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How to maintain a leach drain

Your leach drain is the final part of your wastewater treatment system and plays a key role in dispersing treated effluent back into the ground. Keeping your leach drain functioning well and free from blockages is important to avoid costly repairs and rebuilds.

Does your leach drain have a build up of fats, oils and grease?

Grease and oil can build-up in a leach drain over time especially if the you use a lot of cooking fats or oils. Waste from your kitchen doesn’t always end up clogging your leach drain – oils and grease can solidify in your pipe work and begin to block it. When this happens, sewerage backs up into your home which causes a real mess and health problems such as blocked toilets, flooding of property and offensive odours.

How to clear away greasy blockages in your leach drain

The best method for preventing a build-up of grease and other fats in your leach drain is to divert food waste from entering the septic system. This can be achieved by using a grease trap which prevents oils and fats from entering into your septic or AWTS tank. By diverting this type of waste before it enters into the tank, you can prevent blockages and problems with septic systems.

But if you’re already experiencing leach drain blockages, you should also consider using a biological additive that helps break down fats, oil and grease. EcoCare’s LD Kit contains biological stimulants and specialty bacteria which rapidly digest fats, oil and grease.

Maintaining your leach drain

The key to keeping your leach drain, and the rest of your wastewater system, running smoothly is to maintain the optimal biological conditions for the right types of bacteria to thrive.

Firstly, limit the harmful materials entering the system such as chemical cleaning products or food waste. Conventional cleaning products contain caustic chemicals which will kill the bacteria necessary for your system to function.

Secondly, as there are always going to be changes that disrupt the biological conditions within the system, use an additive to restore and maintain the balance. We ingest many chemicals as part of everyday life and these pass into our septic system. Changes in temperature, water levels, pH and nutrient availability can all impact bacteria’s ability to digest waste. EcoCare Activator helps counteract these fluctuations and keep your system in great condition. A little preventative maintenance goes a long way towards septic peace of mind.