IN COLD CLIMATES, PROTECT YOUR SEPTIC SYSTEM FROM FREEZING

Like water pipes, your septic system can freeze. Here are some tips to prevent your septic system from freezing.

■ Use it. Without hot water going through the system, it’s susceptible to freezing, which can damage the tank, the piping, and the filter and its housing, and can cause waste to back up into the house—all costly and undesirable.

■ When you have good snow cover over your system, don’t shovel it off. The undisturbed snow is good insulation.

■ If you don’t have adequate snow cover before the temperature drops below freezing, insulate the system using straw bales or purposemade insulating blankets.

■ Stop mowing the grass over the system a few weeks before the end of the growing season. Extra vegetation provides another layer of insulation. ■ Don’t leave a trickle of water running—as people do to prevent pipes from freezing—as that can be just enough cold water added to your septic system to cause an ice clog. ■ If you won’t be using the home in the winter, keeping it heated at 56 to 58 degrees F is one option for freeze prevention.

■ If you’re rarely there during the winter and will be draining your water/winterizing your home, be sure to have the tank pumped out before freezing temperatures set in.

■ Bury your septic tank as deep as possible. Septic tanks are buried to help prevent freezing. The maximum depth for a concrete tank is 8 ft. to the top of the tank. Plastic tanks can’t be buried as deep as concrete (only a maximum of 24 in.). Burying a tank deep does make maintenance more difficult, as it’s hard to see into the corners where sludge can build up. ■ After installation, septic tanks “settle” for up to a year. The area over the tank and drain field should be “crowned” to minimize the effect of settling. This is important because water pooling around the tank freezes. If you do have to add more fill as a result of settling, don’t use pea gravel around manhole covers. That doesn’t redirect the flow away from your system’s parts. It allows water to flow toward the tank. The ground can freeze and lift the manhole covers. Then, groundwater flows into the tank, shortening the life of the system.