Septic tank access

For the first twenty years we lived here, I only had a hand-drawn map of the septic tank's location.
Of course, eventually, the tank backed up and needed pumping.
The Dig was on... OMG, what a nightmare.
Large holes to nowhere in our driveway. We finally had to uncover the line from the house and follow it until we located where the tank really was.
After two days of digging, we finally found the tank!
I was concerned about what kind of "tank" might be buried. Since the cabin was built in 1930, there was a significant chance that our tank would be a 1928 Ford with the drain pipe stuffed inside...
Thank goodness it was a real metal septic tank. The next issue would be whether the tank was rusted out.
The pump truck was called, and shit started moving; as it emptied, I was happy to see that our tank was still solid!

Now I knew for sure where our tank was located.
I foolishly thought it would be 20 years or more before I needed to pump it again... so... I buried it...
Think again, bucko... a few years later, I had trouble again.
Digging up the tank was not a big deal, except the 4' of snow on top...
This time, the tank did not need to be pumped; it had become paperbound at the entry point.
Some "plunging" with a stick had things moving again.
Having muddy, frozen dirt, I opted to use free sand to cover the tank top and put plywood over the rest.

The following spring, I fixed it for easy access.
A 55-gallon olive barrel with a removable screw-on lid was purchased.
I cut the bottom off at the appropriate height (gaining a new drain pan for the shop) and rounded the cut to match the curve on the septic tank.
Mud and snow were long gone, and I used the sand and new dirt to backfill.
Now, just at ground level, I can open the barrel, reach down with the fancy hook I made, and open the tank for inspection or cleaning!
Takes about 5 minutes!  
It beats the hell out of the two days of digging the first time!

Ugh, I had to play the 'fun' game of find the septic tank access a couple years ago. I too eventually got tired of digging randomly and dug from where the drain leaves the house to finally find the tank.

I however reburied it and now your post is giving me anxiety. Haha!

I like your creative solution, well done!

Ugh - I'm SOOOO not looking forward to that project! We have a (very) rough idea where ours is, but we've never found an access. I keep hoping that with great care, we won't ever have to go on that particular hunt, before we find the access...

thomas rubino wrote:For the first twenty years we lived here, I only had a hand-drawn map of the septic tank's location.
Of course, eventually, the tank backed up and needed pumping.
The Dig was on... OMG, what a nightmare.
Large holes to nowhere in our driveway. We finally had to uncover the line from the house and follow it until we located where the tank really was.
After two days of digging, we finally found the tank!
I was concerned about what kind of "tank" might be buried. Since the cabin was built in 1930, there was a significant chance that our tank would be a 1928 Ford with the drain pipe stuffed inside...
Thank goodness it was a real metal septic tank. The next issue would be whether the tank was rusted out.
The pump truck was called, and shit started moving; as it emptied, I was happy to see that our tank was still solid!

Now I knew for sure where our tank was located.
I foolishly thought it would be 20 years or more before I needed to pump it again... so... I buried it...
Think again, bucko... a few years later, I had trouble again.
Digging up the tank was not a big deal, except the 4' of snow on top...
This time, the tank did not need to be pumped; it had become paperbound at the entry point.
Some "plunging" with a stick had things moving again.
Having muddy, frozen dirt, I opted to use free sand to cover the tank top and put plywood over the rest.

The following spring, I fixed it for easy access.
A 55-gallon olive barrel with a removable screw-on lid was purchased.
I cut the bottom off at the appropriate height (gaining a new drain pan for the shop) and rounded the cut to match the curve on the septic tank.
Mud and snow were long gone, and I used the sand and new dirt to backfill.
Now, just at ground level, I can open the barrel, reach down with the fancy hook I made, and open the tank for inspection or cleaning!
Takes about 5 minutes!  
It beats the hell out of the two days of digging the first time!

You were actually VERY lucky as septic tanks should be pumped out every 5 years. If they are not the solids that typically float on top get flushed into the drainage pipes called the leach field plugging the tiny holes in them. When that happens you need a new leach field where I live the cost being around $7000 . That is just the leach field as the backing up can do damage inside the house.

It really is sound practice to pump out the septic tanks every 5 years as it only costs $150 to do so. Also be sure to cut down any trees an anywhere close to the leach field as find roots grow towards the leached water ruining your leach field. This will save yourself thousands of dollars too.

Yeah, we have a septic tank.  I spoke with the original contractor. I spoke with the owner.  Both identified the same location.  Well, in the 25 years I have been here plus the 10 years the previous owner has been here, it has not been located.  The good news is that the tank and field were designed  for a family of 7.   For the past 30 years only 2 people have lived in the house. And, my wife and I have a commercial composting toilet we have used since 1983 or so.

When the guys came to do ours, they had a wand thing that hooked up to their phone to follow the pipe and find the tank.  I wonder how hard these are to come by.  Sounds like a great thing for a local tool library.

The wand was also able to tell the grade of the pipe and where it was sagging so we just fixed that specific spot instead of digging up a hundred meters of pipe.  I think this part of the tool combined with a specific snake like tool.  The find-a-pipe-dar didn't need the snake.