Use this form to calculate how often your septic tank should be cleaned.

Make your selections (last column), and then hit the
"Calculate this for me based on my selections" button at the bottom of this form.
EFFECTS POINT VALUE
FOR
EACH FACTOR		 YOUR SELECTIONS: 
A. Enter 10 points for wastewater that enters the septic system for each of these appliances: Water conditioning unit (water softener or iron filter) 10
Garbage disposal 10
Automatic clothes washer 10
 
B. Enter 10 points if you have: An in-home business (such as daycare, beauty shop) 10
More than 4 over-night guests at a time, several times per year 10
A laundry pattern of doing three or more loads/day 10
 
C. Enter 10 points if your septic tank is smaller than indicated
for the size of the house: 		HOUSE SIZE TANK CAPACITY 10
2-3 bedrooms 1000 gallons
4-5 bedrooms 1500 gallons
6-7 bedrooms 1750 gallons
8-9 bedrooms 2000 gallons
 
D. Enter the points indicated if the last cleaning was: FREQUENCY POINTS   Choose only one from this category:
1-2 years ago 0 0
3-5 years ago 5 5
6-10 years ago 10 10
more than 10 years ago 12 12
 
E. The number of people living and using water in the household affects the cleaning frequency. Enter the number of people for the house size and do the calculation. HOUSE SIZE,
NUMBER OF BEDROOMS 		NUMBER OF PEOPLE LOAD load x 3  
#people - (#bedrooms +1) = load
 
 TOTAL EFFECTS    


CREDITS  POINT
VALUE
FOR
EACH FACTOR		 YOUR SELECTIONS: 
F. Enter 10 points if you: Use a suds-saving or front-loading clothes washer, or do 4 or fewer loads of laundry spread throughout the week 10
Have two full-size septic tanks or one tank with 150% or more of the capacity required for your house 10
 
G. Enter 5 points if you: Are ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE on water use 5
Use low-volume toilets (3 gallon or less per flush) 5
Use low-flow shower heads 5
Have two or fewer people in the house and bathe fewer than five times per week 5
Have no one at home for 10 hours or more most days 5
 
 TOTAL CREDITS      


Enter your numbers in this equation to
calculate how often your septic tank should be cleaned.

36 - effects number + credits number = months between cleanings