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Missing septic tank

John F Dean

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I have lived on this property for 27 years and have not been able to locate my septic tank. The previous owner lived here for 10 years without finding it.
Yes, I spoke with the original owner. I spoke with the contractor. Both say there is a septic tank and leach field. Both agreed as to its general location. I have traced the sewer pipe to about 30 feet after it leaves my house. I made visual contact and then followed it poking a concrete reinforcing rod through the soft soil in the early spring.

The good news is that the original owner had a large family. So I assume the size of the tank reflects that. Now, only my wife and I live here. To take more pressure off, we also have a commercially made composting toilet. Still, I would like to know where the tank is. Any ideas on how to locate it?

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Timothy Norton

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If you get snow where you live, look for the first spot that clears up when the snow starts melting. I struggled to find my tank until I noticed a circular bare spot in my backyard snow and placed a flag. I dug down and the lid was right there!

This is, of course, if you have the time to wait for snow again.

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John F Dean

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Hi Timothy,

I have taken the walk after a heavy frost as well as after snow. There is evidence that there was a great deal of earth moving with the original construction. I suspect the tank was buried deeper than normal. I found the exit pipe while putting in a walk in entrance to my basement. That pipe exited the house around 8 feet below the surface. That depth became less as I moved away from the house. …but it remained at least a couple of feet deep.

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Pete Podurgiel

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It's a long shot, but you might check with the Town Sanitarian and see if they have an "As-built" survey on file. Aside from that, if you know anyone with a magnetic locator, it might pick up on the rebar in the tank. The tank should be within a couple of feet of the surface. Codes vary, but if it's any deeper, they typically require risers to access the cover.

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Eric Hanson

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The only thing I can think of off the top of my head to to poke around using a long, narrow metal rod--very narrow, something that easily pierces clay. Not something that needs hammering--that would be bad. Maybe you could poke around to find it?

Weird!

Eric

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Eric Hanson

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Unless you could get ground penetrating radar! Or is there a sonar version?

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Jay Angler

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When we found ours, it was deeper than normal and Hubby promptly had risers installed to make it easier to manage. Most people in the area seemed to mostly ignore theirs and assumed it would keep working with no pump-outs etc. Our Municipality has been gradually cracking down on that attitude, but has maybe gone overboard in the other direction - we have a *lot* of 1-2 occupancy homes that don't need to be pumped out every 5 years. However, we also have more and more legal and illegal suites, so the 5 year rule covers that better.

Story time: Our property is the large section (over 4 acres) that originally had the just less than 2 acre property beside us as part of. This smaller portion has the original small "cottage" with additions. One owner family outgrew the cottage and decided to build a house. Some how they forgot, or never knew that the septic field for the cottage was on what became the subdivided off property. Both properties had several owners. One sold to a fellow who needed to park heavy vehicles up past the house, so he built a sturdy farm road. While working on the road he discovered a pipe.... no one knew what the pipe was for, so he just cut it out and carried on building his road.

Eventually the septic tank for the cottage filled up to the brim and overflowed. The cottage now has it's own septic field on its side of the lot line, and that current cottage owner, dutifully has the tank pumped as needed.

Moral of the story: Document, document, document - do not rely of human memories, or human uncommon sense.

Good luck finding your tank, John.

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John F Dean

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Hi Pete,

Great idea, but there are no building codes.

You can only be young once … but you can be immature forever!

John F Dean

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Hi Jay,

Fortunately, the state did a survey a few years ago via EPA. My property is not on the short list. But the realities of life show that eventually they will take an interest. Of course, the contractor and the original owner are now dead. Therefore, it seems to be a really good idea to hunt this thing down now … before I am given a date to provide evidence.

You can only be young once … but you can be immature forever!

Nancy Reading

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I keep thinking someone's going to find our septic tank in a bad way. Probably the dogs.... (Must get that lid seen to!)

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J. Syme

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Ask your local cemetery grave digger, they will probably have access to a ground penetrating radar device used to locate unmarked graves.

