This is a great forum and I've learned a lot from it. Thanks to all those offering their "expertise"! :O) I have been a septic user for many years, but up until 4 years ago, my husband always took care of all of that. Now, I live alone and I've been given lots of confusing information about keeping my septic system healthy. I believe I have a 1000 gal septic system here with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. I always try to use environmentally correct household supplies and I have a front-loading washer and dryer. I also do not use a dishwasher or garbage disposal. There were two of us here for the first 3 years I've lived in this house, and now there is just me. I believe my septic was pumped when I bought the house in Dec. 2010, so it's been 4 years. I have used Rid-X in the past, and not that often, maybe once every 4-6 months, can't remember. And the last couple of times I used active dry yeast, which the last time was about a month or two ago. After reading all of the information here, I'm thinking I don't really need to add anything to my septic tank, as I don't put much, if any harsh chemicals into it. I'm hoping I can wait another year or two before I have to have it pumped out. Money is pretty well fixed here. LOL! Anyway, I just wanted to say that I appreciate having forums like this one, and knowledgable people on it, to help those of us who don't really know s--- from shinola about it! LITERALLY! LOL! You all have an awesome day! :O)

Also, what are the requirements in the owner's area for replacing leach fields? If he was in Vermont it would have to be an engineered system. By messing with the leach field there is a possibility that a mound system could be required (about $10,000). I know, Vermont is nuts on this stuff. My theory on the leach field is that if it was a "designed" system and it's working okay, leave it alone. If you have heard that new state or county requirements are coming in the next few years, then it might be prudent to consider replacing it now to avoid some expensive fix a few years down the road. And, as someone said, if you are in a region where there is the possibility of having to hook on to a municipal sytem in a few years, then you might want to consider the cheapest fix you can get for now. The last one I had installed/designed called for an outgoing filter. The builder said he would never do another system without it. Pull it once a year or so and hose it off. On the pumping...when I owned mobile home parks I had about 20,000 gallons worth of tanks to keep pumped. In this area it's extremely expensive to have them pumped. I found that it was senseless to pump all of the liquids out of the tanks. Liquid was always on the bottom and would go out to the leach field anyway. We would just pump the first 2 or 3 feet making sure that all the scum and solids and semi-solids were cleared out. Think about it..if you pump the whole tank, within 3 or 4 days the tank is filled with liquids again.

The codes provide us a table that lists all the different types of fixtures that can be attached to the drainage system and each fixture is assigned a DFU (Drainage Fixture Unit) value. We begin listing all the fixtures and their corresponding DFU value to find the Total DFU load for the structure. Once we have the total DFU load we then consult another table that lists the maximum number of DFU's that can be conveyed by each size of pipe. By example let us consider a few fixtures: Lavatory................... 1DFU Tub/shower................. 3DFU Watercloset Watercloset >1.6gpf........ 4DFU Shower stall............... 2DFU Kitchen sink............... 2DFU Kitchen sink w/disposal.... 2DFU Kitchen sink w/Dishwasher.. 2DFU Clothes washer standpipe... 2DFU Laundry Tub.................2DFU Laundry Group.............. 3DFU Floor drain................ 0DFU As you can see if you have a standard bathroom group, lavatory, tub/shower & watercloset we can use the Bathroom Group value but if you have extras such as two lavatories, watercloset, tub and separate shower or perhaps a bidet we must then use the value of each individual fixture to compute the bathroom group. We would then use the total DFU value for the whole structure to determine the size of the "House Sewer line" (line from the structure to the septic tank or municipal main. WE must then go back to each bathroom, Kitchen and laundry ad compute the total DFU value for that room to determine the proper size of the branch lines. As these branch lines connect together we must compute the combined load of the lines connecting to determine the size of the line downstream from that intersection. The codes then give us a table listing the Maximum DFU load that can be conveyed by each size of pipe. Example; ..........................Horizontal........Vertical 1-1/4".................... 1DFU ............. 1DFU 1-1/2".................... 3 .................4 2"........................ 6 ............... 10 2.5" .................... 12 ................20 3" ...................... 20 ............... 48 4" ...................... 160 ............. 240 The code has some exceptions to this rule by example, while a watercloset is rated at 3 or 4DFU which could be conveyed by a 2" line however we must also consider that a watercloset is expected to convey solid fecal matter therefore the code requires a watercloset to be set on a 3" or 4" line. Contrary to popular belief an oversize line will clog much faster than an undersized line. When a drain line is properly sized in this manner the line will only be 1/2 full under full load which provides a sufficient liquid level to convey any solids that may be present in the waste. In order to insure proper velocity of flow this keeps the upper half of the line open for the free transfer of vent air. If a line is oversized it results in the level of liquid being much lower. In many cases the level of liquid is then not sufficient to properly suspend the solids and the solids will rub and scuff on the bottom of the pipe dramatically reducing the velocity of flow. This also allows the liquids to then seep past the solids and continue down the line leaving deposits of the solids in the line. Once the liquid has passed the solids will then begin to dry in place creating a small dam for the next cycle until the solids build up and totally clog the line.

Thanks Brickeyee for responding, sorry to get back here so late. I should have mentioned that our home is a 100 YO farm house that most likely predates most plumbing codes. The point I was trying to make is that if the lower toilet was vented that it would not "burp" when the leech field is saturated as it was doing this past record wet winter (first time in 7 years living here). Over the past few months there have been many septic tank trucks paying visits throughout the neightborhood and I doubt it was for routine service. No doubt it gave residents a temporary reprieve but with small lakes for front and back yards their back-up problems returned in a short time. Since our unvented lower toilet gives us an early warning that the tank was full we could conserve on water use and prevent any back-up headaches. These burping episodes would only occur after 2-3" of heavy rain (on top of saturated soil)and last for 2 days before subsiding. Fortunately since my first post we have had a long dry period and the neighborhood "lakes" have disappeared. Ours is an old terra cotta system which works well even though it dates back to the 50's (best guess). Chow for now.