How to Maintain Your Septic and Sewer Systems

drain maintenance orange county

Whether you’re on a septic system or the city sewer line, there are things you can do to keep your waste disposal system working well. Scott English Plumbing was recently featured in an article on this topic, and we want to pass that information on to all of you, too!

Inspect Each Month

Take a few minutes each month to check the pipes under your cabinets and look around your water heater. You may find a leak before it causes major problems.

Educate Your Family

Make sure that anyone who uses your waste system knows what can and cannot go down toilets, drains, and more. This helps ensure that your system isn’t accidentally contaminated or overloaded.

Only Flush Toilet Paper

Only solid and liquid human waste and toilet paper should get flushed. Don’t flush disposable wipes (even the “flushable” ones), dental floss, hair, or anything else. Even some “septic safe” products can wreak havoc on your plumbing system.

Keep Fats Out of Drains

Don’t put oil, grease, bacon fat, or any other kind of fat down the drain or the garbage disposal. These may be liquid when you put them in the drain, but they can become solids fast. When they do, they can clog your drain or trap other substances that cause a clog.

Chemicals and Waste Don’t Mix Well

Don’t put anything acidic down the drains and don’t put other chemicals down them, either. This includes everything from medication to mouth wash and motor oil to bleach. When in doubt, throw it out some other way.

These can corrode pipes in any system but they can especially cause issues in septic systems, where they can change the chemical composition in your tank. It may become unable to break down problematic substances.

Know Your System

Make sure you know where all the important parts of your waste disposal system are located. If you’re on a sewer line, find out how to access it from inside the house and know whether you have an outdoor access hatch and, if so, where it’s at.

If you have a septic system, learn all you can about it. This includes knowing what type of system you have, where your tank and drainfield are, and how to promote good bacterial growth in the system so it can break waste down.

Invest in Maintenance

Regular maintenance is invaluable, no matter what kind of waste-disposal system you have. Invest in having your septic system pumped and all of your lines cleaned out. Maintenance helps you avoid some problems and find others before they become major issues.

Call us at Scott English Plumbing today if you need help maintaining your sewer lines or your septic system. We’ll have an expert to your door soon to make sure everything is working the way you need it to work.

Plumbing Earthquake Safety

Earthquake Safety and plumbing in orange county

We all think about it, what we need to do to prepare for an earthquake, but do you know what you can do to help prevent problems with your plumbing and gas during an earthquake? Here are a few suggestions.

  1. Install An Automated Gas Shut Off Valve

    Install an automated gas shut off valve. This valve automatically shuts the gas off to your home in the event there is an earthquake. It has an easy reset button to turn it back on when you can be sure it is safe to do so.

  2. Strap Your Water Heater

    Make sure your water heater is properly strapped to studs in your wall. An improperly strapped water heater could fall over during an earthquake, this would not only damage it but possibly break the water and gas connections causing dangerous leaks.

  3. Locate Main Shut Off Valves

    Familiarize yourself and your family with the location of your main water and gas shut off valves and label each of the valves. This way they can be easily identified and manually turned off if needed in an emergency. This will help limit damage to your home should your water or gas system develop a leak during an earthquake.

  4. Update Your Water Shut Off Valve

    Make sure you have an operable ball valve type water shut off valve to your home. This is the type that easily shuts off with one ninety-degree turn, rather than an old gate valve that requires turning several times to shut off. If you have this older style valve, test it to ensure it can be shut off. You want to make sure you will be able to do so to limit damage from plumbing leaks that tend to occur from earthquakes.

  5. Check Angle Stops and Supply Lines

    Inspect and test the angle stops and supply lines throughout your home to ensure they are in good condition. These are the items that supply water to your faucets, toilets, and other fixtures and appliances that use water. They are more likely to break if they are old and corroded. And if they are in good working condition, they will allow you to shut off water to one fixture that may be leaking rather than to your whole home, should you have a problem in one area, which is important to let you continue with most of your daily routines while you wait for repairs that may be needed.

For help with any issues to get prepared and address your plumbing problems, give us a call 24/7.