Aerobic Septic System Question

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Parks 788

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With our new property in Bristow we now have two septic systems. One a traditional system and the small house has an Aerobic system. I've added the "chemicals" recommended to help promote bacteria growth, etc. The issue I'm having is the shower and sink in the master bath is having draining issues. They are quite slow and almost certain it is mostly the ladies hair that is causing the slow draining. I can go under the sink and take out the trap and make sure that is cleaned out. Also what to know what, if any product that can be used to pour down the drains to get them cleaned out but is not harmful to the arobic system. I know there has got to be some toothpaste, soap and makeup that can play a role in slowing down the flow of water. What can you recommend to open up these drains? Thanks for the help.
 

montesa

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With our new property in Bristow we now have two septic systems. One a traditional system and the small house has an Aerobic system. I've added the "chemicals" recommended to help promote bacteria growth, etc. The issue I'm having is the shower and sink in the master bath is having draining issues. They are quite slow and almost certain it is mostly the ladies hair that is causing the slow draining. I can go under the sink and take out the trap and make sure that is cleaned out. Also what to know what, if any product that can be used to pour down the drains to get them cleaned out but is not harmful to the arobic system. I know there has got to be some toothpaste, soap and makeup that can play a role in slowing down the flow of water. What can you recommend to open up these drains? Thanks for the help.
I can not recommend anything you can’t easily research and find. I would get a small snake and gently work it down and and through.

I can say slow draining is sometimes due to a venting issue.
 

montesa

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Also with aerobic systems the last tank before spraying is bleached water on my system at least. I wouldn’t worry too much about a small amount of products.

The drain lines should be 2” and dump into the main 3” within a short distance. If the p traps are clear I would run a snake through the sink line after removing the trap and see if that speeds things up.
 

Parks 788

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Forgot about the vent on the roof. I will have to check that out. I do need to do more research on aerobic systems as I know little about them. Thanks for the reply.
 

montesa

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Forgot about the vent on the roof. I will have to check that out. I do need to do more research on aerobic systems as I know little about them. Thanks for the reply.
I’ve cleared a lot of drains doing maintenance on rental properties. I hate it and I’m never quite sure where the problem was when it’s finally flowing. Also older houses often don’t have cleanouts and you have to snake from the roof all the time. There used to be a guy that specialized in clearing drains in okc. He was an artist with a heavy snake. Price was low. But he retired.
 

adamsredlines

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Bleach going into the last tank is totally different than bleach going down drain. It's basically purified by time it gets to the last tank and the bleach there is just for good measure. It's basically double redundancy.

As far as chemical cleaners, I've read that most drain cleaners are significantly WORSE for the septic bacteria than bleach. Like it takes a very small amount of drain cleaner to put the system out of balance and it takes many times more the amount of bleach to do the same.
 

mr ed

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I would find out who installed the aerobic system and pay the monthly maintenance fee for servicing.
which includes them putting in the chemicals, fixing what breaks (and they do break) and a pumpout of solids every couple years.
Definitely worth it to me cause mine's on a rent house.
Pump quit, circuit board fried, system stopped up, sprinkler heads froze and broke, you name it it"s happened.
 

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