Your home's septic system may be working out of sight behind your walls and floors and within the ground outside, but it should never be out of your mind. In order to keep your septic system working as it should, there are specific practices you need to get accustomed to so you can promote the health of a problem-free septic system. Here are some recommendations for you to keep your home septic system working well for you for many years.

Take Care of Your System

One of the first rules of maintaining your septic system is to understand its capacity and how often you will need to have it pumped. Your septic tank is not built to continually collect waste forever, as solid waste builds up that will remain in the bottom of the tank and reduce its capacity. Contact a local septic professional to check and pump out your tank to remove the solid waste. Then they will be able to inspect the interior of the tank for any problems or clogs. Regular pumping will also ensure your septic drain field does not get flooded from an overfilled tank.

Follow Recommended Kitchen Clean-Up 

After you cook and as you wash dishes and clean up after meals, you may be tempted to rinse everything down into your sink drain. And if your home has a kitchen sink trash disposal system, it might seem like a good way to clean up kitchen scraps. However, your septic system is not built to handle a great deal of scraps and food waste, especially grease. When you pour these things down into your sink drain, they end up in your septic waste tank, where they sink or float depending on what they are made up of. These food items along with toilet waste and other water waste from your household are going to break down as they should and can actually cause your septic system to clog when food particles and greases get clogged into the line. 

If you have a kitchen disposal, don't use it with a septic system. Instead, scrape food off your kitchen dishes and deposit it into the litter bin. This keeps it out of the tank and prevents problems. You can rinse small, soft food particles into the septic system, such as crumbs and small particles of pasta or rice, for example, as these will easily break down in the tank. 

In addition to food scraps, don't flush any other type of rubbish down your drains or toilets. Cotton swabs, flossers, paper towels, wet wipes and anything other than toilet tissue should never get into your septic tank. It will cause line clogs and excessive debris that is not going to break down in the presence of your tank's natural beneficial bacteria. In fact, it can harm your tank's health and disrupt the natural breakdown of septic waste.

Contact a company that offers septic tank services in your area to learn more.