John

Matt McSpadden

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Around here there are septic tank inspectors who can feed a camera through the pipes and use that to determine where the tank is outside using a transmitter. For a fee of course :)

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John Weiland

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Good advices here....I hope you can get this resolved, John. Our water table is so high here that rural septic tanks and attached drain fields are really easy to find. We were grandfathered in for keeping that last installed septic system for our house, but if it were to be replaced, county now requires a larger mound system with lift pump....just one more point for it to fail. Since it's just the two of us, we are very easy on that current system. We were glad to find out from the last guy who pumped it....an old timer who's been in the septic biz for many decades.....that up into the 1970s this house did not have a septic system. They just had the pipe running right down to the river!...... :-X

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Oliver Huynh

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Hello,

I would keep an eye for suspicious plant activity too.
On my front garden, I have a marvelous nettle patch, in the middle of a very dry area.
When we last emptied our septic tank, we found the exit pipe was not directed towards our sewer as it should per code, but going in the opposite direction, right to the nettles patch.
And the next sewer access in that direction is buried under the neighbour's fence.

Now do I really have to dig a trench all the way from the tank to the neighbour's land to find the leaking pipe and reroute it to the sewer instead of using the nettles ...

Have a nice evening,
Oliver

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Nancy Reading

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If you've got a rodding point you could stick drain rods down until they hit the other side of the tank? That would give you a distance. Is there any reason that the drain would have have a bend in it? If not that ought to give you a pretty good idea where it might be.

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R Scott

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Septic companies have radio locator “pills” that they flush then track.

It will cost you extra, but if you call and let them know what’s up, the septic company usually doesn’t charge a lot extra above the general pumping fee.

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John F Dean

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Hi Nancy,

When I run through my head , “What can go wrong?”, the answer is plenty. There are several seasonal creeks on my property…that ultimately end up in the Mississippi River. Now, I was told the tank and leach field are safely away from those, so I am not feeling too much pressure. But I still ask myself “ What if they are wrong?” The best outcome all the way around is for me to find the tank. If the tank ends up where it is supposed to be, then I will feel safer assuming the leach field is ok.

You can only be young once … but you can be immature forever!

Anne Miller

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John F Dean wrote:

Great idea, but there are no building codes.

Septic tanks are highly regulated where I live.

Septic tanks are regulated and permitted by your local County Health Department or local Environmental Services Department so start your search there.

Another suggestion would be to start at the source.

Look for the pipe that carry black water out of your house, then start digging to follow that pipe in the ground.

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John F Dean

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Hi Anne,

The county has zero interest. The state EPA has taken a minimal interest. We are one of the smallest counties in the state, so we don’t draw a great deal of attention.

You can only be young once … but you can be immature forever!

Anne Miller

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You are so lucky.

Here in Texas they take ground water pretty stern so heavily regulated.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

T Melville

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Jay Angler wrote:Moral of the story: Document, document, document - do not rely of human memories, or human uncommon sense.

When I was younger and still lived at home, dad had a septic tank installed one day while I was at work. I'm sure the finishing work went on longer than a day, but I'd never seen the cleanout location before it was covered. Several years later we needed it pumped, and dad had no idea where the cleanout was, and I was getting pretty worn out from digging random holes. Then my uncle who lived about an hour away unexpectedly came to visit while we were still working. When he found out the problem, he said he'd been over to visit while it was being set, and thought he could get close. Uncle Harold just had the knack; good mechanic, did his own carpentry, just very handy. So when he put his back against the wall of the house, then started walking due west, counting his paces, then stopped and pointed to where he thought was pretty close, I asked him not to move. I brought the shovel and lined it up directly under his hand and dug straight down. I hit the edge of the lid. He was within a foot or so of hitting it dead center! I always kept it marked after that, up until a few pumps later, it needed pumped and I was too sick to dig. They brought a backhoe. They were reasonable, but it was close to the price of putting in a riser, so we did, and now we'll never have to pay to have it dug again. The location is now pretty obvious.

