How Do You Find Your Septic Tank

How to Notice The Septic Tank
Footstep by step how to locate septic tanks for inspection or septic tank pumping

• POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about all methods for locating a septic tank, drywell, or cesspool as well as other septic system components such equally the D-box and septic soakaway bed, leaching field, or drainfield.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We take no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Septic tank location guide:

This document provides suggestions and procedures for finding a septic tank.

This very detailed article series (see links listed at the ARTICLE Index the lesser of this commodity or below) tells how to locate a septic tank or other buried site components such as the distribution box, drainfield, or a cesspool or drywell when it's placement is not already known or when the location of the septic tank is not visually obvious.

This guide explains the septic tank search process and lists sources of information almost septic tank location. Nosotros describe who may know where buried components are located at the site, how to audit the site, and what mistakes to picket for in assuming that the data you see, read, or are told is absolutely right.

We too provide an Commodity INDEX for this topic, or yous tin try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX every bit a quick way to find information you need.

How to Find the Septic Tank, Cesspool, Drywell, D-box, or Drainfield

Showtime hither and in a series of detailed procedures nosotros explain various methods to locate buried onsite wastewater disposal organization components: the sewer line or primary bleed, septic tank, septic tank cleanout openings, distribution box, septic drainfield, and related site components.

If you prefer to lookout man a video on how nosotros figure out where a septic tank could or could not be located,

run into SEPTIC VIDEOS.

Also encounter SEPTIC DRAINFIELD LOCATION.

When the septic tank needs to be pumped, a regular maintenance task, the cost of that service will be less if the property owner found the septic tank location and perhaps even uncovered the septic tank pumping access cover.

Other reasons to find the septic tank include inspecting and testing septic systems when buying a home or for condom, to assure that the septic tank cover is in skillful condition.

If you don't know whether your property fifty-fifty has a septic tank, your building could be connected to a municipal sewer main. To figure this out,

meet SEPTIC or SEWER CONNECTION?

Safety Warnings for People Looking for the Septic Tank

Watch Out: Septic Arrangement Warnings: Here are a few conditions that may exist disruptive or dangerous and which yous should keep in heed:

• Beware of old, collapsing septic systems

  falling into a cesspool or septic tank is likely to be fatal. Picket out for evidence of subsidence or sinking soil, rusted-through steel septic tank covers, home-made wooden or flimsy tank covers, or dwelling house made cesspools and drywells which take chances collapse.

  Dig or probe with great care and practise not work alone. More guidance about safety when working on or around septic systems can exist read

  at SEPTIC & CESSPOOL Safety. [Thanks to Donica Ben for reminding usa that in that location are other potential hazards such as striking a buried electric wire.]



• Multiple main drains?

  At a large property or a belongings with plumbing equipment at widely separated portions of a edifice, the builder may take constructed more than than i septic system, or waste material lines could leave the edifice from more than than one location fifty-fifty if they go to the same septic system.

  This would be uncommon in a modern dwelling house. Only at a property which has been expanded, say to add an apartment at a far end from where all of the other building plumbing exists, this is a possibility to proceed in mind.

  Consider the age of the building, the complication of its layout, and the history of additions of baths or kitchens at widely separated areas as a clue suggesting that more than than one septic organisation or waste line may be nowadays.



• Separate drywells?

  On backdrop which accept septic drain fields (absorption systems) of limited capacity to absorb wastewater, or for reasons of simple convenience in running drain lines, the building gray water from laundry or even sinks and showers may be connected to a separate drywell which is not part of the main septic system.

  In the photo above showing a washing car in the foreground and the main house waste line in the basement left corner in the groundwork, you might wonder if the washer is connected to a separate drywell. The washing machine in the photo is obviously below the level at which the main drain leaves the house in the altitude. What simplifies finding the septic tank in the case of this photo is that there is but one big diameter waste material bleed leaving the house.



• Primary drains are bigger

  The primary house drain lines will be comparatively large in diameter, a minimum of 4" (obsolete) and peradventure 6" in diameter. Individual sink or shower drains may be ane.five" or two" in diameter. And so if you can run across exposed plumbing, just discover the area beneath a edifice toilet and follow that drain.

  Toilets must be connected to a septic system, even if other building fixtures connect to a separate drywell. Right now we're looking for the septic tank, not a drywell.

Ask Those Who May Already Know the Septic Tank Location

Ask the prior owner: the Building'southward Most Recent Owner May Know the Septic Tank Location

When the location of a septic tank is not visually obvious ask the building'due south near-contempo possessor the location of the septic tank. Just beware, people tin can be mistaken, or may have forgotten, or may accept never known where their septic tank is buried.

