Grey water to septic tank - yes or no ?

Has anyone an opinion on whether I should allow the "grey water", ie water from dishwasher/washingmachine/sinks & baths to go to the septic tank. My own opinion is that I should not, as detergents can affect the ' health ' of the tank. My architect says I should, my builder says I should not, my plumber has no opinion either way.
I would appreciate any advice.

Where else would it go ?

nt00deep said:

Where else would it go ?

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Soak pit. This what a ground worker explained to me recently.

Interested to hear what other peoples thoughts are.

i've gone through the same thing and everybody has a differant opinion.
you can do either,but what you must do is put in a grease trap otherwise neither will work,as they get blocked over time.one other thing do not use washing powder,use liquid detergent,powders an nightmare!!!

yob said:

one other thing do not use washing powder,use liquid detergent,powders an nightmare!!!

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Why is that?

Our grey water is going into our septic tank. Hasn't caused a problem so far, but we are using all the Ecover products for clothes washing, dish washing etc. These are biodegradable and septic tank friendly

On most washing products now, the packaging will say whether they are suitable for septic tanks, so it must be common enough practice.

Our neighbours recently got work done, and their grey water is going to a soakaway with soap trap.

Now that we are getting work done, we asked our builder and he said that we might as well leave well enough alone, i.e. if it 'aint broke.....

I would say no....

split teh system. let the washing machine DW etc go to a grease trap, then a settlement tank, and then to a soakaway.....

All waste water must discharge to a treatment system (septic tank or otherwise) and not to a soakaway; surface water only (rainwater/ stormwater) can be discharged directly to a soakaway. SR 6: 1991 "Recommendations for Domestic Effluent Treatment" is very clear on this: "the consensus of modern expertise favours the treatment of all domestic sewage in a single septic tank. Since household detergents and disenfectants have no adverse effects on septic tank operation, the tank design given in these recommendations is intended for the discharge of all domestic sewage".

the "crystals" in washing powder do not break down,and after a period of time build up in pipe and block your soakaway,then the water backs up and your shores overflow all around the house because it has no where to go,not nice.