Septic Tank Emergency: How to Spot It and What to Do about It?

If your home has a septic system, you will have to deal with septic tank emergencies sooner or later. So, how do you recognize an emergency?

Well, if you want to avoid having problems, consider following these septic tank maintenance tips https://theinspectorscompany.com/san-diego-septic-systems-maintenance-tips/.

There are some signs, both inside and outside your house that your septic tank is not faring great. If you can recognize these, you can help yourself by repairing the damage before it get out of hand.

In Your Home

The first signs of trouble can be noticed inside your house. The sooner you catch the problem, the cheaper the repair is going to be. The most noticeable sign of septic tank problems is draining. If your toilet is taking a long time to drain, especially if this is something new, your septic tank may be at risk.

It’s not only the toilet that might indicate the problem. Other appliances drain into the septic tank as well. Your kitchen sink and your bathtub can also indicate the same thing. Slow draining of water is only the first phase. If you fail to notice that, the problem can get worse.

Your pipes and appliances may back up and fill with waste water. At this point, the septic tank problem is obvious and the seriousness of the issue can end up costing you a lot of money. You will have to contact a septic tank professional as soon as possible, as waste water is a health hazard, apart from smelling foul.

Outside Your Home

The septic tank is somewhere outside your house. That means that some of the problems may manifest outside your house rather than inside. That means that the absence of problem manifestations inside the house doesn’t immediately mean that you’re free of problems.

If the absorption field in your back yard is particularly lush and green, you may feel like that’s a good thing. However, if it deviates from the rest of the yard significantly, it may be an indication of a leak problem. The water from the tank seeps upwards and waters that part of the yard.

Naturally, that’s less than ideal, since its waste water. A more extreme version of the same problem is seeing pools of waste water on the surface, creating a bog-like area in your backyard.

Waste water has a nasty odor, so if you happen to have a leak, you should be able to smell it pretty early on. What you should do is act immediately, since repairs on the septic tank can be quite steep, and the problem can only get worse and more expensive.

Prevention

Naturally, you want to protect yourself from these needless expenses. You can help yourself by conducting regular septic tank maintenance inspections. Septic tank experts recommend that you check your tank once a year, but they strongly urge you to do it at least once in three years. Even though you may be put off by the price of the maintenance, when compared to the potential costs of a septic tank repair or replacement, the maintenance is reasonably priced.

Another piece of advice given by septic tank experts is to save water. Septic tanks need to work hard in order to cleanse the water. Putting too much strain on the system can overload it and cause a plumbing emergency. You can install water conserving taps and appliances for a fraction of the cost of a broken septic tank. The added benefit of helping the environment and reducing your utilities bill is also a helpful incentive.

To contact The Inspectors Company
811 Cerro Gordo Ave, San Diego, CA, US
619-501-8282

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