When a building owner does not know where the septic tank is located that is itself useful information. In that example, if nosotros know how long the possessor has been in the building, we know it has probably been been at least that long since the septic tank was last pumped.

When a septic tank has non been pumped on schedulethen even before inspecting the system we must be more than pessimistic about the status of the organization and in particular, most the remaining life of the drainfield.

An building possessor who has had the septic tank cleaned before is likely to know just where it is located. In an older habitation an owner may have a drawing of the tank location or may have drawn measurements to the septic tank on a garage or basement wall, peradventure most the primary waste line outlet.

Sentinel out: sometimes the a building owner or prior owner does non really know the tank location, may have forgotten, or have get confused. We conducted a large digging at the spot where a homeowner told us, with great conviction, where a buried component was located. Ultimately we discovered the component more than than fifty feet away.

When we confronted the possessor with this disruptive data he remembered and explained: "Yeah, I never actually saw it, that's where the previous owner told me he thought it was."

Run into details at VISUAL CLUES LOCATE the SEPTIC TANK

and

details at SEPTIC TANK PUMPING SCHEDULE

Ask local septic tank pumping companies for help: local septic servicers may know tank location

In add-on to asking building owners, if the age of the home means that the septic arrangement has been present for 4 years or more, information technology is possible that even though a current owner may not know the septic tank location, a local septic pumping company might.

It'due south worth a call to each local septic pumper to inquire if they've serviced the property. Warning: don't rush to permit a service company or local excavator come out to dig up the yard - it may non exist necessary and information technology may involve unnecessary costs.

Expect For Records of Septic Tank Location

Most frequently homeowners who take ever had a septic tank installed or serviced record a sketch showing measurements to the septic tank from some visible holding characteristic such as a corner of the building.

At Record SEPTIC TANK LOCATION we describe the process for making those measurements and the required sketch.

Look in the building basement or crawl space for the signal at which the main building drain exits the building.

Encounter FIND MAIN WASTE LINE EXIT - first finding the septic tank by finding where the waste line exits the building for details.

While a septic bleed line can turn around on a property and the direction of the exit drain pipe is not a guarantee, ofttimes it points right to a septic tank that is shut to the building.

Wait in this same surface area in the building for a sketch, sometimes drawn right on the building wall or rim-joist, mark distances to the septic tank and its cleanout cover.

Encounter SEPTIC TANK LOCATION SKETCH - how to make a sketch showing a septic tank, D-box, or drainfield location

Cheque with local septic tank service companies. If the edifice is not new, it is possible (nosotros wish we could say likely) that prior owners had the septic tank cleaned or repaired from time to fourth dimension. If and then the company may have notes on where the tank is located.

But Where to Await for The Septic Tank

Unknown septic tank location procedure: This article tells usa how to locate a septic tank when it's placement is not already known or when the location of the septic tank is not visually obvious. We include example photographs from beyond the U.S. and from other countries illustrating visual clues for finding a septic tank when its location is unknown.

When a septic tank needs to be pumped, a regular maintenance task, the cost of that service will be less if the property owner found the septic tank location and perhaps even uncovered the septic tank pumping access cover.

Other reasons to find the septic tank include inspecting and testing septic systems when ownership a home or for safety, to assure that the septic tank embrace is in good status.

Videos showing how to discover the septic organization, septic tank, & septic drainfield are

at SEPTIC VIDEOS.

Also see SEPTIC DRAINFIELD LOCATION - how to find the leach fields.

• Find the chief building bleed get out point. Often the septic tank is 10 feet away in a directly line from that point. (Not always). Our photo (left) shows a wall vent connected to the main building drain line (too shut to a window too). We looked for the septic tank in a directly line away from the house starting in this location.

Start looking close to the firm wall - perhaps 4 ft. away (which would exist too close for modern standards) or at 10 feet away for a better location.

Septic tanks are often buried close to a edifice considering of the convenience of excavation during original construction, and to avoid unnecessary piping costs to a remote tank.

On occasion, specially in an un-finished basement or crawl area, you may find a septic locating sketch on paper, folded and blimp nearby, or a sketch drawn right on the edifice foundation wall or rim joist.

Building codes typically require that the tank be located 10' or more than from the building so 4' is a bit close but at some old properties we've plant the septic tank right next to the foundation wall of the house.

