Septic tanks versus mains sewage
Curious to know who isn't on mains sewage?
Not being on mains sewage takes a level of greater dedication to keeping your sewage systems clean and healthy. We don't have a septic tank. The previous owners put in a home sewage treatment plant, which is great, but requires us to be very disciplined with what goes down the drains and toilets. We have to greatly limit FOGs (fat, oil and grease) as well as chemicals that can kill the bacteria that are breaking things down, which means we have a low impact array of personal (toiletry) and home cleaning products.
This has opened our eyes to the products we used to use when we were in urban environments, and using low impact cleaning products, even if you're on mains sewage, is just so much better for the environment.
Buy Bodge Buster – Homeowner Air Source Heat Pump Installation Guide: https://amzn.to/3NVndlU
From Zero to Heat Pump Hero: https://amzn.to/4bWkPFb
Subscribe and follow our Homeowners’ Q&A heat pump podcast
Septic tank here. As I understand it, while not as sensitive as a home sewage plant, it's still worth being careful because the better the tank flows and breaks things down so they can go out to the leach bed, the smaller the tank emptying, although the call-out charge dominates anyway. We add dry used coffee grounds or oats to old oil or fat and put them into the food waste collection, not down the drain.
And cloggers like wet wipes (even some that claim to degrade!) need to be avoided because jetting the pipes costs more than a tank emptying.
@mjr, I like the idea of using the coffee grounds to soak up oils. We don't deep fry so never have excess oil in significant quantities. Most of our coffee grounds end up in the compost bin or in plant pots that are home to acid loving plants.
Wet wipes are awful, even the ones that break down as you've said. The other thing we've found that takes forever to break down is kitchen roll. We've now stopped flushing it because it can clog up our vibro filter in the home sewage treatment plant tank. We've also found that Muck Munchers help to slow down and break down the sludge layer.
Buy Bodge Buster – Homeowner Air Source Heat Pump Installation Guide: https://amzn.to/3NVndlU
From Zero to Heat Pump Hero: https://amzn.to/4bWkPFb
Subscribe and follow our Homeowners’ Q&A heat pump podcast
Another off mains sewage here.
We have a Klargester under one lawn, dealing with the septic waste and a soakaway under another lawn dealing with the waste water from the kitchen and utility room. It was set up that way well before we bought the house and yet Southern Water had the temerity to try billing us for water treatment when they sent our first bill. It took about six months of paper trail (and us refusing to pay until they sent us an appropriate bill) before they started playing nicely.
As for what we put into the Klargester, we’ve never been big on wet wipes and so on anyway, so have never had flushing problems. The biggest problem we found was working out which toilet cleaners are OK to use. Harpic is the only mainstream product we’ve found that declares it’s compatible with septic tanks.
105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs
"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"
We installed a Klargester 5 years ago as part of a total renovation project. House was not on mains drainage or mains water at the time.
Our first water bill assumed we were on mains drainage. It took a while to prove to the water company that they had no sewer in our village!
Klargester has been excellent. No smell, no noise. We have an annual maintenance contract. There are only two of us in the house and the sludge only needs pumping out every other year. It drains into a soakaway in the adjoining field.
We are careful to only flush the 3 Ps (poo, pee and paper down the loo), so no wet wipes. We don't use toilet cleaners any differently from when we were on mains drainage. But if I have to clear a blocked sink, for example, I'll always take care to flush with plenty of water afterwards.
We put coffee grounds on the garden, together with what little cooking fat we have.
Mike
Grant Aerona HPID10 10kWh ASHP
Posted by: @mike-patrick...
Our first water bill assumed we were on mains drainage. It took a while to prove to the water company that they had no sewer in our village!
...
Our utility company were similar, but we took a more confrontational approach I'm afraid. They wanted proof of installation and all kinds of other documents, all of which were property of the previous occupants. We simply told them we'd supply an invoice from the waste removal company to demonstrate we had a septic tank and that they'd have to be content with that. If they were content, they could send a revised bill and if not then we wouldn't be paying them anything until we'd received such a bill.
