How Does My Septic System Work?

It is very common to not understand how your septic system works as it is generally out of sight and out of mind. Although, in our opinion, it is one of the most important services in your home to understand and ensure is functioning properly.

How A Septic System Works

How a Septic System Works

There are a few different types of septic systems, which you can read more about in this post. But, each system works more or less follows the same path from when it leaves your home and is pushed out to the dispersal field.

First, raw sewage / grey water is either flushed or drained from the sink, bathtub / laundry machine and flows into your septic tank. This tank is normally comprised of 2 separate chambers. The first chamber is a settling chamber in where solids sink to the bottom and only the liquid portion flows over into the next chamber. This ensures proper separate of suspended solids and organic material from the liquid sewage and promotes anaerobic bacteria growth to break down the organic content. In the next chamber, there should be mostly liquid and this is where your outlet baffle is located. This is the exiting pipe from the septic tank. On this baffle, you should have an effluent filter installed to block / capture any solids that have flowed over into this chamber. From here, the effluent travels either to a treatment tank, pump tank, or to a transportation pipe to a distribution box and then dispersed to lateral lines. Once the effluent flows to the lateral pipes via gravity or is pushed via a pump, it is then dispersed through orifices or holes in the pipe. From here, the effluent hits the ground and is absorbed and treated aerobically. Bacteria starts to break down and remove pathogens, viruses and harmful bacteria that is still present in the effluent. If the septic system was designed properly and within regulations, the liquid a few feet down hitting the limiting layer should be drinking water quality.

This is a basic explanation on how a septic system functions and the course of travel effluent takes once it leaves your home and enters your septic system. There are many different types of septic systems and each acts slightly different. If you would like to learn more about how your system functions / operates, it is best to book in an inspection to have a professional inspect your septic system and explain how each component functions which then a maintenance plan can be created for your specific system.