Hello all, first off I know nothing about septic systems. I have a rental house. The tenants called and stated that they believe the septic tank may be full and backing up. They called me last week and stated that the toilet was clogged and that the tub drain was gurgling. I know the septic system is probably 20 years old and the tank is long overdue to get pumped. I assumed it would be ok as their was just one person living in the house for the last 10 years up until 6 months ago. I know I have a clean out pipe about 10 feet from the back of the house. Is their anyway I can determine if the septic is indeed backing up and in need of getting pumped. I called several places that pump septic and I need to find the tank and dig down to find the tank as the lid is buried. This house was my parents so I really don't know much about it as far as where the tank lid might be. Any help is greatly appreciated as always! Thanks

 

Age and number of people do have an impact on septic. What they put down the drain can have a bigger impact though. All it takes is one person who fries food a lot or pours grease or oils down the drain to quickly kill a system.

Contact your health or environmental services dept. (whatever they are called in your area, the people who regulate and inspect septic systems). They should have a record of the system. It's layout and approximate location. Hope, hope some more and then pray that the septic system has a filter on the outlet as that can help prevent really expensive leach field damage.

Remove the cap on the cleanout you mentioned... and step back. If the septic is clogged you might get a mild poo juice geyser as everything backed up into the house drains. If you remove the cap and see empty pipe below there may be a clog somewhere upstream. If there is nothing visible in the pipe shine a flashlight down when someone flushes a toilet inside the house. If you eventually see the stream of water from the toilet surge by that indicates that the line upstream is clear.

 

If multiple drains are backing up then that points to either a main drain line problem or a septic problem. You can try looking down the cleanout; if you see backed up sewage that's not good.

Try contacting whatever department is responsible for issuing septic permits in your area; it's often the health department. They should have a record of the approximate location of the tank or tanks. The riser is normally near the inlet side of the tank (the end closest to the house) The lid on the riser should not be too deep, but if a lot of regrading was done it may be deeper. The septic guys here carry a long thin metal rod with handles that they use to probe for the lid, which is usually concrete. They usually won't send a pumper until the tank or tanks have been located and the risers exposed. If you can't find them, the septic company will usually send out a tech to try locate it. Worst case, they bring in a backhoe and dig for it.

If your local health department doesn't have a drawing, the best you can do is locate where the main drain exits the basement and assume the tank will be more or less straight out from there. If all the houses in your area were built around the same time, you can also see if the neighbors know where there tanks are; that may provide a hint.

 

I've been down that path, records for older homes are difficult to find and even if found chances of having anything more than an indication of field location is a very long shot.

Easy way is to find the outlet pipe and get a long piece of re-bar and just start exploring, it's rare that tanks are really deep and they tend to head in the direction of open areas for the field. Finding a big concrete structure in the yard isn't too difficult.

Honestly from the description it sounds like blockage, a quick snake may clear it up as well as give some clues where the pipe is going/turning during the process.

Septic fields if treated right (pee/poop/white TP and cleaned out regularly) can last a long time, but it's easy to mess that up with the wrong stuff sent down the drain.

 

Thanks all. It only took about 5 minutes to figure it out. I got down to the house. Walked out to the clean out and noticed a little wet spot near the clean out. Took off the cap slowly and water began coming out. So...... I'm going to have to have someone come in and look for the septic tank lid and have it pumped. As a couple of you had already stated, I called the local septic tank pumpers and they don't look for septic. They said to call them when it's found. Thanks all! It's appreciated as always!

 

Look under the house to see where the drain line exits the house. You can measure over from a window, crawl space vent or the end of the building so you can mark it's location on the outside. Now you know where the line is between the house and cleanout. Keep following that line beyond/downstream of the cleanout until you get to the septic tank.

You can look down into the cleanout or stick a rod in to feel/see the horizontal drain line at the bottom. This will give you an idea to the skeptic tank's depth since the drain line enters near the top of the tank.

 

Thanks Dane! I'm probably going to go down with my pick and shovel and see if I can find it once it warms up a little. It's like 10 degrees here in Pennsylvania. I do have a guy that can dig for it with his backhoe but he can't do it until Tuesday.

 

I would buy a probe. Ask a septic company where.........(better yet...will they let you use one for a day)....or do a google search. 2-3 feet long with a point and wood T handle. Some even have a slider weight for added push.

Backhoe makes me wary. All you need to do is find the tank itself... and probe back towards the house to find the lid.

 

Thanks. I'd never knew they made such a thing. I actually went to Lowes and a hardware store but neither had one. I got a piece of small threaded rod 4 foot long and threaded a steel pipe cap on the end so I could hit it with a hammer. I went down to the rental house and drove the rod about where I think the tank might be. I hit something really hard about 3 feet down. I then attempted to dig a hole with a pick and shovel. It was pretty much impossible due to the ground being froze. The neighbor brought over his small backhoe and he too couldn't do anything due to the ground being froze. So, I have a guy coming down Tuesday to dig it up who has his own excavation company. I told him how the ground is froze, so I'm assuming he has something big enough to dig it up. I'll keep you updated. Thanks all!

 

Finally got it figured out and done. Had a guy come down and find the septic tank lid with his backhoe. The tank baffle had quite a bit of grease on it. He snaked the cleanout and unclogged the inlet pipe. Lots of paper towels in the tank. I also had the tank pumped while we had the lid dug up. So $600 later all is good. $400 to pump it, $200 for the backhoe work. Thanks everyone for your help, it's greatly appreciated!

 

unclejack..........what is the latest ?

 

I had a guy come and dig up the septic lid. We found the inlet in to the tank was blocked with paper towels. Their also was grease built up on the baffle. The guy who dug up the septic snaked the inlet and got it unblocked. The septic company pulled in 5 minutes later and pumped the septic. It was $200 to dig up the septic and $400 to have it pumped. The septic hadn't been pumped in like close to 30 years. Surprisingly, they said their wasn't as much solids as they would have expected. After all that, I explained to my tenants that you only put toilet paper in the toilet and water down the sink drain. Sorry I didn't update you sooner. I always try to asap. Thanks all!!

 

One of the worst things are pre-moistened wipes. Even if the package says they are flushable. They are not and are very slow to break down in a septic tank and a source of a lot of clogs.

 

Several years ago they had a local sewage issue and found this huge mass of wipes clogging one of the main lines. One would think that someone would stop these from being sold, they are flushable but do not break down.

Not sure I'm that interested in seeing the display.

Good septic = pee, poop, and white toilet paper!