You just moved in and settled with your family and you never expected to have a sand mound take care of your wastewater. Because of this, you have been very apprehensive in installing appliances such as a washing machine or an automatic dishwasher. You’re afraid that they could overwhelm your sand mound system enough for it to fail and bring about expensive repairs or replacements. You already consulted a septic professional about your dilemma and somehow, the information given to you shed a bit of light. Do automatic dishwashers harm sand mounds? An automatic dishwasher is an appliance that washes your dishes for you. Naturally, with its help, you are able to do a lot more after every meal. You could enjoy family time instead of just watching your husband and children play in the yard as you slave over the dishes in the sink. You definitely want a dishwasher installed but you have to know what it would do to your sand mound system. The septic expert said that if your sand mound system has always been well-cared for, the water volume that the dishwasher will add into the system will not be a point of concern at all. Just continue the regular maintenance as you always do and it will be fine.
The choice of having a sand mound for a septic system was really a mandatory one because the area live in is not suitable for a standard leach field septic system to run. Your soil type has a high water table, constantly wet, and has bedrock near its surface. Even if you have a sand mound to treat your wastewater, you had no problem with it especially when it came with blending it into your landscaping. Your wife even said that it added a bit of “drama” to your property.
A sand mound or a raised mound is a complicated system to have. It should be consistently maintained so that it won’t malfunction during certain times of year. The sand mound usually functions well with the help of pumps to efficiently deliver the wastewater from one layer to another. This is advantageous for absorption fields that are elevated. As you know, a septic system usually has gravity to work things out. But when it comes to sand mounds, a pump is used depending on the depth of the tank and the drain field as well.
There are some sand mounds that have absorption fields or sand filters that have been blocked over time so when they do use automatic dishwashers, wastewater backs up into their home or onto their yard. With the dishwasher detergents that you use, you don’t have to worry that these will destroy the bacteria that break down the solid wastes in your tank. It just so happens that the detergent is already very dilute when it reaches the sand mound tank so it doesn’t affect the bacteria at all. The harm of these detergents is more focused on the environment. The phosphates lead to the proliferation of the algal population in the nearby bodies of water. This result to eutrophication wherein the oxygen level in the water is depleted, leading to the death of all aquatic life. The surfactants disable the oxygen absorption of the fishes’ gills, resulting to death.
It would be better to consult a septic expert to add a dry well near your sand mound so that this could collect the grey water from your automatic dishwasher. This would help the surrounding bodies of water remain safe from the toxins and pollutants that the automatic dishwasher may give off. It is not very complicated to maintain your sand mound when you have an automatic dishwasher installed. All you have to do is remain vigilant in making sure that your care and maintenance is done on a regular basis. Having an appliance installed with your sand mound could really cause a bit of confusion. It would be wise to have a septic expert on hand to guide you every step of the way.