How much water do you think your household uses??

Statistics Time! Play along with us! How much water do you think your household uses?? Makes you think twice!!

If you are on a 1000 gallon septic tank and live in a 3 bedroom home, your expected water usage per day is 450 gallons (it is calculated by 150 gallons per day per room/occupancy).  The stats below may startle you and make you think of different ways you can conserve water in your home!

If you are experiencing wasteful water situations at your home due to leaks, worn plumbing fixtures and the like, give Septic Medic Pumping & Plumbing a call right away! We'll be happy to come out and assess your situation and offer the best corrective action. Give us a call today 480-306-3841 or visit our website for more information: www.septicmedicaz.com

What is a Commercial Grease Trap Interceptor??

Grease interceptors or otherwise known as "grease traps" are specifically designed to trap grease and food waste from entering directly into the city sewer system without being filtered first. Think about how much food waste you see go down your kitchen sink, can you imagine what one restaurant generates in one night? What about thousands of restaurants that all share the same city sewer system. This could be catastrophic for our city wastewater facilities. Grease interceptors help further filtrate all waste from floor drains, dishwasher and kitchen sinks before the effluent water enters into the the sewer system. 

Grease traps should be put on a regularly scheduled pumping maintenance schedule to be in compliance with City health code inspectors. If you are a facility requiring the use of a grease trap, you can bet you will be visited about your interceptor maintenance records. Septic Medic is here to help. Your first grease trap pumping service is a thorough one. We will assess all parts of the interceptor, spray down the inside of the trap and make it clean and happy. If flow into the interceptor is slow, we can offer high pressure jetting services which will scour your pipes to like-new condition again. Do you have a small, under-the-sink grease trap? We maintain and service these systems too.

Are you starting a new restaurant  and need a grease trap installed? Perhaps you have a grease interceptor that needs to be repaired or is consistently backing up. Septic Medic is a full service interceptor company and offers repair and installation services for all sizes of grease interceptor tanks. We have experience replacing existing interceptors with larger sizes and offer additional plumbing services in the event of sewer line failure or extension needed for the new tank.

We know a grease trap malfunction is the last thing you want to deal with, particularly during business hours. We are available 24 hours a day to help correct your plumbing and grease interceptor issues.

Give us a call or visit our website today! 480-306-3841    Septic Medic Website

What's Inside the Septic Tank?

Have you stuck your head inside your septic tank to see what it looked like inside? I sure hope not... EWWWW! Let me paint you a picture and save you the agony of not being able to breathe for a couple hours!

ONE COMPARTMENT TANKS - (Older Style)

This is  what a basic one compartment septic tank looks like. There are three openings on the top of the septic tank. A 18-24" manhole cover... don't let the name fool you.. we don't want a man getting in this thing! This is where the tank will be pumped from! Both the inlet and outlet inspection port caps are also openings to the top of the tank. These are designed to be able to check the condition of your pipes coming in to and out of the septic tank. In extreme cases, if the septic tank "manhole" is covered, you can pump from these ports as well.

                TWO COMPARTMENT TANKS - (Newer Style)

This is what a basic two compartment septic tank looks like.  This tank is a little different from the first. This tank includes a center wall. This wall is design to keep more of the sludge as far away from the outlet sewerline pipe as possible. Why? Because when sludge enters into your outlet line, you can find yourself in a heck of a mess with your disposal field. This tank is designed to help your system last even longer. The openings on the tops of these tanks also very slightly. Two compartment tanks have two 18-24" manhole covers and one center inspection port to check the condition of the interior baffle.

Regardless of the tank style, the septic tank will develop three organic layers. Scum which floats upon the Liquid layer and Sludge which sinks to the bottom of the tank. 

Pumping your septic tank and regular maintenance with Septic Medic is the key to a long-living septic tank! When we pump your septic tank, we pump the entire contents of the tank (minus a small amount of sludge in the bottom, which is important to continue your tank bacteria colony... that's a whole 'nother blog post). We don't just suck the water out! We get out the crap "literally" and help your system last as long as possible! Having a septic issue or in need of this ever-important maintenance pump??? Give us a call at 480-306-3841 or visit us online at www.septicmedicaz.com to schedule an appointment!

What is a Septic Tank??

WHAT IS A SEPTIC TANK??

Raise your hand if you have a septic tank and you are not quite sure how the thing even works! You are not alone! Many people have septic systems and they are unsure of the way they work and how to properly care for them. Septic tanks are very simple things. Let me break it down for you.

• The house has internal plumbing that all routes to a main sewerline. This main sewerline runs through the center of your home, out the front or back and connects to the inlet sewerline to the septic tank.  The inlet sewerline then runs into the septic tank itself.
• The septic tank can be concrete, poly (plastic) or even fiberglass (if it's old). The septic tank can contain one or two compartments. Older style tanks have one compartment. New style tanks (think late '90's) have two compartments. The purpose of the two compartments in later construction was to try to keep more of the solid sludge waste in the front compartment, further away from any contact with the drainfield (also sometimes called the disposal field).
• From the septic tank, there is an outlet sewerline that connects to the drainfield. Some outlet lines will connect directly into a horizontal leach line or vertical seepage pit (also sometimes called dry well). Other times, the outlet sewerline will connect to a distribution box. The distribution box will connect multiple leach lines or seepage pits.

SO... when you run water down the drain or flush a toilet, the water enters the mainline, into the inlet pipe and falls into the septic tank. Once the septic tank is at capacity, the effluent (wastewater) from the septic tank will go through the outlet sewerline into the drainfield. The drainfield is set up to further filter out the wastewater before it is absorbed back into the ground. 

The septic tank will accumulate 3 layers inside of the tank. The scum layer (floaters) will ride on top of the effluent (wastewater). The sludge layer (sinkers) will fall to the bottom of the tank. To properly maintain your septic tank, you will need to pump the contents of the septic tank every 3-5 years based upon usage and occupancy.  That's pretty much it! Nothing mechanical, nothing really technical. 

Are you experiencing an issue with your septic tank? Slow draining, gurgling, back ups or just think it's time for maintenance?? Give Septic Medic a call! We can provide you with an estimate over the phone and send our team out as soon as you need! 480-306-3841 or visit our website at www.septicmedicaz.com for an entire list of our services.