Q&A for How to Unclog Your Septic Tank

Usually they have clean outs that are visible because they have to be pumped out every so often. And the easiest way is to locate your main house trap or clean out. Typically, the first tank would be 15 feet or slightly more out from the exterior wall of your house because that's often the minimum required distance. Once you find your main cleaner or your trap, there are tools that professionals use. They can insert electronic pipe tracing devices down your main sewer line, and they can pinpoint where the tanks are located.

Using too much Rid X will not hurt anything.

if you have problems every time it rains, you want to look for a concave indention over you field lines or over your septic tank. It allows the water to sit right on top of your field lines resulting in a flooded sewer system. To fix it, simply fill in the sunken areas. A small ridge in the center sloping down to normal grade about two feet on both sides of the field line will fix this.

The man servicing our septic had many years of experience. He told me that we could save money by just dumping in a package of regular yeast once or twice a month. I buy the store brand (79 cents a packet) and dump a couple of those a month down the toilet. That's it.

In a septic tank, although there is plenty of food for your bacteria, it dies for lack of oxygen, so if you put in more bacteria, they just die almost as soon as you flush them. In a treatment plant where oxygen is pumped into the tank, you go from millions of bacteria in a septic tank to billions of bacteria when aerobic and anaerobic bacteria can thrive! That being said, treatment plants are recommended to be pumped out more regularly than septic tanks.

Personally, I use a plastic drain snake. It is a plastic ribbon with small barbs that grab whatever is clogging your drain (usually hair). They are only $2-3 and they work great, but they are a little messy.

No oil or grease should go into the septic system. Collect it in a grease can and dispose it. As far as bleach goes, it kills the bacteria your septic system needs to digest waste. You may want to look into septic safe products.