# best laundry and dish soap for septic tanks



## MTTMATSUA (May 23, 2007)

Hey all;

The place we are moving to in NorCal is on well and septic. Its been about 20 years since I've been on that type of system, so my question is, what is the best laundry soap and dish soaps for a septic system?? I know no bleach and no Tide, but cannot remember what is best ... plus so many changes in the past couple decades, I wouldn't know where to start...

Also, any thoughts on cleaners?? We are big on lemons, salt, baking soda and vinegar...but again, any suggestions would be much appreciated!!

Thanks!!!
Bonnie


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

homemade lye soap.....

shaved down on an old cheese grate, you'd be amazed at the suds you can generate with the stuff. and for cutting grease ? even I was amazed when my daughter dug out some of our old bars of lye soap when she finally ran out of our y2k dish soap stash. :bouncy:


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

We haven't had any problems with any of the soap we use. We currently have a front loading washer and use powdered soap from Sears. It's the cheapest and best working high efficiency laundry soap I've found. I need fragrance-free soaps.


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

Do not use any antibacterial soap. That is all we do for our septic system and rarely have any problem ( once in 15 years). I also put some yeast down the drain about one time a month don't know if it helps but I do it anyway.:shrug:


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## Jena (Aug 13, 2003)

I used bleach and tide with my septic and they didn't cause any problems.

Jena


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

The occassional use of bleach in laundry or cleaning is not going to hurt your septic system. You have to remember that bleach is simply an oxidzing agent. The bleach is going to completely oxidize in that 1000 to 1500 gallons of organic-laden wastewater sitting in your septic tank.

My recommendation is to not use any type of "dry" (granulated or powdered) detergents. These detergents contain a high percentage of inert fillers that will end up filling your septic tank faster than normal.


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## BethW (May 3, 2007)

Jena said:


> I used bleach and tide with my septic and they didn't cause any problems.


We use Tide but are very sparing with bleach. No problems in the 3 years we've been here, but if there's a reason to change, we will.


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## crashy (Dec 10, 2004)

Our tanks is 20 yr. old never had any problems.. We don't use bleach much we don't have a garbage disposal either. And NO paper products except toilet paper. Our laundry soap is ALL liquid free and clear.


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## MTTMATSUA (May 23, 2007)

thanks!! good to hear about the homemade soap, since we do make our own...

and there's no garbage disposal and the dishwaher is going to go (need the cabinet space!!) so we are good there...

again, thanks!!

=)Bonnie


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## dianaofthedunes (Sep 3, 2008)

We have a HE washer and use grated soap (Fels-Naptha, but want to switch to something biodegradable next batch), washing soda, and borax. Not a lot of suds, but does a good job cleaning. In 3 years, we haven't had to have any septic service at all.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I never put any detergent, soaps, bleaches or other nasty chems in our septic system. It operates on an organic principle and anything that may interfer with the bacteria food chain is not allowed. Grey water lines out to the pasture solves all those problems for me. Having lived in California for a while however, I doubt your local Gestapo will let you get away with common sense practices. In your case I would go with basics, do not use anything that is antibacterial whatsoever. Use biodegradables only and use them sparingly.


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## MTTMATSUA (May 23, 2007)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> I never put any detergent, soaps, bleaches or other nasty chems in our septic system. It operates on an organic principle and anything that may interfer with the bacteria food chain is not allowed. Grey water lines out to the pasture solves all those problems for me. Having lived in California for a while however, I doubt your local Gestapo will let you get away with common sense practices. In your case I would go with basics, do not use anything that is antibacterial whatsoever. Use biodegradables only and use them sparingly.



o local government...

and they are trying to push through some things that are great for SoCal (it started in malibu...how many septics are there in malibu???) but for the Northern Counties, will be un-doable and ridiculous! Plus, since the state is always in some state of drought you would think they would let up restrictions on grey water w/in reason, but p'shaw, noooooooo!!!!

Thanks again for the tips!


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