How to find septic lines?

[RonMar]

Called dowsing and I use it all the time, works great..

Me to, I have been doing it since age 8 and it works great. If you have a known line somewhere, practice over that to get a feel for how the wire moves in your hand. The key IMO is how you hold the wire, so it only contacts two opposing points in your hand. One is the flat on the heel of your hand, and the other is the flat on the tip of your index finger. It can be a little akward to hold but this hold gives you a low drag pivot point so the wire will swing easilly by, I believe the disturbed magnetic field caused by the buried object. I can take a picture of how to hold the wire properly if you want.

Try it, you have nothing to loose, and you can easilly confirm your findings with a rod pushed into the ground to physically locate the pipe.

 

[jgrreed]

Did this tell you how deep any of it was burried?

I know my BIL's line locator will tell you roughly how deep a line is if it is using "active" mode. That is, if there's a tracer wire on the buried utility that the unit itself powers. Dunno if 'active' mode is the correct term, sorry....

-Jer.

 

[shine]

Witch it. RonMar is right on. It works on plastic or metal pipe. Practice where you know the location of a buried pipe. I use this method often with good results.It's good idea to get utitilie locates before you dig. In my area you just call 811.
good luck

 

[ray66v]

I know many don't believe in this, but many years ago, my uncle - a life-long farmer showed me how to use coat hanger to find electric and water/sewer lines.

Take a wire coat hanger. Cut off the twisty part & the hook. Cut the rest of it in half so that you have 2 equal halves. Straighten each piece. Then, put a 90deg bend about 4-5" on each piece.

Make a very loose fist, like you would hold a stick straight up in the air. Place 1 of the hanger pieces in each hand. Make sure they can move freely.

Slowly walk towards the direction where you think the lines are. When you get close, they will start to cross. Make a mark in the dirt when they are pointing directly at each other. Then, do the same thing from the opposite direction. Depending on how deep the line is, you should end up with marks betweed 2 & 4 feet apart. The line is somewhere between the 2.

I never would have believe it until he showed me, AND I did it. It really works. Of course, Ms Utility, etc are better, but how much fun is knowing EXACTLY where the pipes are

I always find every drain, sewer, and line using this technique. It's called "witching".

Once, when the guys came with an auger on a bobcat, to bore holes for a large barn, I found, and marked things all over the area. There were so many lines it looked like there was no way they all could really be there. They all were, trenching for the downspouts later, they hit every thing I marked; a sewer line to septic, 2 overflows, 2 power lines, and some drain tile. You can't tell what it is, but you can tell where it is.

 

[EddieWalker]

On some of the houses that I've worked on, you can find an odd colored brick where the sewer line is. Other times, I have to do a little digging outside the bathroom wall to find the drain line. Then I'll probe it if I can, but in the summer, the ground can be too hard for a probe to work. I've dug up the line and followed it to the tank. In those cased, it wasn't very far from the house. There is no advantage to setting the tank very far from the house, so the ones that I've found have been fairly close.

I didn't have a metal detector then, but saw them used by others. The septic pump guy has one and he can find a tank pretty quickly. The tank might be concrete, but the lids are always metal.

Once you find the the tank, it coudl be even more challenging to find the leach field. Usually it's common sense on where it was put. The trees will dictate it's location allot of the time. You can't put a field in the middle of a bunch of trees. Depenind on the soil and land available, it might be several lines going in any direction.

I found one this past summer that went about 60 feet from the tank. It went out straight, took a 45 turn to go around a tree, then ten feet later, it took another 45 turn, and then went to where the field was.

Lucky I found it, because we were going to pour a pad there for an RV. The owner of the land had it all backwards and to be honest, I thought he was right, but when I found the tank, there was a line leaving it that went in the wrong direction. After digging it up out of curiosity and a certain level of not being sure where the leach field was, I found it.

Never assume anything.

Eddie

 

[fireplum]

we use a Ridgid camera with transmitter & locator for our jobs,
Gives a video inspection of the pipe if there any problems

 

[rcrcomputing]

I know many don't believe in this, but many years ago, my uncle - a life-long farmer showed me how to use coat hanger to find electric and water/sewer lines.

Take a wire coat hanger. Cut off the twisty part & the hook. Cut the rest of it in half so that you have 2 equal halves. Straighten each piece. Then, put a 90deg bend about 4-5" on each piece.

Make a very loose fist, like you would hold a stick straight up in the air. Place 1 of the hanger pieces in each hand. Make sure they can move freely.

Slowly walk towards the direction where you think the lines are. When you get close, they will start to cross. Make a mark in the dirt when they are pointing directly at each other. Then, do the same thing from the opposite direction. Depending on how deep the line is, you should end up with marks betweed 2 & 4 feet apart. The line is somewhere between the 2.

I never would have believe it until he showed me, AND I did it. It really works. Of course, Ms Utility, etc are better, but how much fun is knowing EXACTLY where the pipes are

I use coper welding rods for this. Works for me!

 

[WayneB]

Just have the septic tank pumped! Heck the guy will come find the tank and pump it out for you, then have him show you where the line is.........

 

[J_J]

An older gentleman told my Father where to dig his well in the 1960's by dowsing. Struck water at 500' or so and has been providing water since then.

Once your find your septic lines, plant daffodils to mark the lines and the box corners.

You can make those rods bend any way you want. I purchased a professional set made very well. they were shiny brass looking, bent to the correct angle, and the handles were inside a small PVC pipe to eliminate friction, with metals balls on the end, I tricked many people that I could witch for water. Here in Florida, you will find water almost anywhere you did.

There is no scientific reason that this works with any success. It is just pure luck and knowing something about topography. and observation. What so you think would happen to those rods held level, out in a boat, on water. You think those rods might just spin uncontrollable Ok smart guys, why did the older generation use wood, and a particular wood, and it had to have a certain shape, like a { Y }, and when you found water, the the stick would bend almost straight down. If this part is true, why are the trees not bending their branches down pointing to water, but maybe they are. Just find the tree that is bending down, and you have found water. Now it is brass, steel, copper, coat hangers, what is next, plastic. How do you think it works, by lines of force, then why use wood. Do you think the lines of force might be concentrated inside metal pipe. Does it work with PVC pipe? Someone once told me the principle works on faith, got to have great faith though. Sometime back, someone offered a large reward for someone to find water with a reasonable accuracy, and it appears that no one has collected yet. I have faith, but not in every thing.

Believe what you want to believe, that is just life.

 

[jimmyj]

A bit off topic but my uncle always buries some caution tape about a foot or two underground when backfilling trenches. That way, later if you happen to be digging you hit the tape and it's a warning that there is something buried deeper. I wish he told me this before I put in the septic field, buried the wires and water line to the barn!! LOL