A septic system is your property's waste treatment system, but it requires a bit more foresight and care than if your home is on the city sewer system. Here are some recommendations to keep your home septic system in great working order to prevent some of the more common septic problems.

Maintain Your Septic System

One of the first rules of a home with a septic system is to understand how to take care of the system with regular pumping. The pumping schedule is going to be timed out according to your household size and the capacity of your septic tank. If you are not sure of your septic tank's size and capacity, you can ask your septic professional for help. They will empty your tank with their pump and load the tank's waste onto their truck for disposal so they can check the interior capacity of your tank.

Usually, a septic tank will need to be pumped out every three to five years. However, if you begin to experience problems with the system and have sewer line clogs or slow draining lines, for example, you should have your septic professional inspect the system. The problem may be a clog in the line leading to the tank from your home, or it might be a blockage in the tank's exit or the line leading from the tank to the drain field. 

Be careful you don't overwhelm your septic system with too much water at one time, as this can overfill the tank and cause the drain lines to leek sewage excessively and turn your drain field site into a septic swamp. Anytime you notice the vegetation growing very green over your drain field line site, contact your septic professional for an evaluation to see if the tank needs to be pumped.

Care For the Drain Field Lines

The drain field lines of your septic system are an important but often overlooked part of your septic system. The drain field lines allow liquid waste to exit the tank where it will disperse into the surrounding soil. These lines need to be buried within the soil but cannot have large vegetation growing around them. Only plant lawn, low-growing plants, and other shallow-rooted vegetation to keep their root systems out of the drain field lines. If, for example, you grow a large bush or tree in the area of the drain field lines, the roots will grow into the lines and cause cracks and other damage that will result in sewage exiting the lines too quickly or will block the lines and sewage will back up into your tank and eventually into your home.

For more information or assistance, contact septic tank services.