WINTER AND

YOUR SEPTIC SYSTEM

 

Your septic system can find winters chilly too. Septic systems are more likely to freeze up during extremely cold periods when there is little or no snow on the ground and several days of double digit minus temperatures.. Snow acts as a natural insulator. Depending on your system, location, and water use, you may never have a freezing problem. However, there are several steps that you can take as a first line of defense against system freezing.

 

 

The best way to prevent your system from freezing is to insulate it. Adding about a foot of mulch (either

grass clippings, straw, hay or leaves) or letting the grass grow long in the fall acts as a natural snow fence

and will catch snow over your system. If you want or need more insulation, snow can be piled on top of the

system, soil cover can be increased, or styrofoam sheets can be installed above the septic tank.

 

The four common locations where systems can freeze especially if they were not installed to the correct Building Code depths are the:

• pipe from house to tank
• septic tank and/or pump tank
• pipe to soil leaching bed
• leaching bed

The major causes of freezing are:

• pipes not properly drained when closing up for the winter
• low water use (away for extended periods or a leaking fixture)
• waterlogged system (leaching bed holding water)

The misconceptions on how to thaw your frozen septic system are (BUT SHOULD NOT BE):

• adding car antifreeze, salt or a septic additive into the sytem
• pumping sewage out of the tank onto the ground
• starting a fire over the system to attempt to thaw it out
• running water contiunually to try to unfreeze the system

If your system  is frozen, your first step is to call a qualified septic system installer or pumper!