TL;DR
A septic tank is a buried watertight vessel, typically 1,000 to 1,500 gallons of precast concrete, polyethylene, or fiberglass, that receives all household wastewater and holds it long enough for solids to settle and grease to float. Anaerobic bacteria partially digest the retained material while clarified liquid flows out to a drainfield for soil treatment.
What it means
A septic tank is a buried watertight vessel, typically 1,000 to 1,500 gallons of precast concrete, polyethylene, or fiberglass, that receives all household wastewater and holds it long enough for solids to settle and grease to float. Anaerobic bacteria partially digest the retained material while clarified liquid flows out to a drainfield for soil treatment. Routine pumping every three to five years removes accumulated sludge and scum before they can wash out and clog the field.
Where it sits in the glossary
Septic tank is part of the Certifications group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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