My in-sink-erator has rusted through and needs to be replaced. It was the septic assist model with container that injects some supposed septic assist fluid. My previous home did not have this "feature".
Are these really necessary? We are careful with what we put down the drain. Most of our solids go out to the chickens!
Any suggestion on a new unit? I was thinking to go with the same brand in hopes it keeps all the plumbing the same. I'm leaning towards just a regular disposer w/o the septic fluid.
I'd like to know the opinions, too. We've never been on a septic system until now, for the past two years. It's a new system. We purposely did not install a disposer because we were told they weren't compatible with septic systems. I really miss having one.
It depends what you push through the system. It seems to me, that it would be better to have whatever it is finely ground then whole. So long as it is organic and will decompose it should be OK.
Grinding up some small amounts of fruits and veggies should be fine. Avoid all oils an proteins. Then again, all the stuff that does ok in the disposer is great for the composter, chickens, or if you don't mind.. just toss it outside.
We really dont put much down the disposer. Thus I'm inclinded to forego the 'septic assist' when I install the new unit.
I'm just curious if that septic assist feature is really a 'should have' or just a gimmic add-on. An active septic should have all the 'creatures' it needs to do it's job. I really doubt adding a few drops of fluid will make much difference. But I figured I'd ask here and see what comes of it. All I know is it took me 5x longer to discover where my leak was because the septic assist "feature" required the grinder by encased in plastic so the little bottle of fluid had a place to attach. Because of that I had to fully dismantle the unit and pull off the plastic cover to find a pinhole. Because it was such a hassle I procrastinated 8 weeks and have some damage to my cabinet now. A simple unit would have been much easier to troubleshoot. Simple, IMO, is always best.
Up until this current house we were always on a sewer system and always had a disposer. We never put anything down it except vegetable and fruit waste, cooked grains like rice, etc. Never meats or bones or fats. I suppose, given that, having a disposer with a septic would probably be feasible.
We live in the desert and have no need for composting. Currently all of our "garbage" is hauled away, but I miss the convenience of the disposer, especially when prepping veggies and fruits for cooking.
We had considered the In-Sink-Erator with the septic feature, but hadn't made a decision.
Never heard of this and have been using regular disposer on septic for years. Do not put anything in it that I can throw in trash and that includes cooking oils. Just had tank pumped after 4 years and tech said to just continue what I was doing as all was fine.
On Sun 26 Oct 2008 07:55:33a, PanHandler told us...
When you consider what one normally flushes down the toilet ending up in the septic tank, I would assume that what isn't easily digested by one's own body is also not easily digested by the septic tank. The process is not dissimilar, both sources of waste products being acted upon by bacteria and enzymes.
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