Hi -- I'm a greenhorn, just joined. I couldn't find a thread that addressed my issue, so I'm starting this new thread. I apologize for the length of this post, but I want you to fully understand the issue.
My wife and I have an off-grid property. We use a couple of portable toilets. We had a septic field installed with two intake pipes: one (capped underground at present) is for the sewage pipe of a future cabin, and the other is a stand-pipe into which we can dump the tanks from our portable toilets.
For the two years we've been using the portable toilets, we've been adding an odor-control product to the holding tanks. It's called Thetford Aqua-Kem. It works beautifully, completely masks the smell, and has a pleasant fragrance. Whenever I dump a 5-gallon holding tank, I add an extra 15 gallons of clean water to reduce the concentration of waste in the septic tank.
The only problem: Aqua-Kem contains formaldehyde. There are lots of articles that decry the dangers of using this horrible, monstrous, deadly toxin in your black-water tanks, whether in RVs, boats, or portable toilets. On the other hand, Thetford puts out literature that says Aqua-Kem is safe and the formaldehyde is 100% biodegradable, if the product is used properly (by "properly", they mean don’t use too much, and don’t dump your tank until it's full). At first I was baffled by these two conflicting points of view.
Then I found a site that said formaldehyde was only dangerous if used at strengths greater than recommended by the product manufacturers, or if tanks were dumped when only partly full (i.e., with enough chemical for a full tank, but not enough waste to dilute the chemical in the holding tank). One scientific study showed that the bacteria-balance in the septic tanks at Virginia state parks could be overwhelmed by a heavy surge of users using formaldehyde odor-control products, but that the bacteria in the parks' septic systems had rebounded and normalized after only two or three days.
I'm no expert, but what I THINK I've been reading is a lot of scare-propaganda based on EPA findings done in the '70s, showing that a heavy load of formaldehyde would kill the bacteria in a septic system, and could destroy the entire drain field, and contaminate ground water. All absolutely true, BUT…if used correctly, these products don't contain enough formaldehyde to significantly harm your septic system, and the bacteria "will rise again".
Our septic tank has two chambers, 500 gallons each. In the two years we've been using the portable toilets, I've dumped full tanks about 40 or 50 times (we're only there part time, spring-summer-fall). With all the extra water, I may have dumped close to 1,000 gallons, so the two chambers are now approaching full...for the first time, liquid effluent is soon going to be flowing down to the drain-field. Thetford suggests using four ounces of Aqua-Kem for a 5-gallon tank. I use about three ounces. I have gone through almost one gallon of Aqua-Kem.
Do any of you know if I have anything to worry about? Barring the digging up of my holding tank and taking a sample of the goop to a testing lab, how do I determine the health of the bacteria in my goop? If the concentration of formaldehyde has been sufficient to harm the bacteria in my system, what would you suggest as an approach to restore it to good health? Should I just bite the bullet and have my septic tank pumped?
My wife and I have an off-grid property. We use a couple of portable toilets. We had a septic field installed with two intake pipes: one (capped underground at present) is for the sewage pipe of a future cabin, and the other is a stand-pipe into which we can dump the tanks from our portable toilets.
For the two years we've been using the portable toilets, we've been adding an odor-control product to the holding tanks. It's called Thetford Aqua-Kem. It works beautifully, completely masks the smell, and has a pleasant fragrance. Whenever I dump a 5-gallon holding tank, I add an extra 15 gallons of clean water to reduce the concentration of waste in the septic tank.
The only problem: Aqua-Kem contains formaldehyde. There are lots of articles that decry the dangers of using this horrible, monstrous, deadly toxin in your black-water tanks, whether in RVs, boats, or portable toilets. On the other hand, Thetford puts out literature that says Aqua-Kem is safe and the formaldehyde is 100% biodegradable, if the product is used properly (by "properly", they mean don’t use too much, and don’t dump your tank until it's full). At first I was baffled by these two conflicting points of view.
Then I found a site that said formaldehyde was only dangerous if used at strengths greater than recommended by the product manufacturers, or if tanks were dumped when only partly full (i.e., with enough chemical for a full tank, but not enough waste to dilute the chemical in the holding tank). One scientific study showed that the bacteria-balance in the septic tanks at Virginia state parks could be overwhelmed by a heavy surge of users using formaldehyde odor-control products, but that the bacteria in the parks' septic systems had rebounded and normalized after only two or three days.
I'm no expert, but what I THINK I've been reading is a lot of scare-propaganda based on EPA findings done in the '70s, showing that a heavy load of formaldehyde would kill the bacteria in a septic system, and could destroy the entire drain field, and contaminate ground water. All absolutely true, BUT…if used correctly, these products don't contain enough formaldehyde to significantly harm your septic system, and the bacteria "will rise again".
Our septic tank has two chambers, 500 gallons each. In the two years we've been using the portable toilets, I've dumped full tanks about 40 or 50 times (we're only there part time, spring-summer-fall). With all the extra water, I may have dumped close to 1,000 gallons, so the two chambers are now approaching full...for the first time, liquid effluent is soon going to be flowing down to the drain-field. Thetford suggests using four ounces of Aqua-Kem for a 5-gallon tank. I use about three ounces. I have gone through almost one gallon of Aqua-Kem.
Do any of you know if I have anything to worry about? Barring the digging up of my holding tank and taking a sample of the goop to a testing lab, how do I determine the health of the bacteria in my goop? If the concentration of formaldehyde has been sufficient to harm the bacteria in my system, what would you suggest as an approach to restore it to good health? Should I just bite the bullet and have my septic tank pumped?
Formaldehyde -- septic system killer, or...?
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