Septic Tank Equals No Bleach

[Tussiemussies]

Mentioned In an earlier post that we will be moving soon to a home with a septic tank. I can only use bleach say once a week to wash my whites. In the house we are moving from we usually spray down the shower stall every day with a bleach derived cleaner. Now we will use vinegar.

Does anyone have experience with using vinegar to keep their shower clean on a daily basis? Does anyone know if it okay to have daily uses of vinegar ( I will be using it in the kitchen and dishwasher too) for the septic tank. Also what about daily small amounts of rock salt ( for foot baths)? I am afraid the salt will eat away at the cement.

Thank you for all of your help! Christine

[Rosemary]

I don't use bleach. I use vinegar and baking soda to clean the entire house. I think you can probably find detailed info about septic tank care online, but I can comment about vinegar for cleaning. If you have a grouted tile shower, you should use something else - vinegar is too acidic and not recommended. Using a squeegee after every shower will cut down greatly on cleaning needs - squeegee off water instead of spraying the shower daily. If you need a deep cleaning, try heated vinegar with a little handwashing dish detergent added. If you don't want to use vinegar, try a tea tree oil solution with some dish detergent.

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks Rosemary for the information, although this is not a tile stall I do have tile in the kitchen. I wonder how I am going to keep that clean. I was thinking of using a bleach type cleaner on old rags an sponges and then throwing them away and not rinsing them out in the sink...

Think the vinegar will be okay for a stall shower...

[CathyA]

How about CLR? The commercial says that it environmentally friendly and is backed by the EPA. (Whatever that might mean).

[Tussiemussies]

Hi Cathy, even though they say that CLR is environmentally safe, they caution you to wear gloves when you use it. I didn't and about 1/2 of my finger went numb for awhile so I don't believe their claims. Too bad because it is a good cleaner...

[Float On]

Christine, we had septic for years before the county came thru with sewer. Every 2 or three months we would flush something down the toilets that was good for the septic 'balance'...probably some kind of yeast type thing.

[goldensmom]

We wipe the shower down after every use and occasionally use Scrubbling Bubbles for any left behind soap scum buildup. I’ve been in a house with a septic tank for my whole life and have never been concerned about using bleach. The service that cleans our septic tank suggested putting raw ground beef down the toilet every few months to keep the good bacteria active. They strongly urged against commercial septic treatments because it ‘gums’ everything up and makes it harder to clean the septic tank.

[herisf]

I just moved to a house with a septic. No bleach or as little as you can get by. Be sure your TP is septic safe. I was told not to use additives, as they can kill your septic tank (it's also a county or state regulation or some such). Use liquid laundry soap as powder can accumulate at the outlet to the tank and clog the pipe. Luckily my house doesn't have a garbage disposal, so any kitchen waste gets tossed in the garbage (much better for septics). If you do have a garbage disposal, be sure that absolutely no meat and no grease goes down the septic, that *must* be tossed into the garbage. And someone told me no orange juice either, but I'm not sure why.

A couple of books that are in my local library were very helpful: The Septic System Owner's Manual (Kahn) and the Builder's Guide to Wells and Septic Systems (Woodson). The Builder one is much more technical, but still interesting (and helpful, since I'm on a community well). If your library has one/both, they may be helpful to you.

[awakenedsoul]

I have a septic tank. I've lived here since 1997 and have never had a problem. I clean with baking soda, vinegar, dish soap, and lemon juice. I don't use any bleach. I also make sure to put my coffee grounds in the compost pile, and my grease from pots and pans in a can for the trash.

[CathyA]

Gosh, that's awful about the CLR!

Well, to be perfectly honest, we have used a ton of bleach in our septic tank a couple times, with no ill effects. Well drillers tell you to use several gallons of bleach to chlorinate your well and house pipes. .....which is what we used to do every couple of years. But then the Board of Health said that's really bad, since bleach degrades into toxic stuff, and you're only supposed to use a pint. Well, for us, a pint never worked. One time I used at least 8 gallons. :(
This last time (when we had a new pump put in), I used as little as needed, (6 quarts) to bring the smell of bleach to each appliance/faucet, etc. After sitting for 24 hours, I ran most of it out exterior faucets away from the house and then hand carried the bleach water from all the inside faucets to away from the house. Sorry for so much info. I guess my point is that we put way too much bleach on our septic several times, and it never seemed to hurt anything. So.......I think you have a little more lee-way with that than you think.

[bunnys]

I'm on a sewer but when I was a kid we had a septic tank. Five kids and plenty of bleach to wash whites and bleach the sink and tub. My mother had no problem using bleach and we were in that house 12 years and the septic tank was only pumped out 1x and I don't ever remember any problems.

[Blackdog Lin]

We've been on our septic tank since 1993 and have only had the tank pumped out one time (2008, I think). I use one half-cup of bleach a week for laundry, occasionally use bleach-based cleaners, and we have a garbage disposal that is used 3-4 times a week. No problems here.

[CathyA]

The only time I had trouble with our septic tank was when we first lived here, and I actually thought I was doing a good thing to put TONS of veggie matter down the garbage disposal. Sometimes I would put an entire big watermelon rind down there along with 1-2 cantaloupe rinds plus lots of salad stuff. WRONG!
Our disposal has since broken and we didn't replace it. Everything goes to the compost pile. But actually, I think there are some things almost worse than bleach for a septic tank.

[goldensmom]

absolutely no meat and no grease goes down the septic, that *must* be tossed into the garbage. .

Interesting, you say ‘absolutely no meat’ and our septic service says to put raw ground beef in the septic every few months.

[freein05]

Most septic tanks are at least a 1000 gallons so it would take a lot of bleach to harm them. Using a garbage disposal or letting coffee grounds go into the tank basically fill the tank with solids which require the tank to be pumped. If you do not pump the tank those solids will go out into the leach lines and destroy them. Having pluged leach lines is the big problem most people have with a septic system. Tree roots getting into leach is also a problem. Never plant trees over your leach field. The actual tank can be pumped if it gets full but the leach field will have to be replaced if it gets pluged. It will cost around 20,000 to replace a leach field. So don't let your tank get full. You do not want solids going out into the field. Normal amounts of bleach going into your septic tank should not be a problem.

[Jhall]

Our septic service advises against both garbage disposal waste and chemicals.