Got any tips, trcks, secrets for finding the septic?

[MossflowerWoods]

My house the septic cleanout is buried an I'd like to find it and figure out how difficult it will be to access it BEFORE I need to, and maybe make it visible.

How do I find it?

Also, I'm planning a play structure on the side yard, and I believe the drain field is somewhere over there, how can I find the lines?

Thanks in advance.
David

 

[farmall 55a case]

The only advice I can give is find where the line exits the house and go to that area outside using a rod about 1/4 inch about 6 feet long with a handle welded tobit so it looks like a T start poking the ground till you hit it. That's the best way I can think of hope it helps! Just try not to poke through the pipe or tank!

 

[dex3361]

Sometimes you can spot the septic tank when the snow melts off faster from the slight temperature difference.

 

[sam5570]

David in the summer when it get's dry do you see or have notticed a perfect little square of dead grass in the yard if so that's it, mine does it about every year and also i might be wrong but check with the building inspector office and see if they have a platt or drawing of it. when they come out to inspect them they measure the distance from house and the fill lines and write it down, i would think they have a record of when it was inspected.

 

[WayneB]

The septic clean out guys can find it for sure. They will figure out where it comes out of the house and track it. They also have a device that can be inserted into the clean out and find the tank. At our place it took him less that ten minutes to find ours.

 

[Brant]

Use the probing rod as mentioned above. You can buy or make one. See here. I have used one to locate many tanks and lids.

 

[g0rd0]

if you or a friend has a metal detector start waveing it at where the soil pipe leaves the house you will notice a pattern as it passes over the pipe follow that pattern untill it gives a blank hum there is your tank. Now keep waveing accross the hum untill you find the effluent pipe, (usually 6 feet across from where the soil pipe enters the tank) follow that along to your weeping bed. From there your weeping bed should take 50 feet at 90 dec. on either side for a streight bed .

 

[MossRoad]

Sometimes you can spot the septic tank when the snow melts off faster from the slight temperature difference.

I agree. And once you find it, take two measurements to it from two different corners on the house and recored those measurements in your Big Book of House Information so you can find it again later by triangulation.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Divining rods. They work for me. I could find the lines, but probably couldn't distinguish the tank from the lines.

 

[EddieWalker]

On a house that I've never been to before, I ususally start looking on the outside wall close to the toilets. Sometimes there will be a clean out in the wall of the house, or in the ground, close to the foundation. Sometimes there is an odd colored brick in the wall. If not, I start probing close to the house where I think it should be and try to get an idea of what direction the pipe is going. I will also dig a small hole with the shovel to find the pipe. Usually, but not always, the tank is pretty close to the house, but just randomly guessing never works for me. I like to see a pipe and hope it's going in a straight line to the tank.

The metal detecor works, but you might also find a lot of construction junk.

Probing works, but you still need to dig with the shovel to be sure you found it. Usually the cover is just a few inches to a foot down, but that's just what I've experienced here in East Texas.

Good Luck,
Eddie