Got any tips, trcks, secrets for finding the septic?
- Thread starter MossflowerWoods
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Egon
Epic Contributor
Remember to store the Big Book in a place where it can be found!
A temperature sensor may work???
wedge40
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2007
- Messages
- 2,196
How old is the house? If the previous owner and builder hadn't stopped by after I owned the place for almost 10 years, I would have never found my tank. There was a block buried flush with the ground that I thought was a marker for the tank cleanout. WRONG. Come to find out the idiot put the tank almost 300' from the house. I would have never found that without a lot of work.
Wedge
Wedge
300UGUY
Super Member
If you have lived with a septic tank for awhile, you can usually tell where a tank should be.
1) The cleanout will be on the side of the house that the field is on.
2) Trees or shrubs should not be planted on or near a field. So look for a open area.
3) In my case, the field area grows grass better than any other part of the yard.
4) Probing around should find the tank.
5) Once you find the tank and lid, you can install a cap thingy to locate it. Or do as I did, put a decorative windmill gizmo on it. The lid is a bout a foot down, I used a 36 in fire ring that I bought at TSC, put that down around the cover, built a cover for that out of treated plywood, and mounted the windmill to that. Now when I get my tank pumped, I just lay the windmill down, used my tractor loader and a chain to pick up the cover - it's heavy, about 100 lbs of concrete and steel. Much easier. And another wonderful use for a tractor!!!
6) most importantly - with a bunch of people living in your house - get that tank pumped asap, and pump it out every 3 years or so. You will have a very, very, unhappy wife if that crap backs up into your house. A lot of folks I know don't ever pump theirs, but they don't put any paper products down the crapper. They keep a small can in the bathroom for used toilet paper and girly stuff. One guy has his family burn it in the wood stove. I ain't going there, everything goes down the pipe, and I get it pumped every 3 years or so. I'd much rather pay a few bucks extra than have crap backed up into the house. And if you don't pump it out, it can ruin the field, and replacing a system or repairing it can be very expensive.
7) You have a bunch of girls there. If the system backs up, you be in a heap of trouble!!!
8) The pumper guy will locate it for you. Here that is a extra $25.
sdkubota
Platinum Member
When your tractor falls into a smelly hole...you found your septic tank.
I used the "Miss Dig" underground facilities locator service to find mine. Its supposed to be for utilities (gas, phone, electric) but the guy helped me anyway. He put some kind of transmitter on the pipe in the house and walked outside right over the line with a detector. Part of the one tank is under a thick concrete patio deck, but he still found it. Even the lid location.
radioman
Super Member
Both counts on dry square grass and melted snow is how I noticed where mine was. But - My septic guy who stopped by to clean out the tank took a what looks like a rebar rod with a t welded on it for a handle was poking around. He just stuck in it the ground and with each clear thudding it, he would find the edges by moving out few inches till he found the edge and the dug a hole to find the access hole smack in the center right on the spot. I was surprised on how well and quickly he found it with the stick poking in ground..
deepNdirt
Veteran Member
Before walking around like a Zombie looking for it you should narrow it down to a couple of factors,
1- Does your house have a Well? if so! the septic tank and field are usually located on the other side of the house, trying to keep as much distance between the two,
2- How old is the house? a modern septic system being built in the last 20 years or so will have put the clean-out outside the foundation of the house by 1 to 3 ft, it could have easily been cover by a few inches of landscape materials, As had been mentioned look for the 4" line going through the foundation, either look under the crawl space or basement, it will be obvious as to where the pipe goes through, perhaps take some approx measurements from near the closest corner,
3- if the house is built on a cement slab you might notice the bath, kitchen, laundry arrangements, usually planed to keep them in line with each other and to an exterior wall, If your house has one bathroom its usually located just outside that exterior wall,
4- an older house may not have an outdoor clean-out, It will be somewhere under the house crawl space,
in any case the septic tank could be between 15 - 25 ft of the house, depending of the size and slope of the lot,
5- the septic fields will have dark green and thicker grass and may have sunken a little more than the rest of the grade, If you can see them you can fallow one back toward the house and locate the take approximate location,
you should narrow it down to a couple of factors,1- Does your house have a Well? if so! the septic tank and field are usually located on the other side of the house, trying to keep as much distance between the two,
2- How old is the house? a modern septic system being built in the last 20 years or so will have put the clean-out outside the foundation of the house by 1 to 3 ft, it could have easily been cover by a few inches of landscape materials, As had been mentioned look for the 4" line going through the foundation, either look under the crawl space or basement, it will be obvious as to where the pipe goes through, perhaps take some approx measurements from near the closest corner,
3- if the house is built on a cement slab you might notice the bath, kitchen, laundry arrangements, usually planed to keep them in line with each other and to an exterior wall, If your house has one bathroom its usually located just outside that exterior wall,
4- an older house may not have an outdoor clean-out, It will be somewhere under the house crawl space,
in any case the septic tank could be between 15 - 25 ft of the house, depending of the size and slope of the lot,
5- the septic fields will have dark green and thicker grass and may have sunken a little more than the rest of the grade, If you can see them you can fallow one back toward the house and locate the take approximate location,
flusher
Super Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2005
- Messages
- 7,555
- Location
- Sacramento
- Tractor
- Getting old. Sold the ranch. Sold the tractors. Moved back to the city.
Spend the money (few hundred bucks) to get the tank pumped. The guy will locate the tank and the line from the house to the tank quickly. The outlet line to the leach field may be a problem. He should be able to find the location of the outlet line on the tank,which will get you pointed in the right direction. You may be lucky and have a straight leach line. Mine, for example, runs about 25 feet and then makes a 90 degree bend to the West. Unless he has a neat way to locate a multi-segment leach line line mine (I have the trench photos to guide me), you're on your own.
Good luck.
Good luck.
MD83Z
Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2012
- Messages
- 27
- Location
- fallston,maryland
- Tractor
- 1958 JD 620,JD 410 backhoe,scotts L2548
I agree with all the methods above ....I like having the miss-utility free (before you dig) service marking and finding all buried utilities. But it is very satisfying to bend 2 welding rods or coat hanger wires and try the divining rod method. You can amaze your friends and the kids can try it too.
