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So Blessed
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| Posted: May 21 2010 at 3:40pm | IP Logged
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How's that for a title?  After our septic alarm went off last weekend due to a burnt out switch out by the pump chamber, the septic guy said that our mound is saturated and suggested we get a front load washing machine right away. When we bought this house 5 years ago, we did get a front loader but I sent it back to Sears 10 days later because it was leaving black streaks on my clothes due to dirty water building up around the rubber ring (design flaw on all front loaders I was told). I don't do laundry every day and most days I really only do 2 loads. He said that top loaders use about 50 gallons of water compared to 15 gallons for a front load. My neighbor doesn't like her front loader either and said she doesn't think the clothes get as clean.
So, those of you with large families and septic systems, what type of washing machine do you use and do you think it makes that much of a difference? If you do have a front loader, what kind do you have and do you like it? Since we didn't build the house, our septic system obviously wasn't designed to handle this many people so I'm trying to do what I can to keep things manageable without having to expand our system. Any thoughts or advice deeply appreciated!
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 21 2010 at 3:45pm | IP Logged
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any chance you could do a grey water type of thing.. so that your washing machine water wouldn't go into your septic?
And I haven't heard great things about a lot of front loaders.. but there was a question here just the other day on them.. there are some that have a good reputation though (sears is not one of them)
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 21 2010 at 3:48pm | IP Logged
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here it is washing machine recommendations
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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SaraP
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| Posted: May 21 2010 at 7:35pm | IP Logged
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Do you have your tank pumped out regularly? We have had as many as 11 people on our one septic system - installed almost 40 years ago and sized for what was then a 3 bedroom house - and have never had a problem as long as it is pumped every year or two. The actual pumping takes the guys about 45 minutes and costs about $200.
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Mama to six on earth, two in heaven and two waiting in Russia. Foxberry Farm Almanac
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Sarah
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| Posted: May 22 2010 at 7:45am | IP Logged
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Oh I hear your pain! We have a septic that is no where near the size needed for our family. We had to put in a whole new lateral. And we switched to a front loader. Yes, it makes a difference. I have the largest one on the market, the LG. You can wash tons of clothes for less water. There are downfalls, though. Clothes do not come out as clean unless you take measures. You much stain treat with whatever you would use. A musty or sour scent to the wash is also a problem. I have to use bleach at times. The wash times are much longer. But there is a sanitary load that literally cooks your laundry. I like it when we have seriously gross issues. In the end I would still choose a front loader over a top loader after having both. It takes getting used to for sure but I like it better. I use far less detergent, too. And the huge loads are great.
Its not just laundry though for your septic, its toilets, sinks and just being home all day. We also got water efficient toilets.
We pump every 2 years.
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Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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Anneof 5
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| Posted: May 22 2010 at 1:48pm | IP Logged
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We have regulations where we live and we had to expand our septic system when we moved to this house ten years ago. We are a family of 7 and the septic system is adequate for us now. I have had only front loading washers and I think my laundry is clean  . I just got a new Whirlpool duet last November and I like it a lot, much better than the Maytag I had which did smell bad a lot of the time. Our water also tends to get rusty so we have to stay on top of that or things get discolored quickly. They did tell us to leave the door open so it will dry out after washing and it has a feature on it that reminds us to use a special cleaner in it after a set amount of washes. We just had our septic pumped and it cost us $450.00 after two years. We have a pretty big system.
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Topic: Large families/septic/laundry