I'm pretty sure they were trying to push the responsibility onto us in order to try and get more money from us, but we were making it blindingly obvious they'd lose in a small claims court and therefore it was in their interests to act reasonably. After all, we weren't trying to avoid paying for legitimate services rendered; just not paying when it wasn't appropriate.
I agree with you that the Klargester has been great. We have a local company that come round once a year to empty it and we don't even need to remind them. The bill is very reasonable and markedly less for the whole year than the quarterly charge the water company were trying to charge us for sewage treatment. Food for thought, eh?
105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs
"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"
- 22 Forums
- 2,056 Topics
- 44.9 K Posts
- 36 Online
- 3,293 Members
Join Us!
Trusted Installers
Struggling to find a reliable heat pump installer? A poor installation can lead to inefficiencies and high running costs. We now connect homeowners with top-rated installers who deliver quality work and excellent service.
✅ Verified, trusted & experienced installers
✅ Nationwide coverage expanding
✅ Special offers available
Latest Posts
-
RE: Is Your 6kW Air Source Heat Pump Really a 6kW?
Sounds like your 6kW unit is really just an 8kW with a ...
By logansmith01 , 3 hours ago
-
RE: How To Balance Radiators & the Role of the Lockshield Valve: A Homeowner's Guide
Good luck, I hope it all works out!
By JamesPa , 4 hours ago
-
@johnd it's a difficult one, because we've seen instanc...
By Mars , 6 hours ago
-
RE: IVT Greenline high pressure switch and electrical cassette errors
Here are the reported most common causes for both. Co...
By abbote , 6 hours ago
-
RE: Is your heat pump insured?
@johnmo sorry it comes across like that. The post is au...
By KevinPotts , 6 hours ago
-
RE: Getting the best out of a heat pump - is Homely a possible answer?
@johnmo Perhaps a little detail might explain my reason...
By Toodles , 7 hours ago
-
Win a 6-panel PV courtesy of egg and Renewable Heating Hub
Our epic giveaway just went live! Want to win a 6-pan...
By Mars , 20 hours ago
-
RE: Yes, the "zoning with ASHP" topic again...
James, thanks again for your thoughtful and persistent ...
By HarryRea , 20 hours ago
-
RE: Is this normal? Click of the DHW returning to space heating
So the Lone Ranger returned today! Even though we thoro...
By Grantmethestrength , 23 hours ago
-
RE: Vaillant & OVO partner up to offer Heat Pump Plus
Hopefully iv done the right thing today by signing up t...
By Westkent , 1 day ago
-
RE: Battery sizing - How low can you go!
My own experience with connecting four batteries to thr...
By Transparent , 1 day ago
-
RE: Plate heat exchanger considerations
Work on 2-3 percent per degree. This is a reasonable e...
By JamesPa , 2 days ago
-
RE: Advice for ground source heat pump in new build with PV and batteries
The useful bit is the bit that specifies the heat loss ...
By JamesPa , 2 days ago
-
RE: Volumisers in Heat Pump Systems: Does Placement Matter?
You’re absolutely right that during defrost the refrige...
By Mars , 2 days ago
-
@editor thanks Mars that’s the same table I found in th...
By Gary , 2 days ago
-
RE: Tariff and charging strategy advice please
They haven't asked me to prove that I have an EV (I do)...
By JamesPa , 2 days ago
-
RE: Solar Power Output – Let’s Compare Generation Figures
Took a while to find on the OFGEN site: ”The FIT sche...
By AgentGeorge , 2 days ago
-
RE: why solar diverters for HW instead of the heat pump?
For me there are few factors why you may want to heat w...
By Johnmo , 2 days ago
-
RE: Hydronic plinth heaters and ASHPs
@editor yes I think so. It will be a while until I get ...
By benson , 2 days ago