Locating a Septic Tank

rlk · May 6, 2002

A long time ago when I was single (1970) I put a well and septic tank on a lot. Lived there in a mobile home for a few years, then bought the farm next door and built a house on the farm. Now that I'm building a farm pond, I need to drag some trees across the lot with the well and septic tank. I know where the well is, but I'm trying to locate the old tank so the equipment dragging the trees will not fall into the septic tank. This is very large equipment - I'll post some pictures of the equipment later.

The problem is, I can not remember where the tank is (I don't need any comments about old age and loosing my memory - I'm getting plenty of them from the wife). I have the area narrowed down to about a half acre, but can not get any closer. The tank has not been used since 1972, so looking for green grass doesn't help. The county agencies don't have any records to help me.

I have probed the ground some, but the ground is so hard and dry, that I can only get the probe to go in about a foot. I think the tank will be deeper than that.

I told the wife that if I had a post hold digger for the BX 2200 I could go along digging holes every few feet until I found it. She did not think much of that idea, so I guess I can't justify a post hole digger.

Should the septic tank have rebar in it that would show up with a metal detector?

Anyone have any ideas how to locate the septic tank?

Thanks,
Bob

njrqs · May 6, 2002

<font color=blue>I have the area narrowed down to about a half acre</font color=blue>

Bob - Good luck !!!!!!

If you can't find it, what are the chances the machine will find it??? (Pretty good I suppose)

ICGREEN · May 6, 2002

Most septic tanks use rebar to make the handle for the cleanouts on the top of the tank. That would be an awful small target for a metal detector. It would take an awful big piece of equipment to break the top of a tank. Most of them are 6 inches of concrete. I wouldn't worry to much about it if I were you.

OCDLubeman · May 6, 2002

If you do try to locate that tank with a metal detector, get (rent) the type that surveyors use (Schonstadt). They are designed to locate rebar buried several feet below the surface and are much better than the "beach comber" types.

Randy

rlk · May 6, 2002

I promised to post a picture of the machine that "skids" trees. Attached is one view. The tires on this thing are over 6' high. I have watched it grab 4 oak trees that are each 18" across the big end and over 60' long, and pull them up a 20 degree bank. This is one heavy machine, and is why I want to find the septic tank before it finds it.

Thanks again for any help you might be able to offer.
Bob

rlk · May 6, 2002

Another view of the same machine.

beenthere · May 6, 2002

If it were me, and I didn't need the septic tank, I wouldn't worry if this skidder did find the tank and caved it in. It won't hurt the machine, and I doubt the machine would even hesitate going right on over a caved in tank. If it is concrete, I doubt even this monster will bother it, especially if it is 3-4 ft down. Those tires spread the weight out over a large area.

If you want to save the tank for some future use, then I guess you will have to find it first. Good luck.

njrqs · May 6, 2002

Yeah that beast will not even notice it.

"What pothole"????

heehaw · May 7, 2002

metal detectors are used quite a bit around here to locate concrete septic tanks. the top has rebar in it, and the doors on the top have a higher concentration of rebar, plus the handle, but i have never seen or heard of a tank being more than a foot under ground, usually less.
heehaw

Knight9 · May 7, 2002

<font color=blue>but i have never seen or heard of a tank being more than a foot under ground, usually less</font color=blue>

My tanks (plural) are over 8 feet under ground.

Kevin

heehaw · May 7, 2002

sorry, i meant to say "in this area"..you must have a basement, which would require a deeper tank!!
heehaw

dmccarty · May 7, 2002

rlk,

I would want to find the tank as well. But....

Thoses skidders have low ground pressure. When they timbered part of my land it
was dry and they did very little compaction of the soil. Even when it rained the last
couple of days of the operation they only found one soft spot and bottomed out
the machine. And this was in a wet area.

Your spetic tank will in no way stop that skidder. Its just a bump for it.

The plastic culverts are supposed to be buried under 12 inches of soil. The
soil helps spread the load and 12 inches of material is enought to support
60,000+ pound semis. My neighbors culvert is not installed correctly. For
most of the house construction there was at best an ince of material over
one end of the culvert. I don't see where the culvert, 15-18 incher had
any problems with the trucks and backhoes moving over it.

If that tank is buried pretty deep and made of rebared concrete you would
think it would be ok..... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

With my luck, the skidder would find the tank and make a mess.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Good Luck!
Dan McCarty

b249 · May 8, 2002

Don't think I'm too crazy but....if the tank/lines have water in them...have you tried "water witching"? Sounds a bit nuts but I've done it to locate water lines. Take two metal coat hangers and bend them 90 degrees so you have a 4" handle and about a 12" section to stick out in front of you. Hold them side by side w/ your hands touching your chest and walk slowly over the suspected field; when you get over water they (for me anyway) will move by themselves and cross.

Don't know if I shoulda posted this or not....don't want those guys in the white suits out looking for me. Has this worked for anyone else?

b249

heehaw · May 8, 2002

i've seen it work, in fact, years ago, one of the big 3 tv stations had a news story about a drought out west somewhere, the folks brought in a person to find a place to drill a new well, he did the "devining" or whatever its called and then did something else and told them how deep the water was...he made a $100 bet, the money going to the winners favoite charity, that he was within +/- 5 ft...there was a short message on the news a week later, the station paid..
heehaw

rlk · May 8, 2002

Success at last!

After about 4 hours with a metal detector my wife finally found an area where there were a lot of readings on the metal detector. Took a water key (2 pieces of rebar welded together to form a T) sharpened one end, and drove it into the ground all around the area. Each time it hit something, pulled the rebar out and stuck a blue flag into the hole. Took about 90 minutes of driving the rebar into the ground, but was finally able to outline the septic tank. It was about 16 - 18 inches underground. I have it outlined now with blue flags and metal poles.

Sure am glad I found it for it is within about 10 feet of where the skidder will be dragging the trees. This afternoon I'll have a talk with the skidder driver to make sure he knows the blue tape is outlining a septic tank.

I wanted to preserve the tank as sometime in the future I want to build a barn in that area, and would like to be able to install a bathroom. There is a well close by, so this seems reasonable.

While driving the rebar into the ground and struggling to pull it out, I mentioned to the wife several times that this sure would have been easier if we had a post hole digger for the BX 2200. Her only reply was that we found it and saved the money a post hole digger would cost. Well $#@^&*&^, it was worth a try.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.
Bob

RJohnson · May 8, 2002

Bob
You need to tell her you need a backhoe. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif The tank has to be emptied periodically and it would be nice to find the access cover for the pumper truck. You will also need it to replace the lateral line when the skidder crushes it./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Randy