Ladies and Gents - I learned something two months ago I thought would be worth sharing. Having six wonderful grandkids and having two sons and daughter in laws that allowed my wife and I to be a large part of their early growing up years (oldest is 11 and youngest is 6 now) they spent many days and occasional nights (they still do) with Ms. Sig and me and she/we used flushable wipes whenever the grandkids go to the bathroom rather than toilet paper (I know, hind sight on this is 20/20 now).

Last year we noticed a “wet spot” where our primary field line went into a “Y” transition in our yard (we built this house 22 years ago so we were here when the septic tank and field lines went in and paid attention to the layout and location of both). It was time (5 years) to get the tank pumped and when the guys were pumping it out one guy mentioned that he noticed we had “flushable wipes” in our tank and made the following statement - Flushable wipes can cause problems in septic systems if you use a lot of them.

Fast forward to earlier year 2023 (late winter/early spring which was a wet one for us) and that wet spot appeared again and as early summer went on, it became worse and ended up turning into am automobile size wet spot that soon reflected gray water surfacing. We called our trusted environmental septic company back out (I have know the owner for 25 years and shoot with his brother in local IDPA matches) and he decided to dig out the wet spot to se what was going on. When he cut into the field line (a seriously nasty job) with his mini excavator, there were flushable wipes blocking the line. Needless to say, $2850 later we have new field lines in place that they attached to the primary line coming off of the septic tank.

Just thought I would share with the forum family that if you have a septic system, go easy on the use of flushable wipes. We used a lot of these type wipes over a 5+ period of time (some of our wonderful grandkids were with us daily while their parents were at work). Hope this PSA proves to be helpful to others here. Mark

They're labeled "flushable" - not "flowable"

They are not good for only septic, they also get wrapped around the impellers of the lift pumps in city sewer as well. Flushable wipes only belong in the trash, never flushed. I love some flushable wipes, but they always go in the trash container.

I also found they are flushable - they will flush if there is someplace to go, but will hang up and not dissolve or breakdown. They do make a nice plug! DIL said," but it says flushable on the package"... I took a marker and wrote except at grandparents house on the package.

quote:

Originally posted by pootie:
I also found they are flushable - they will flush if there is someplace to go, but will hang up and not dissolve or breakdown. They do make a nice plug! DIL said," but it says flushable on the package"... I took a marker and wrote except at grandparents house on the package.

Love this response - I needed a good laugh after seeing what was going to be my next SIG X5 pistol money go to the local septic company.

The last time we called our local septic service to pump the septic, which was maybe five years ago, the first thing they asked was if we used flushable wipes. They charged $250 extra if you did. Probably alot more than that now.

The other thing bad for septic systems is toilet paper from Costco. I was warned against using it here when I had mine pumped out last year. I’m not a member so it’s never been an issue.

Care to expand on why the Costco TP is bad? The package is labeled septic safe.

If you have a septic system or an RV, test your toilet paper.

Jar with a lid. Water in the jar. toilet paper in the jar. Give it a couple of shakes and time it to see how long it takes to dissolve to a point that you are happy...

Septic systems or boat/RV holding tank systems: The only things that should be put in them are human waste and single-ply TP listed as safe for such systems.

We use nothing but Scott brand single-ply TP in the ensigmatic household, which is on a septic system. (IIRC, that's what we used on the sailboat, too?)

Even with sewer service, don't flush them.
My daughter had a whole-house backup a few years ago, and when it was snaked, it was a bunch of 'flushable' wipes that came out.

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Originally posted by creedbratton2:
Care to expand on why the Costco TP is bad? The package is labeled septic safe.

I was told that it wasn’t as biodegradable as regular paper and didn’t break down

Yup, never used them in my sewer (city) because of this. I always talk to plumbers and from the rip they said “hell no” to those things.

I’m working on building my permanent home, a metal building. I’m not even going to buy toilet paper once I move. Totos with the dryer option. Toilet paper, flushable wipes, bye-bye.

About 25 years ago, there was a brand of kitty litter that was advertised as flushable, but clogged our line so much that it had to be roto-rooted out.

I'd include this along with flushable wipes as being unflushable.

We had to replace the septic system in our old house and it was $32k. The house we bought in July failed the septic inspection, which I insisted on, and was $24k and paid by the sellers. So $3k looks pretty cheap!

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:

quote:

Originally posted by creedbratton2:
Care to expand on why the Costco TP is bad? The package is labeled septic safe.

I was told that it wasn’t as biodegradable as regular paper and didn’t break down

I've been flushing it into my septic system for ten years and haven't had a problem. Yet.

Don’t put anything in the toilet unless you’ve eaten it first.

quote:

Originally posted by sunburn:

Don’t put anything in the toilet unless you’ve eaten it first.

OK. I just did a little experiment. We have some Cottonelle flushable wipes that say, "Breaks down like toilet paper. Plumber approved", on the front.

Before I took my shower at 1900, I stuck one of the wipes in a Mason jar, filled it half full with water, shook it a little & sat it on the counter. It's now mostly dissolved, with some small bits of solids floating around.

I suspect that by morning it'll be pretty much just cloudy water. So I'm gonna keep using them.

Just some of the flushed things I've found in cesspools/septic tanks or stuck in pipes... a dozen tennis balls, a long sleeve button down shirt, large Fosters beer can somehow, bag of crack vials, a duck...