Making soap and septic system damage?

Basically, your answer is yes and no. When you very first make your soap, it is still quite caustic. It is the lye content that makes it caustic. So pouring liquid soap base would be just like pouring a drain cleaner down the drain. Although a cup of drain cleaner is about 8 oz of 98% lye, a cup of liquid caustic soap base is about 10% lye.

But the bacteria that has created the perfect elimination process can still be upset by just one application of drain cleaner in a very large amount of waste water, and given the extraordinary expense of any septic system repair job, it is just not worth the risk. I know from washing the soap making pots right after making soap, that they are still very caustic. I can feel the base burning my skin and turning it red. I know that the pots are a lot easier to clean at this point, but wait a little longer.

I also know that if I wait a day, letting the pots sit overnight, that the soap base hardens, and may be a little harder to clean out, but I am not feeling any burning to my skin. This means that the saponification process is well underway, the oils have neutralized the lye, and it is much safer to handle.

But is it still caustic enough to cause damage to a septic system? Probably depends on the life or previous damage to your existing septic system, and how much soap you are making.

To ensure the safety of your septic system and your skin, consider doing the following:

scrape the entire soap making pots and utensils with a rubber spatula to get out every ounce of soap base;

and add this to your soap in the mold;

set aside all soap making equipment in a safe, out of the way, place;

then wash on the second day, after the soap base has neutralized. But if you are really concerned, wait a full week, or find a spot outdoors that you could designate a safe soap washing spot.

When I taught soap making classes and had the pots and utensils afterwards, I placed all the items needing washing into a larger rubbermaid-type of container for safe storage and washed the following day.

There is also the consideration of whether the soap base will create a solid chunk or a narrowing of the pipes when it cools and solidifies on the way to the septic system. This is another good reason for using a spatula to remove as much soap base as possible.

When I had my soap making store on main street, there was a laundromat a couple doors down. One day he stopped by and asked that we not run any water as there was a plug in the system at his store site and workers were there now attempting to clear the system and pipes, and any water we placed down the sink would empty into his store. I had wondered later if our years of soap base had solidified at that spot and caused a back up. Just like how other solid fats could.

From 'making soap and septic system damage' to more about lye here....

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