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Anne Miller

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Since your county is small you may be able to contact a licensed septic installer that can help you locate the system.

When we moved where our daughter now lives, I called a septic company to get some info and just happened to get the company that installed my system.

I looked at the State of Illinois website and yes, installers must be licensed and keep records.

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Val Vetter

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If you see where the main line or “soil pipe” leaves your home, the septic tank -should- be straight out in that direction. Though I suppose if property lines, other building, or trees are in the way - it could head off in another direction.

The tongue-in-cheek answer I got from the local good ole boys about finding the septic tank was “when it has a problem, it will show itself”. (True, but hardly proactive.)

I found ours with the probe - straight out from where the main line exited the crawl space.

If you have a clean-out access, you could run a flat sewer tape out. That would tell you if there’s a turn, or when the tape hits the far wall of the tank.

Or - you could just leave it up your septic service guy. Tell him to pump out your tank - and leave the (hopefully) expert figure out where it is.

Regarding Texas - in our county (Wood) there were no inspections regarding existing systems. Only new ones. It was pretty common for folks to service their own tanks. (Don’t ask, don’t tell.)

C. Letellier

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Get someone who can send a flushable tracker down the line. The listening unit to track it on Amazon is$300 and the sonde to flush is $200. So you can buy all the tools for roughly $500. Reading it looks like the sonde is usually recovered at the tank by tracing and pumping it out and batteries changed and reused. So betting your local septic pumping people have the tools. It is more time, some risk of losing a $200 tool so it will come with a charge but likely reasonable.

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Jackson Bradley

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Val Vetter wrote:The tongue-in-cheek answer I got from the local good ole boys about finding the septic tank was “when it has a problem, it will show itself”. (True, but hardly proactive.)

This is great. I am going to remember that saying!

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Richard Henry

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OK, back with more wisdom from my father. One favor he did for any customer was to measure and get a heading from the sewer pipe exit from the house to the tank and thence to the drywell or leach field. He then wrote that on material that would not degrade and hung it next to the clean out plug on the line.

Next. Wisdom from an environmental hydrologist. Knowing where your septic system is located and drains to is vital if you are not on city water. Any well creates a cone of depression that can allow septic outflow from the system to slide down and into your well. I stayed at a farm where they complained about a seasonal stomach issue. I found both the well and the septic and then had them rent a backhoe and provide pipe. I rerouted the sewer outflow well away (about 250 feet, if I remember correctly) from the water well and the problem never again bothered them.

It is also extremely important to know where any dumps were located back in the day. Nasty chemicals leach from such holes and no one wants their own version of Love Canal.

We also used digging bars to locate old septic tanks, but I see that several people used that trick.

Jay Angler

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Richard Henry wrote:... I rerouted the sewer outflow well away (about 250 feet, if I remember correctly) from the water well and the problem never again bothered them.

This is another example of why "codes" exist, and why it's good for people to pay attention to them even if living somewhere they aren't enforced. Yes, as with anything, ecosystem affects whether minimum code or more than minimum is advisable. We are *very* wet in the winter, so keeping compost piles, septic, etc well away from wells, and making sure there are lots of plants to suck up nutrients that might leach out, is good preventative medicine.

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If you have the money hire a septic company to locate it. They have their ways. Or an excavation company they have transponder they can locate the pipe in, especially if it's metal. Plastics a bit harder.

If you don't have much to spend try dowsing. If you're minds open to it lol. Grab couple copper or metal rods. Hold em in front of you apart. And walk the property, when you cross a septic line or tank the rods will cross. You're mind has to be in tune for this to really work. You will be able to see where the leach field line are and the tank where they branch from.

Any good growth in the land will give you hints. Looks for subtle settling over the years on the ground, like during a heavy rain. Back then things were more simple and straightforward so the location may be easier to find than you may think.

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