| Author | Content |
| ceeadsalaskazone3 Seward, AK  December 3, 2007 | Does washing clothes with clorox kill off your septic system breakdown organisms? |
| BackyardZoo Poquoson, VA Zone 7b December 3, 2007 | Probably depends on the amount you use, but I'd say most likely 'yes'. Chlorine is very toxic to almost everything. I'd maybe save using bleach once a month - then add some of those boxes of septic bacteria boosters (Rid-X?) about a week after that. Another possibility I can think of (completely untested) is sending some aquarium water conditioner (you know - the stuff used to take the chlorine out of tap water so the fish will live) down the drain after the whites load. Probably expensive to do that, though. Otherwise, try switching to a more septic-friendly whitening solution (but nothing works as well as bleach, I know...except maybe line-drying in the sun...) |
| Terry Murfreesboro, TN Zone 7a  December 3, 2007 | I bleach one load of clothes per week with a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of bleach added to the load. That's one out of 5-6 loads every week, plus a dishwasher (every day or two), and the normal household water waste generated by three people living here. I also use a chlorine-based cleanser on the toilet bowls each week. Bottom line: we're careful about the amount of bleach we introduce into the system, but it is in a few of the household products we regularly use. I put a tablespoon of yeast down the drain once a month (per advice from the guy who has pumped out and worked on our system in the past) and haven't had any problems with the tank's bacterial balance. We had him out here about a year and a half ago, thinking the tank was full, but he inspected it and declared the tank to be in perfect working order, even though at that time all three kids lived at home (five people total), and we were pumping a lot more water into it every day due to added laundry, showers, etc. |
| ceeadsalaskazone3 Seward, AK December 3, 2007 | Ok, thank you, I figure in smaller doses that it will keep on working, too much is bad and I do use rid-ex. Carol |
| rikson December 4, 2007 | nothing works as bleach, I know Chlorine is very toxic to everything, using bleach once a month should prefer. It depends on the amount you use careful about the amount of bleach you introduce into the system. |
| Moricky Ballwin, MO February 7, 2008 | I would not be concerned about using bleach when on a septic system. Yes, chorine is toxic in large amounts. That being true, it is also true that many many public water systems use chlorine to make the water safe to drink. It is the chemical of choice until the system is such that it needs something stronger. Here in the St. Louis area they use a combination of chlorine and bromine as the water is from the Missouri River among other sources and it takes quite a lot to make it safe to drink. In rural areas where small public water systems and septic tanks are both common, bleach is the prefered method of treating the water. Our system used regular laundry bleach (unscented) and injected it into the well water. The extra bleach added to laundry has not been a problem to my knowledge. In twelve years of living on the lake with chlorine treated water and regular bleaching of laundry, we never had trouble with the septic. If you are using too much bleach, in my opinion your clothing will be the first to go. |