Cleaning out septic system?

[Doc_Bob]

. Anyways, I have an idea where the septic tank is cause I can follow the drains in the basement to about where it leaves the house. Is there a way to actually locate the lid to the tank without digging up the entire area?

get this book The Septic System Owner's Manual. I got it from the local library. Suggests using rebar, but be careful about poking around in the drainfiled with rebar. Be gentle, mark where you have been. Search in a grid pattern. You already know where it should be, so you have a great start.
Bob

 

[Highbeam]

I used a stick of rebar and a small sledge, like a 3lber, and it was very obvious when I hit the concrete lid.

Long ago some folks used cedar planks as "lids" so it is hard to say what might top off the old style tank. It was probably built in place with bricks and mortar. If your soils are good it may even be a cesspool. Likely no steel in the 75 YO tank.

Oh and you know the top of the tank will be no higher in elevation than the pipe that leaves the farmhouse.

 

[CurlyDave]

Is there a way to actually locate the lid to the tank without digging up the entire area? Is there metal on the lids that I could use a metal detector or something?

If you have an old electrician's fish tape, or a new one you are willing to sacrifice, you can push it down a cleanout and then find the far end with a tracer wire finder, or line locator.

You can rent line locators.

This would save a lot of walking and probing. I would be careful -- if your tank is old enough to have a wooden cover you could potentially fall through it. The gas space in a septic tank is not full of breathable air -- people have died from entering a septic tank.

I have neighbors who would spit on the fish tape, wipe it with a shirt sleeve and put it right back in their tool collection. You will not catch me doing that...

 

[DANOCHEESE]

Be carfull Not all fish tapes are metallic!! We use this trick all the time to find dielectric fiber cable. Well the purchasig guy found a deal on new fish tapes. They looked just like the old metal tapes. Locater would not work. Finaly looked at the tape NON-Metallic for safety. Back to the truck for the old tape.

 

[midlf]

I did not notice, never even thought to look or ask. The fellow who did the pumping was very good and helpful.

He suggested pumping every 2 years. My wife wants it pumped every two years. Me? I want to inspect it every two years, pump as needed and then save some money. I tried to convince my wife that pumping every two years is a waste of money, "like flushing it down the toilet" .
Bob

Doc Bob - here is a chart Septic Tank Pumping Guide: When, Why, How to pump out the septic tank - septic tank cleanout advice I will be using to figure what my pumping schedule should be. As we just moved here and it was pumped, by requirement for the sale, I plan to have it pumped next year (year 3) and check the condition. If the chart is correct it should only be half way to needing a pumping. If that is true I will use the 6 year figure. As we are careful with the system I expect I will find a 6 year cycle will be OK.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Doc Bob - here is a chart Septic Tank Pumping Guide: When, Why, How to pump out the septic tank - septic tank cleanout advice I will be using to figure what my pumping schedule should be.

Nice link, thanks!
Bob

 

[Charlesaf3]

I vote be conservative - redoing the leaching field is very expensive if you screw up.

Out here, its charged by the gallon, so there's really no benefit in waiting. A gallon of solids is a gallon of solids... But I'd have it done either while on vacation or after a vacation, so you aren't paying for water to be pumped.

 

[MikeD74T]

I vote be conservative - redoing the leaching field is very expensive if you screw up.

Out here, its charged by the gallon, so there's really no benefit in waiting. A gallon of solids is a gallon of solids... But I'd have it done either while on vacation or after a vacation, so you aren't paying for water to be pumped.

Unless your tank leaks, and it shouldn't, it's full all the time. Inlet & outlet are both at the top. Unless of course you take several month vacations. MikeD74T

 

[Highbeam]

A lot of people don't realize that the tank sits full all of the time with a thick layer of floating scum on top and the mudlike sludge on the bottom. The scum can be dark colored or it can look (and feel) like mashed potatoes. Many folks lift a lid and see the mashed potates near the top and think that it is full to the brim and needs immediate pumpage, not so.

These two layers get thicker over time at the expense of a shrinking center clear zone. The clear zone is in the middle where the incoming sewage drops it's solids and the lighter scums float up to leave a clearer effluent to pour into the drainfield. So, the longer you wait, the less efficient the tank becomes since the active volume of the tank is the clear zone and a smaller clear zone means the sewage spends less time in the tank.

Sewage is so cool. Onsite treament is even cooler. My tank pumper charger by the gallonage of the tank (almost always a 1000 gallon tank here in WA)and will always empty it. They can't only pump the sludge and scum since there is no way to know until the mashed potatoes go away.