Is Bleach Harmful To Leesburg Va Septic Systems?
How long has it been since your septic tank had any TLC? If you’re like most people, your septic tank is one of those out of sight, out of mind pieces of equipment. It’s just not something most people think about until or unless there’s a problem.
Your septic system is amazingly robust and resilient, but like all systems, if it doesn’t get routine maintenance, it’s going to start causing you problems, and unfortunately, most serious septic tank problems tend to end up the same way. Leave them unchecked for long enough, and you’ll wind up with raw sewage backing up into your home.
If you’ve never had to deal with an issue like that, count yourself very, very lucky. If you have, then you know what a nightmare it can be, and you know why regular maintenance is so important.
Our recommendation is that you have your tank pumped out and your system inspected every three to five years to be sure that it continues to operate at something close to peak efficiency, and as the area’s top-rated septic service company, we can help with that!
After all these years in the business, there’s not much our talented team hasn’t seen, so even if it’s been a while, we’ve got you covered.
While we’re doing our work, our customers tend to ask us lots of great questions about their home septic systems. We love that! One of the questions we get quite frequently, is this: ‘is bleach harmful to Leesburg VA septic systems?’
It’s easy to see where the question comes from. After all, most people know that their septic tank relies on bacteria to do its job, and of course, bleach is lethal to bacteria, so it seems these two things would be a devastating combination.
To make matters worse, many, if not most of the cleaning products on the market today have bleach in them, so how much damage are you doing when you clean?
Fortunately, the answer to the question ‘is bleach harmful to Leesburg VA septic systems?’ is no, generally speaking.
If you’re a bit surprised by that, let us explain further. If all you’re doing is using bleach-based cleaning products, then no, you’re not going to introduce enough bleach to your system to hurt anything.
Of course, if you went to the store and bought bleach specifically to pour down the drain, in the end, you could hurt your system, but to get to that point, you’d have to pour a couple of gallons down the drain. If you can avoid doing that, you’ll be just fine!
Although the question itself isn’t a bad one, asking ‘is bleach harmful to Leesburg VA septic systems?’ can have an unintended consequence. Since you’re so focused on something that, under normal circumstances isn’t really an issue, it may pull your attention away from other septic tank hazards that have the potential to be a lot more damaging. Here are a few of those:
Too Much Water
Since water is an integral part of your septic system, you might be wondering how it’s possible for there to be too much water in the system.
The answer lies in your drain field. See, your drain field processes waste via a process called percolation. That’s why, when you bought your home, you probably had to have a perc-test done. Perc being short for percolation, which is a measure of how fast water drains from your drain field.
When too much water hits your drain field all at once, the soil becomes supersaturated. It simply cannot absorb any more water until it’s had a chance to dry out some, so excess water essentially shorts out your system for a period of time.
There are lots of different ways excess water can get into your drain field, but the biggest and most common things to watch out for are faucets, toilets and the down spouts attached to your rain gutters.
Where faucets and toilets are concerned, just be sure to address any drops or instances of persistent running as soon as you notice them. On the topic of those downspouts, go check them at your next opportunity and be sure they’re angled well away from the drain field.
Do those to things, and you’ll seldom have an issue with too much water in the drain field.
Chemical Drain Cleaners
While the answer to the question ‘is bleach harmful to Leesburg VA septic systems?’ is generally no, as little as a teaspoon of chemical drain cleaner can cause significant harm to the bacteria in your septic tank. Chemical drain cleaners should be avoided at all costs.
Grease
Most people know better than to pour grease down the sink, but it happens a lot more often that people are willing to admit. Grease presents two major issues where your septic system is concerned.
First, some of the grease will remain in the tank where it will slowly choke the life out of your system unless you have it pumped out. Second, some of the grease will escape, which is actually even worse.
Once the grease is in your drain field, it will rise to the surface, then harden, forming what we call grease caps.
Grease caps hurt your drain field’s ability to process waste by denying the soil beneath the cap oxygen. No oxygen, no waste processing.
Like we said before, it’s not that the question ‘is bleach harmful to Leesburg VA septic systems?’ is a bad one, just don’t let it pull your attention away from issues like the ones we described above, and when you’re ready to have your septic system checked out and your tank pumped, give us a call to schedule your appointment.