What Not To Flush?
Living in the Okanagan-Similkameen / Princeton Area means more folks own rural or rustic properties with septic tanks. Being on a septic system is not much different than being on town or city sewer, BUT if there’s a problem, you need to deal with it (or, pay us to deal with it!) So it’s in your best interest to keep your system running smoothly, and that sometimes means being a bit more careful with what goes down your drains.
What Not To Flush:
- wet wipes (even if they say flushable: they’re NOT)
- cat litter
- coffee grounds (put them in your garden!)
- cooking oil, bacon grease (save it in a tin)
- dental floss, cotton swabs
- food scraps (we discourage use of garbage disposals)
- hair
- condoms
- cigarettes/filters
- tampons, panty liners
- paper products (towels, napkins)
- washing machine lint
- medicines, antibiotics
- large amoungs of detergent or bleach (more than normal laundry usage)
- backwashing water softeners or swimming pool water
- introducing large quantities of clean water at once (this can cause flooding of the tank, causing solids to be suspended pushed out into the drainage field)
Introducing these items to your septic system can cause clogs and nasty backups, but may also lead to decreased efficacy of the bacterial biome inside the septic tank which allows it to function properly. There are good bugs doing important work in there and the better you treat your septic tank, the better they can do their jobs.
If you’d like to learn more about your septic tank, drain field, and how to care for your system, we highly recommend the website InspectAPedia.
When you’re ready for your septic tank to be pumped as part of your regular maintenance, give us a call at 1 ( 2 5 0 ) 295-7994 or email office@simseptic.com for an appointment in the Princeton BC + Area H district.
