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Ok so heres the deal. I flush about 20 cigarette butts down the toilet a week. how long would it take to back up my septic tank? or does it actually back up the tank?
When I was a realtor, and that was over 20 years ago, I was told by several septic guys to always advise my clients not to flush cigs down the toilet. However, they are biodegradable, LOL, so . . . I guess the problem might be more in them clogging up a line. Honestly, not sure why I was told that. ???? So just passing on what I was told.
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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I'd be less worried about it backing up the tank as clogging the drain field. Do you have a filter on your tank to keep stuff like that out of the drain field?
You will do your drain field a lot of good if you stopped, and flushed nothing but stuff that come out of you. And yes, for women this means using a trash can or a reusable cup.
Hope you are friendly with the Roto-Rooter boys......
Those cigs are a common cause of causing line plugs. The filters do not decay like peeps think. I've cleaned out my share of plugs, always neat to find them piles of filters. The funny ones were the peeps that think it will be Ok if it just goes through the garbage disposal thingee. Maybe makes it worse.
You just need one lil hang up place and they start to build up like a beaver dam. Then it probably goes down hill from there, start to get a coating of whatever. The surprising thing in some cases was how little distance they actually travelled in the sewer pipe before causing the plug.
Like mentioned just put your business down here and you will be a happy camper. I also don't like them garbage disposal things. Women just never learn, they put all sorts of materials in there, only a matter of time and the Roto-Rooter boy is your new best friend.
If the cigs make it to the septic tank, no problem, they just get pumped out, normally they float for a long time. Same for those lady's materials. Lots of lil bobbing critters. So from what I can tell they don't have much negative factor if they make it too the tank.
They sure are no good in a fellows lungs, not much help in a sewer system either. You never really appreciate it until you start to have sewer line problems. Hope you have a newer house with proper installed clean outs. It can get to be fun fast.
I would just switch to using ash trays and let them butts find the regular garbage. Same with a whole lot of other materials that really are garbage not intended for the trip down the sewer. The one big No-No is any type of grease. Never pour it down the drain, no matter how hot it may be. Doesn't travel all that far. Grease and cig butts now there is a dynomite combination. The grease looks like a wild honey bees honey comb, just hangs down so pretty, if you ever have had the pleasure of cutting old main lines out because of it. After awhile some of that stuff is harder than concrete. Where is my pipe cutter???
Cast iron does seem to be worse in some regards, sewer lines will even leach out if they don't have the proper pitch or they get a partial plug over long periods.
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cosmic
Same for those lady's materials. Lots of lil bobbing critters. So from what I can tell they don't have much negative factor if they make it too the tank.
When I was a realtor, and that was over 20 years ago, I was told by several septic guys to always advise my clients not to flush cigs down the toilet. However, they are biodegradable, LOL, so . . . I guess the problem might be more in them clogging up a line. Honestly, not sure why I was told that. ???? So just passing on what I was told.
Huh? The fiberglass filters on each cigarette are not biodegradable.
Huh? The fiberglass filters on each cigarette are not biodegradable.
Nope, they last a lot longer than normally thought.
I had some fun experience in them old Boston triple deckers. They are about the same, zillions around. The kitchen is in the back, bath in the back and some sort of in the middle. Main drain line a long run in the basement. You can pull the clean out plug and look down the full length about like looking down a gun barrel with a bright light.
The fun would start with getting a call, duh drains are plugged up. Turn off the water, let her set for a while, water would seep out, pull that inspection plug and the usual culprits would show up.
Usually it was caused by cig butts, grease or something down the disposal. One kid tried to put the teddy bear down that way, grind him up. With lots of smokers it didn't take long for the problem to show up. Excuses were not a bright idea because usually you could recover some of the materials. Only question was who did the deed? That pouring hot grease was a winner. Lot of times never made it to the main drain, within a couple feet of the sink, once you had the inside of the pipes coated with grease lots of things would stick.
One particular house, you could bet the drain would be loaded with those filters. Nope, they hang around for a while.
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how long would it take to back up my septic tank? or does it actually back up the tank?
Hope you are friendly with the Roto-Rooter boys......
