[masraum]

Originally Posted by fireant911

I am a little late here but I wanted to give it a little time for our particular situation to settle down. We just moved 900+ miles from Alabama to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan last month. Our new home has both a septic system and well. Last week I removed one of the lids on the septic to clean the filter (which was rather clean) and then I removed the second septic lid just to look inside.

The previous owner built had this home built in 2013 and stated that he had never had the septic pumped. We wanted to start with a clean and 'poop-free' slate so I called a septic service and they arrived yesterday to pump the tank. During this activity, I inquired as to what, if anything, is recommended to add to the tank to promote proper breakdown. Without any hesitation, I was told do NOT use Rid-X; instead, simply flush a pack of yeast down the toilet one a month. Additionally, it was recommended to have the tank pumped every three to five years because only two people are living here.

I was following this thread earlier (when it was still active) and my curiosity was piqued regarding treatments for septic tanks. I investigated and saw that there was much, much information stating to steer clear of Rid-X... the previous owner had always used this religiously once a month / every month and the tank looked good after accumulating seven years of waste. In fact, he left us two large boxes of Rid-X but after my research and subsequent discussion with the septic service, I am going the yeast route.

On another note, this is the first time home my wife and I have had with a well. Initially, I was a bit concerned as her parents (who also live in the UP) have a water softener which makes the water taste horrible... showering is also a strange sensation because the water just does feel right. Luckily, no need for a water softer here - the water tastes great and feels good.

My, how I have quickly fallen in love the UP... that is until the first snows come since this Southern boy has never dealt with such!

Lots of good info. My parents used to live in the panhandle of FL. the water that came out of their well was amazing. It tasted great. They were told that because of the sandy soil that it was essentially super well (no pun intended) filtered and just about the cleanest water you could get.

I've been places where I didn't like to drink the water because of taste or where washing with soap was a pain because it felt like the soap never rinsed off. The latter is weird, but I suspect is something that you could get used to. The former is just horrible.