Household Septic System

[MossRoad]

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[MossRoad]

Whoops! I meant to write It. My fat fingers missed the 't'. :ashamed:

That's what I figured, but always best to question.... :laughing:

 

[vtsnowedin]

And pay day is on Friday. All you need to know to be a plumber,.

You're forgetting that cold is on the right and hot on the left.

 

[Wagtail]

With the two wires to find underground pipes, loosely hold the short L in each hand so they can turn when you cross pipes. I've done it for underground water lines (under concrete even. My scientific minded buddy didn't believe it until I showed him at his place where I had no idea where his lines were.), sewer lines, and electric lines. Keep forearms about parallel to ground while loosely holding short end of L wire, just hold wires about 12" or so apart, slowly walk over areas until long end of L wires begin to turn toward each other. Probe. Ye've found ye pipes.

Yep, that's the way I do too. I've only done it for water sources to sink a bore (well), haven't tried it for anything else. It should be the same method though... clear your thoughts, think/imagine what you're looking for and slowly walk along (as you've stated above). It just 'happens'.

 

[jlgurr]

Yep, that's the way I do too. I've only done it for water sources to sink a bore (well), haven't tried it for anything else. It should be the same method though... clear your thoughts, think/imagine what you're looking for and slowly walk along (as you've stated above). It just 'happens'.

Was only able to find some #12 wire. Will need to visit the hardware store for #18. Anxious to give it a try...

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[MossRoad]

You forgot "Hold my beer and watch this."

 

[dmccarty]

Not to hijack the thread, but here's a question for the group. Our house is about 30 years old, and we just started noticing that when it rains, you can see the water standing in places where our leach field has settled. Looks like perfectly parallel stripes of water. Is this a sign that our field may be reaching it's "saturation point" and that we may need to dig a new field at some point soon?

I hope not -- we don't have any more flat area back there to dig a new one... Should I be doing something now to help keep this from becoming a problem?

As others have said, the standing water is most likely just rain water.

Our septic filed had to be capped with a certified clay to stop runoff water from affecting the field. I can easily see the line trenches and one of my chores, one day, will be to fill in the trench lines. Course it has been like this for 10 years, so it ain't high on my to do list. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[farmer2009]

Was only able to find some #12 wire. Will need to visit the hardware store for #18. Anxious to give it a try... Sent from my iPhone using TractorByNet

The number 12 should work. I use #9 galvanized fence brace wire. Sometimes they turn away from each other instead of to each other. But it works. My grandfather is much more accurate with this method than I am though. But he's the one that showed me.

 

[JRobyn]

I used about 1/16" x 36" long brass rods from the "K&S" metals box at the local hardware. Bent the "handles" about 6" long in the vise. Mine work good!

- Jay

 

[Depmandog]

We had a drain issue once at work. Plugged up tight. Plumber came out, put a video camera down the hole and found a collapsed pipe. Switched the camera for a sensor, ran it back down the pipe to the collapsed area and then walked around with a receiver to find the sensor signal. Once located, he knew the exact location and depth to dig.

Probably took 30 minutes total. Thís would be an easy way to locate your septic tank.

 

[txdon]

I used about 1/16" x 36" long brass rods from the "K&S" metals box at the local hardware. Bent the "handles" about 6" long in the vise. Mine work good!

- Jay

Is this the proper way to hold divining rods, or it there another youtube that shows it better?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95J85E7DNU

 

[jlgurr]

OP here. Two photos of my suspected tank location. In photo1 you can see the basement wall and heat pump. Coming directly perpendicular from that wall and about 4 feet from the corner of the house you see a flat rock in the lawn. That flat rock marks 15 feet which is what the health department sketch says the tank is from the house.

In photo2 you will see the flat rock still, in the right. Now looking parallel to the house you will be looking across the tank and into the drain field. The flat rock marks the right side of the tank so it will be extending into the lawn however wide it is from that rock. The drain field extends straight back in the photo to the tree that appears to be above the tarp on the ground. It's all very flat and probably not more than six inches difference from the rock to the end of the field. Honestly, I can't see much of any kind of witness marks. At the flat rock I poked a probe 18" deep every 12 inches in a 10' square there. The ground is hard clay and I gave up after my arms turned to rubber.

 

[vtsnowedin]

OP here. Two photos of my suspected tank location. In photo1 you can see the basement wall and heat pump. Coming directly perpendicular from that wall and about 4 feet from the corner of the house you see a flat rock in the lawn. That flat rock marks 15 feet which is what the health department sketch says the tank is from the house.

In photo2 you will see the flat rock still, in the right. Now looking parallel to the house you will be looking across the tank and into the drain field. The flat rock marks the right side of the tank so it will be extending into the lawn however wide it is from that rock. The drain field extends straight back in the photo to the tree that appears to be above the tarp on the ground. It's all very flat and probably not more than six inches difference from the rock to the end of the field. Honestly, I can't see much of any kind of witness marks. At the flat rock I poked a probe 18" deep every 12 inches in a 10' square there. The ground is hard clay and I gave up after my arms turned to rubber.

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What is that sag in the ground about ten feet closer to the camera then the flat rock? I'd probe there.

 

[jlgurr]

What is that sag in the ground about ten feet closer to the camera then the flat rock? I'd probe there.

Rotting tree stump... :thumbdown:

 

[Paul Thornton]

You can use any wire, I've used coat hangers.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Rotting tree stump... :thumbdown:

Well it was a shot.
So there was a tree there when they put the tank in? That puts a limit on where they dug the hole.
How far down have you probed under the flat rock?

 

[dave1949]

Logically ( I know that's not fool proof LOL) the waste line should exit the walk-out basement near the toilet down there. That would be the sensible layout. Are there no cleanouts for the waste line that you can see? There could be a cleanout hidden behind the interior wall covering.

Is the flat rock anywhere near/in line with the basement toilet?

You must have some tree roots in the leach field lines if the pic isn't fooling me.

 

[jlgurr]

Well it was a shot. So there was a tree there when they put the tank in? That puts a limit on where they dug the hole. How far down have you probed under the flat rock?

Yeah, I was surprised a tree was that close. Might not have been there in 1978 though.

Probed about 18" deep under the rock. I placed the rock there so it doesn't have much significance to finding the tank.

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[jlgurr]

Logically ( I know that's not fool proof LOL) the waste line should exit the walk-out basement near the toilet down there. That would be the sensible layout. Are there no cleanouts for the waste line that you can see? There could be a cleanout hidden behind the interior wall covering.

Is the flat rock anywhere near/in line with the basement toilet?

You must have some tree roots in the leach field lines if the pic isn't fooling me.

Yep, you guessed it right Dave. The rock would be where the toilet line would enter the tank if the line comes straight out from the house wall. There is sheetrock on the basement wall but I've drilled a hole through the same wall in the rec room for a propane line. It doesn't seem thick enough to have a cleanout behind the sheet rock and there is no obvious cleanout between the wall and the flat rock.

Yes, I am definitely concerned with tree roots in the leach field lines. There are trees everywhere in the yard. There is one tree that would seem to be on the very edge of the field. It's in the left side of the second photo.

 

[dave1949]

Somewhere in your basement walls, there has to be a drain line coming down from the upstairs plumbing that connects to the waste line to the septic.

Logically--again --it should line-up with an upstairs toilet.