How many people can you have on a 3 bedroom septic?

[TitaniumVT]

Hi guys, I'm currently renting out my acre property. It's a 1978 home on a 3 bedroom septic system. There's a family that's interested in renting the house, but I'm wondering if the septic system can accommodate them all: there's a father, mother, a baby and 3 kids under age 10.

I'd read before that septic systems are sized to accommodate 2X the number of people as bedrooms. So a 3 bedroom septic system could accommodate 6 people. True? Not true?

Would you be concerned about putting a family of six on a 3 bedroom septic? Other than pumping more frequently, is there anything I'd have to worry about?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!

[suemarkp]

Hard to say. Women are worse than men (more TP). Laundry will probably be a significant factor with all those kids (a lot of water going into the tank).

I doubt its going to fail, but the water may not spend enough time in the tank tank before getting pushed out. You'll need to pump more frequently too (I'd check it after the 1st year). If your drainfield is marginal, you'll find out when all those people move in.

Make sure they know it is best to spread out water use -- do a load or two of laundry every day and not 10 loads on one "laundry day". Spread out showers/baths (maybe put in a small water heater to force that...).

If you have a garbage disposal, remove it. And also tell the tenants they are on a septic system so no oil/fat/paint/coffee grounds or anything else down the drain other than human waste, a bit of rinsed food waste, and bath/laundry water.

[TitaniumVT]

Mark, thanks for the quick reply. I appreciate your guidance - if I end up renting to this family, I'll make sure they take the pointers to heart about how to minimize the impact to the septic system.

I spoke to my county health department this morning. They were actually very helpful, and said that septic systems in the area are designed to accommodate 2 people per bedroom and 75 gallons of water use per person per day. So my 3 bedroom septic should be able to accommodate 6 people and 450 gallons of water use per day. Ideally, you wouldn't want to keep maxing the load day in and day out, but as long as my tenants can keep water use to about 300 gallons per day, it should be fine.

The guy I spoke to said teenage girls are the worst in terms of amount of water they use. With an infant and 3 kids under 10, he didn't think it would be a big deal. Interestingly, he said that pumping every 3 to 4 years would be sufficient (and that with fewer people, 5 to 6 years between pumpings is ok). I was surprised. I would have guessed that with six people, I'd need to pump the system out every 2 years.

[Harbormaster]

Bring 'em fresh collard or mustard greens when you come to collect the rent check! :smile2:

[TitaniumVT]

Bring 'em fresh collard or mustard greens when you come to collect the rent check! :smile2:

LOL! :toilet:

[AllanJ]

There are two variables to consider for septic tank performance.

1. Gallons per hour of liquid. Too much and drains will back up almost on the spot.

2. Pounds per month of solid matter. More means the tank has to be pumped more often.

You will have to play it by ear as far as pumping goes. Start with 2 to 3 years. You can guess taht if the tank wasn't that full after the first pumping, you can go longer before the next pumping.

[joed]

Make sure you instruct them on what not to put down the toilet. Basically nothing goes down the toilet that has not passed through a human or plain white TP.