a home with a septic tank, get those specifications and consider calling for maintenance soon after you close on the house. That way, you have a septic professional on hand to assist you with the needed tasks and any emergencies that arise.
Mike’s Septic & McKinley Sewer Services offers thorough septic maintenance in Prior Lake, MN to keep this aspect of your summer uneventful. Call us today for assistance.