Septic Tank Access

[pohorsky]

Over the last week or so, I've been trying to find out septic tank, and finally found it, but am not too thrilled with the way it was covered. It looks like they got two 55 steel drums, removed the top and bottom and placed them over the lid and then back-filled the area around the drum and placed the couple pieces of corrugated steel on top and covered that with a little dirt with grass growing on top of that. Any ideas for a better solution for covering the lids?

 

[rgr33]

If you go to a plumbing supply company, not A Home Depot type store, they sell risers made out of the same material as sewer pipe, a very tough plastic composite. The locking lid is made of the same material, won't rust, and will stand up to any riding mower traffic. They can be cut to size with tools you probably already have. Much better way to go and not overly expensive.

 

[Wild Bill the 2nd]

The mfr of the tank should make a standpipe that would properly mate to the tank. They are often available in several heights.
Unfortunatly you would have to excavate down to the tank for replacement. Can you tell what kind of tank it is from looking down? Cement or plastic? At the very least you will need to get the diamater of the hole in the tank to find the correct standpipe. I'd get that info and take some pictures. Call around to septic installers or tank manufacturers in your area to see what they can do for you.

 

[Scooby074]

Whats usually done here is to install whats called a "Crock" above the tank sealed to the tank with tar, butyl, or similar to prevent it from filling with water or dirt.. Its a circular concrete "pipe" with a concrete or steel top cover. This can be left exposed or covered for a more discrete look.

Many times however the tank is just buried with no access. When I worked for a sewer contractor there were several completely buried ones we "found" and installed crocks on so the homeowner could have easier access

 

[pohorsky]

The mfr of the tank should make a standpipe that would properly mate to the tank. They are often available in several heights.
Unfortunately you would have to excavate down to the tank for replacement. Can you tell what kind of tank it is from looking down? Cement or plastic? At the very least you will need to get the diameter of the hole in the tank to find the correct standpipe. I'd get that info and take some pictures. Call around to septic installers or tank manufacturers in your area to see what they can do for you.

All cement I would guess. The other septic tanks we have are all concrete, and this one's lids are concrete. I would guess its pretty good sized. The lids are 7' apart and 2' in diameter.

 

[ultrarunner]

We are going through this... couldn't find the darn thing.

A call to the 92 year old widow former owner told us where to look and we did find it... no access though... just a concrete box with no lid...

Thinking we should leave well enough alone since there are no issues... soil perks...

Any "Changes" means doing whatever is necessary to bring the system up to current standards.

Actually have two on the property... the other is made of Redwood...

 

[MossRoad]

Over the last week or so, I've been trying to find out septic tank, and finally found it, but am not too thrilled with the way it was covered. It looks like they got two 55 steel drums, removed the top and bottom and placed them over the lid and then back-filled the area around the drum and placed the couple pieces of corrugated steel on top and covered that with a little dirt with grass growing on top of that. Any ideas for a better solution for covering the lids?
View attachment 425812

Dig out the barrels, place the lids directly on the tank and backfill with easier to remove soil. No money needed. In all reality, how often are you going to have to get to those lids? We have small tanks in an old system. They're buried 3' down. I dig them up by hand every 3 years by hand to have them pumped. Takes about half an hour. With a tractor, takes 10 minutes, but makes more of a mess. If your tanks are of any size and you have a good system, you won't be pumping them that often.

If, however, you need to have them pumped more often, then do as others have suggested and get a riser and install it. Eventually, those metal barrels will rot, they will cave in, and someone could fall through the hole.

 

[pohorsky]

Eventually, those metal barrels will rot, they will cave in, and someone could fall through the hole.

That's what I'm worried about. I'll probably get a riser, not so much because we need to pump them often, but just so that they are easy to find. This particular tank nobody knew existed until I happened to search in the wrong spot for one of our main septic tanks, which I did finally dig up.

 

[Katahdin]

When I last last dug up my tank I installed concrete risers over them. I picked the risers up at a local cement vault shop, the whole cost was around $250 I think.

The main chamber (round) is a two-piece well tile with two-piece top.

The pump chamber (square) is a one-piece riser and two-piece top. My wife and I cemented in the risers by hand with quick-crete.



The loader and forks on my Yanmar LX came in very handy when installing the risers.

 

[dan ny escarpment]

Dig out the barrels, place the lids directly on the tank and backfill with easier to remove soil. No money needed. In all reality, how often are you going to have to get to those lids? We have small tanks in an old system. They're buried 3' down. I dig them up by hand every 3 years by hand to have them pumped. Takes about half an hour. With a tractor, takes 10 minutes, but makes more of a mess. If your tanks are of any size and you have a good system, you won't be pumping them that often. If, however, you need to have them pumped more often, then do as others have suggested and get a riser and install it. Eventually, those metal barrels will rot, they will cave in, and someone could fall through the hole.

We also reburied once we found the tank, no cost, no complexity, left no grass growing over the 2 access holes, and throw some mulch down there to make them easy to locate in the future. Maybe 30 minutes tops to expose the lids of the tank when needed. We are not full time at that property yet, so it would not need to be pumped as often. I did look up the access risers mentioned in the thread above, and I did not want to mess with making the connection between the pvc? riser and the concrete tank water and gas tight. Also wondered about mowing over it as well.