If the nearest city has outgrown its original borders and is now close enough to offer you city sewer connections, you may be wondering if it is not better just to keep your septic tank. After all, you have had a septic tank for a long time. You know what to expect and how it works. You also know that you may need to do some septic tank repairs in the future, which neither the city nor your homeowner's insurance will pay for. When it comes down to converting to the city plumbing or keeping your septic system, here are the pros and cons, along with common septic tank repairs you may be facing soon.
Con: Septic Tanks Can Overflow and Destroy Your Yard
The most common septic tank repair is an overflowing tank. When a tank overflows, it is considered a tank failure. The sewage that has amassed rises to the surface and floods your yard. Because most of it has not had time to effectively break down, it is very odorous and chemically overpowering. As such, it kills your grass and drowns it in a mess you do not want to be anywhere near for the next couple of months.
The septic tank contractor has to come out, effectively suck up most of the mess, excavate your tank to make sure it is just an overflow or blockage, and then fix the problem. If it is something worse, such as a total tank failure, the tank will have to be replaced.
Pro: Your Household's Waste Makes the Grass Greener
In an ultimate twist of bizarre, the grass over a septic system's drainage field is very green. You can tell exactly where the drainage field is because the grass in your yard is the greenest here. The drainage field is where a series of pipes in underground trenches leaks liquid waste enhanced by microbes and liquid feces into the ground. The ground soaks it up, and eventually the leached "nutrients" make their way to the roots of the grass. Hence, some of your household's human waste becomes fertilizer for part of your lawn.
You may consider this a "con," considering the fact that you could not go outside and do your business on your lawn without biohazard and health issues. However, the waste is altered just enough in your septic tank before passing to the drainage field to make this a "pro." If you convert to city plumbing, all of that green grass over the drainage field will not be so green anymore.
Con: Most Septic Tanks Need to Be Pumped Two to Four Times a Year
Septic tanks have to be pumped out regularly to avoid drainage field failure. Depending on the number of household occupants and the size of your septic tank, that varies. However, if you have a one-thousand gallon septic tank and four people living in the house, you can safely assume you need to pump out the tank two to four times a year.
Pumping out your tank can get quite costly, but tank and drainage field failures are much more expensive than the pumping. If you forget to pump, or you cannot afford to pump the tank on time, you put your septic system and property at risk. On the flip side, if you converted to city plumbing, your city water bill would never be more than a few hundred to a thousand dollars a year, with no risk to your property and expensive sewage costs.
Pro: You Are In Control of What Happens
Having a septic tank and system puts you in charge of your own water and wastewater systems. You know the costs, you know when the maintenance is due, and you can plan ahead. If a conversion to city plumbing results in pipeline failure, you have no idea if you will have to bear the burden of this cost or even what the cost will be.
For more information about the pros and cons of septic systems, check out sites like http://www.southernsanitarysystems.com.
Share25 August 2017
I have always been someone who loves to know more about the way the world works, which is part of the reason I started reading about industrial and manufacturing processes. I have always found it fascinating that professionals can create things by hand, and so I started attending factory tours, asking questions, and doing as much research as possible. It was really interesting to see how much of a difference my efforts made, and before I knew it, I was able to completely change the way I thought about manufacturing. This blog is here to help other people to appreciate the majesty of industry. Check it out!
