Tricks for finding septic cover

[anojones]

Hey all- we're building a house but the septic tank and field was intalled by the previous land owners for a house they never built. The tank has been located and our house is plumbed to the tank- I'm trying to find the easiest way to locate the covers on the tank without digging the whole think up. Any tricks? Would the covers have a metal handle that might respond to a metal detector? Other ideas. Thanks.

A Jones

 

[Chuck52]

There might be a metal handle of some kind, assuming this is a concrete tank. You can also find the outline of the tank using a metal rod as a probe. With the outline, and knowing where your sewer line comes in, you can make a fair guess as to the location of the ports. There are usually two; one located over the entrance, and one over the out-flow area. For a square or rectangular tank, the ports are often near the middle of the in and out sides.

Chuck

 

[MaineGuy]

As Chuck mentioned it probably has a metal handle which can be located with a metal detector. That's how ours was found when we bought an old house where weeds and brush had over taken the yard.
How deep is your tank? I'm not sure the metal detector will give you an exact location if the tank is several feet deep.

 

[roho]

Hello Chuck52, with date of Jones message I don't know if he is still there, But it interested me! Yeah I think the probing with a thin rod would be best best & thought I'd add my 2cents worth on rod! Haven't got one but all homesteaders need to have one around! Let's see what U think about a 5/16th or 1/4 inch SS(tubing) about 40 inches long with a tee bar handle! That may be a little thin, what U think! 3/8 inch??? BUT best way to find septic tank & fill line is drive heavy truck over them, PRESTO it will work, PLEASE DON"'T try that!!

 

[beenthere]

Welcome to the forum. No bio (please fill out). /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

What kind of soil?

Probe is likely the best bet, if you can decipher between stones, rocks, etc. If backfilled with sand, then the probe will work good.

I found mine, but under different circumstances (tank was plugged due to not pumping it in 6 years plus not knowing until several years later that the drain field was not working due to a large rock dropped on it that crushed the drain field pipe). The contractor buried it without me being around (BIG mistake on my part). I had to locate mine when the ground was frozen and it was -6° F. I did it by hand digging trenches. Only the tank was about 2' deeper than my trenches and I am on the terminal morraine of the glacier so there are lots of large and small rocks to pick-ax through. Only when I went back and started digging the trenches deeper (down to 5') did I finally find the tank, and then the cover.
So doing it when the weather is nice is smart on your part. When I left the tank after pumping, I put a barrel over the cover to bring the top up to within 12" of the ground so finding it is easier, plus less digging. I pump every three years now.

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

You can sometimes see the outline of the tank after a light morning frost. The tank is warmer than the surrounding ground. Obviously depends how deep it is set.

 

[WVBill]

...or you could do like we did when we moved into our new house - just wait a couple of years until it was time to have the tank pumped then call the septic pumping service. That guy was amazing! He'd never seen our house before but he walked up to a spot in the front yard, dug down with a shovel and popped open the lid. No probes, no metal detector, nothing - just many-many years of experience!

 

[ByronBob]

The county should have permit paperwork on where the system is in relation to something. They need to come out and approve the system before burying it completely.

My house is new and you mention theis one is fairly new also. The tank lids if concrete are made with wrapped wire strands for handles. If under 12" below grade the metal detector should work.

Lastly if you go in the basement and uncover the cleanout pipe you should be able to run a rod, tape measure ect... something into the pipe until it hits the baffle inside your tank. Measure that length and that's how far from the house your tank is. Where the baffle is in the tank is where your lid should be. My tank has 3 lids not 2. Don't take for granted that you have 2.

If you use a rod or rebar ect... as a last resort be careful. Breaking the cover costs $50-100. Try other measures first.

 

[slydog]

Also, if the ground is very hard or baked hard as ours was, you may want to try this trick to keep from popping a hole in your tank. We used a 3/8" piece of rebar for the probe. Lay your water hose over the area you want to probe, and let it run very slowly for a while to soften the earth. Probe a little, then take your water hose with s screw type spray nozzle attached and stick in the hole. This will losen the dirt and blow it out somewhat. Reprobe, blow again, working your way down untill you hit something solid. We had an old steel tank, and when we finally hit it, we could tell by the hollow sound/feel.

Ken

 

[DaveNay]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ...or you could do like we did when we moved into our new house - just wait a couple of years until it was time to have the tank pumped then call the septic pumping service. That guy was amazing! He'd never seen our house before but he walked up to a spot in the front yard, dug down with a shovel and popped open the lid. No probes, no metal detector, nothing - just many-many years of experience! )</font>

He had probably been there before during previous ownership.

Dave