Why is lots of water bad for septic, and how can I take long showers without hurting it?

Question

I recently bought my first home that has septic, after 26 years of living with sewers. I've heard that putting lots of water down the septic all at one time is bad for the system, but I'm confused as to why. As I understand it, the septic tank pumps liquids and other broken down material into the leach field, so the water should go right through into the field.

Due to a chronic pain condition as a result of a car accident, I routinely take 2 hour hot showers to help be able to use my neck for an entire work day. With a standard shower head, this means I'm running about 250 gallons of water through the septic system. (And a low-flow showerhead isn't going to get me the pressure I need to help with my neck.) From an environmental standpoint, I'm not too concerned -- after all, I'm basically pumping the water out of my well and putting it back into the ground 100 ft away in the backyard, so the ecological impact shouldn't be too bad -- but I'm worried I'm somehow damaging my system.

Is this going to hurt the septic system? If so, is there something I can do (perhaps by modifying my plumbing and doing something else with shower waste water) to avoid damage?

Answer 1

It is similar to changing the water on a tank of fish, not quite but the best comparison I think of on the spot. Your septic system works by natural decomposition aided by bacteria, surprising similar to your stomach. Putting that much water into a septic field at once can disrupt decomp process by "shocking" the system or flooding/shaking it and moving the bacteria away from their food source. There are companies and even apartment complexes using septic so it all depends on the size of your system and if/how much you feed you system bacteria (there are quite a few products for this). If you find yourself needing to pump out your septic too often, or at all depending on the system, then I'd look into supplementing it with some products.

Answer 2

The only problem I could foresee is an over-saturation of the ground, where it will not take on any of the effluent that it is designed to do. If you have been there for 6 months and do not have any signs of problems at the leaching field, there should be no issue. Leaching fields are supposed to be designed for the amount of bath tubs and sinks in the whole house that are dumping into it.

I have had septic all along for the past 24 years and no issues with mine. I do not run a large volume through it, there are just 3 of us here. It is a 1989 house, with 3BR and 1 1/2 bath. Looks like yours is handling it well, if you see no issues outside.

Water on its own will not do anything to it. Its what goes down with the water that will, I mean cooking grease or oil, which is the worst, and non-biodegradable items. Do not use a garbage disposal with a septic, although, I have helped build houses where the owners MUST have a disposer, by their request, then they will need to be committed to pumping it out on occasion, since to a degree, it is acting as a holding tank.

Answer 3

Too much water washes the soil on to the leach field where it blocks it up. The longer the water and soil sits the better it settles or floats depending on what it is. Only the water would get out into the leach field in a proper system unless you run too much water too fast. The thing to do is to run your shower water outside into it's own drain area, but it may not be allowed where you are. Used to be called gray water system. Look it up.

Answer 4

Its called hydraulic overloading in the septic business. Your system is designed to do a certain g.p.d (gallon per day). Most hones are designed off a 500 gpd rule which is homes under 2500sqft. If you are showering for 2 hours and in those 120 min lets say you use 2 gallons a min in the shower you have used 240 gallons capacity for the system for that day. Now remember the average person uses 50-70 gallons of water a day. That's toilet, laundry, shower, washing hands,drinking water etc. So if there are 5 other people in the house you have to take that into account.Also just because its rated for or designed for 500 gpd doesn't mean you should run it at 500 gpd. A car will do 6000 rpm but run it at that for a month non stop and tell me what happens. same principle.

Answer 5

I built my house in 1990 and to date there's never been any issuses with my septic tank and no pumping it. I don't believe in the ads saying it should be pumped every five years since it just takes away all the good stuf then you need to build up a new food supply and the proper amount of bacteria all over again and I have 2 baths a day since my car accident in my Jaccuzzi tub to allieviate pain and still no issues over the past three years. Since the water going down the drain is fairly hot as it enters the primary tank about 6" from the barrier to the secondary, I'm fairly sure most just flows over and when flushing the toilet, I think the solids sink anyways and the food drops where it should plus I add an activator every couple of months to keep the bacteria levels high.

For those who don't use their place much like cottages and a shop that doesn't get much food, I don't think enough food for the bacteria and the bacteria dies off and unless you keep adding activator, the septic can't work as it should. For the life of me I see nothing wrong with a garbage disposal as long as it just food being ground up as it goes down and one of the biggest things is a really great leaching bed.Mine was done in an old gravel road on top of course aggrigate that drains really fast, so I doubt I'll ever see troubles but if it's in more of a clayish area and water can't get away using lots of excess water would make the whole system into a semi holding tank in it's own way.

Answer 6

I don't even know where to start. The information being passed along is interesting. I think it's wonderful that so many want to help but some of the info is quite inaccurate. Many say you don't need to pump your tank. Yes you do! Think of you septic system like other things, if you maintain it you will get more life out of it. If you don't, it will die sooner. We own a septic company and deal with this sort of misinformation every day. The long showers will put more water into your field which can over load your field and excess water/effluent can surface. Someone above mentioned that it's probably harder on your well, I would agree with that. If you live a lone and don't use a lot of water otherwise you probably aren't hurting the septic system too much. If there are wet spots that surface in your yard I would try cutting back on the water use before having someone out to look for a costly problem. Now....back to pumping. The reason to pump your septic tanks is to get the sludge out. It is suggested to pump your tanks when the sludge level reaches 30% Because once the sludge goes over 30% it is more likely to work it's way into your field which over time will clog. Those who haven't pumped in 25+ years...at this point just wait it out and see what happens. Most likely you'll have to put a new field or a new system in at some point. Either way it's going to be very costly. If your field lines get clogged you may be able to hydro-jet the lines. That is simply a high pressured water jet to clean out the lines. In our area that's about a $2000-$3000 job. There's no guarantee with those jobs but they do work in many cases. If you are past that you are looking at a new field or whole new system, in our area it would have to be a mechanical one because a yard usually can't fit another conventional, gravity fed system, and those start around $15,000. The average family reaches the 30% sludge mark between 1-3 years, depending on size of tank, number of people and usage. The enzymes some people try to sell you don't really help but give people peace of mind. Studies have shown they do not speed up the bacteria and mother nature is pretty amazing all by herself. There are two types of enzymes, liquid or pellets. The solid ones can gum up and cause lots of havoc. So IF you want to flush your money down the toilet be sure to use liquid. Remember, you don't have to pump your tank. You also don't have to have oil changes done to your car. But both of these will eventually quit working because of lack of maintenance.

Answer 7

Two years ago I bought a house with a septic system that had not been cleaned out in thirty years. When it rained, the yard smelled like a cesspool; it was nasty. Apparently, the leach field lines and tank were so full, when the guy pumping it out emptied the tank, the lines emptied right back into the tank and refilled it. It took three loads out to get it down near the bottom: neither cheap nor pretty.

My experience so far is this: if I wash too many loads of laundry, my yard will get "squishy" as my grandkids say. It will begin to smell. I suspect that I am forcing the gunky stuff into my yard out of the septic tank before it has had a chance to break down. My son has a new septic system and has no problem with his water load...as long as he has enough grass cover to keep excess water from setting off his septic alarms. It may depend entirely on the age of your tank and if it has all of the new bells and whistles or not.