The Pumper's Wife

This week we will talk about TOILET PAPER!! Yay!   What fun?! What fun?!   Who doesn’t LOVE talking about the substance we use to wipe the most disgusting items from our body?! Hip hip hooray!! I know I have you going on a toilet-paper-celebrating-frenzy, but to be honest, toilet paper is no laughing matter when it comes to your septic system.   Believe it or not, using the wrong toilet paper can clog your system and leave you with a HUGE mess.   So, how do you know if you’re using the wrong toilet paper?   Let me help… Unfortunately, all toilet papers claim to be “septic safe.”   This can be really confusing to the “new to septic” homeowner.   I’m sure all toilet papers will eventually break down once they get to the tank, but here’s the problem – if they are thicker, 3 ply, quilted toilet paper, they struggle to make it to the tank. Here’s why… When you use cheap, single ply toilet paper, the minute it hits the water and gets even the slightest agitation, it wi

So, if you read my previous ever-so-eloquently-written-wastewater-post from last week…You’ll notice the first thing I mentioned when avoiding septic system “messes” was WATER USAGE.   Today, I’m going to elaborate on that. **In light of the crazy weather we have received since October of 2018(i.e. fall rains, crazy snow, and spring rains), back ups have been an issue for many people.   Most of these systems are older, but not all of them.   We can sometimes pump the tank to give the home a little bit of a break, but that’s if we can reach the tank.   Please read the rest of this article to find out how water (both from inside and outside the house) can cause problems for a septic system and what YOU can do to avoid possible issues. ** I had written how septic systems are sized according to the number of bedrooms.   It is assumed that there is at least one person per bedroom using approximately 100 gallons of water a day when sizing a system.   Obviously, there is no way to kno