Septic Maintenance

[dacjohns]

What you can do is find out where the sewage line comes out of your house. If you have a basement it should be easy. If you have a crawlspace it will be a little harder. If you have neither then you get to make an educated guess and start digging.

Once you find the line keep digging until you find the tank.


It is not uncommon for no record to exist. Not everyplace requires permits, inspections, or recording.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I got the permit plans for the neighbors before I built to see where the septic systems were. They had them all on record.

Darn it- by the time I get anything psoted, the thread has gone off in a different direction- Dacjohns, this was not a response to your post.

Would a metal detector be able to find fittings? Once also I rented a snaky thing to run down a pipe to find where it went. There was a transmitter at the end, and a receiver to find that signal. You ran the thing down the pipe and then found where the signal ended up. You could go abou 50 ft from the entry point.

 

[hoosier]

I got the permit plans for the neighbors before I built to see where the septic systems were. They had them all on record.

Darn it- by the time I get anything psoted, the thread has gone off in a different direction- Dacjohns, this was not a response to your post.

Would a metal detector be able to find fittings? Once also I rented a snaky thing to run down a pipe to find where it went. There was a transmitter at the end, and a receiver to find that signal. You ran the thing down the pipe and then found where the signal ended up. You could go abou 50 ft from the entry point.

Where did you rent this? I asked at the local rental place and they didn't have any.

The health dept said that their records are not complete since many contractors used to just put them in and not record it like they were supposed to. When we built the house, our builder said we would probably have to install a new system since there was a good chance that it was just an old metal tank here. However, we didn't need to as he said they uncovered a fairly new concrete one.

We followed our line from the area we had dug up towards the house past where a tank would have been located for the previous owner's needs.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I rented it at Don's rental but I think that the cost to haul it out to where you are wold be prohibitive.

But I saw someone else using this too- I think it was called a pipe locator? So I think they must be pretty easy to come by- I can't think our little town would have anything unusual.

But I still wonder about the metal detector- there are lots of people with these things. I would suspect that the concrete tank has a metal handle on the lid or metal fittings holding the pipes.

 

[hoosier]

The guy that lived here before us burned trash where ever the mood struck, and he didn't limit it to burnable items. I have found molten glass and metal. There is old bits of metal everywhere. Every day that I am outside for any length of time I find bits of old metal. The poor thing would probably have a breakdown here!

 

[sylvie]

We couldn't locate our well when we bought our place and someone suggested dowsing for it. We took 2 straightened out, then bent in 90 degree angle metal clothes hangers and dowsed as best as we could. The hangers crossed at one spot so we dug there. Bingo! Took 10 minutes.

 

[Big Daddy]

This is a great thread! I do everything right except having it pumped out.

I TRIED to get it pumped out but - here is my story....

I called a local company to pump out my system. They said the concrete tank I uncovered (where the builder said it was) was not my tank - it only held 5 gallons and ha don inlet or outlet. They spent two hours looking for my tank with no luck.
I called the builder and he said the guy that had pumped out the tank when we built our house (there had been a mobile home here) had died just two weeks prior and he couldn't remember where it was.
I contacted the local health dept., but they didn't have a record of it for some reason. One of the guys from the health dept came out to look for it but he couldn't find it either!
I live in fear of it failing.

If anyone can tell me how to find our septic tank, I would really appreciate it!!!

The county records department should have the location on file with your building plans. Septic systems are highly regulated and have to be engineered for the expected use from your house., So they should hae a copy of the septic layout.

 

[Big Daddy]

We feed all our leftovers to the chickens. We do have a disposer but nothing goes down the drain. We have never put cooking grease in. Always put in a can and use a paper towel to wipe the pan. Our horses do graze on top of the leech field. does anyone know if that is a problem?

What is the stuff you say is no good? We use rid-x once a month. Is that the stuff that's a rip off?

 

[dacjohns]

The county records department should have the location on file with your building plans. Septic systems are highly regulated and have to be engineered for the expected use from your house., So they should hae a copy of the septic layout.

It depends on the state and the county.

My county has nothing to do with septic systems. It falls under a local health department. If the owners and installers fail to get a permit it may never get recorded or inspected.

 

[dacjohns]

We feed all our leftovers to the chickens. We do have a disposer but nothing goes down the drain. We have never put cooking grease in. Always put in a can and use a paper towel to wipe the pan. Our horses do graze on top of the leech field. does anyone know if that is a problem?

What is the stuff you say is no good? We use rid-x once a month. Is that the stuff that's a rip off?

Horses grazing on your leach field should not be a problem as long as the pipes are at the required depth.

I know of no septic system additive that has been shown scientifically to help the system.