At 12 feet from the home nosotros found this flat stone in the lawn, marking the septic tank cleanout opening.

Watch out: the septic tank may all the same be located distant from a building if site conditions such as space, rock, proximity to a well or lake forbid its installation nearby.

Our photo (below left) shows where we spotted a septic system cover downhill from a hilltop restaurant in Molde, Norway. The metropolis, Molde, is visible in the upper portion of the photo.

• Look downhill from the edifice primary drain if at that place is no septic pump organization installed.
• Await at the site itself for obstructions that might have forced the excavator to put the tank into a more remote location, such as big rocks and boulders, streams, property boundaries, wells, like site features.
• Look for subsidence in a circular or rectangular pattern that may mark the septic tank location.
• Expect for bald spots where there is no grass growth or brown grass that'due south stale out - - marking a shallow-buried septic tank top
• Look for green grass that may mark a septic tank that is backing up and leaking.

  See SEPTIC TANK GRASS

• The location of this septic tank was downhill from a home located close to a lake in Grand Marais in northern Minnesota.

  If you are looking for septic organisation components at a building close to a lake or other waterway, the tank may be downhill from the building so that the edifice does not accept to pump wastewater to the septic tank.

  But look to discover a pumping chamber at the septic tank that sends effluent to a drainfield that will exist located uphill and well away from the waterway.

  That electrical box sticking upward in the chiliad pointed out the pumping station for this septic tank, and the rectangular growth over the tank was a rather compelling inkling as well.

  A septic tank cleanout and pumping station access covers were located within that growth.

• If in that location is snow-encompass look for a circular or rectangular area of thinner snow or melted snow; bacterial action and warm wastewater often mean a higher temperature at the septic tank.

  Details are at SEPTIC TANK SNOWMELT.

  Our photo (above-left) illustrates melting of low-cal snow cover higher up septic tank admission covers at a belongings in northern Maine.

• In the photo at folio top nosotros saw a very rocky loma with thin soil, making the probable septic tank location down in the distant, flat, lower one thousand.

  The septic tank was found to the left of the garage but at the bottom of the hill. The small-scale size of the bachelor surface area also means that the possessor chose to install a pair of high capacity drywells to absorb septic effluent instead of a more infinite-hungry conventional drainfield.

• Look for a 6" or 8" septic cleanout or access pipe such as the one shown in our photograph . This septic organisation is located in Marana, exterior Tucson, Arizona. The terrain is non merely hot and arid, but besides apartment - not much worry about having to expect "downhill" from the building.

• OurSEPTIC VIDEOS show how y'all can walk a holding to notice areas that are likely or unlikely to contain the septic tank or drainfield. Locations such as dense mature copse close together, or right next to a drinking h2o well are not where we'd expect to find the septic tank.

Exploratory Digging to Detect the Septic Tank

Our photograph shows a round steel septic tank encompass right at footing level and just about xxx inches from the house foundation wall. You tin can run across that if you were jamming a probe into the soil over a embrace like this one, you lot'd easily puncture and ruin it.

(When this septic tank rusts through yous may see sewage leaking into the edifice through the foundation wall.)

Dig or probe very gently in the area where you think the tank cover is located -

Watch out: beware of collapsing tank covers and practise not work lonely - falling in is probable to be fatal - read my Safety Suggestions article above before beginning this work.

What to practice if We Can't Find the Septic Tank?

What if in that location are no visual clues of tank location and we can't easily notice information technology outside?

The last resort is a bigger digging project which we depict next.

Cross Trenching: At the building wall where the waste line exits, dig a small trench across the suspected pipe location going down until you find the pipe. Note its apparent direction. Move out iii-iv ft. in that management and dig again.

In other words, follow the pipe by excavating small test trenches across the suspected pipe management until information technology leads you to the tank. This is what an excavator does with a backhoe if they tin can't observe the tank by other means.

Tanks may be distant: Beware, while the septic tank is frequently found shut to the building (where information technology's easier to bury the tank and for other technical reasons), site conditions can make it necessary to locate a tank at quite a distance abroad.

How to Use a Simple Plumbing Ophidian or Using Electronic Equipment to Notice the Septic Tank

Special equipment using a plumbing snake and electronic sensors and other methods are bachelor when needed.

Past inserting the plumbing snake into the main edifice drain and pushing it until it stops expressionless, the ophidian cease has usually hit the septic tank inlet bamboozle. From this procedure we know the maximum distance from the building drain to the septic tank. We say maximum distance because we don't know for certain that the drain line runs straight to the tank.

A combination of conductive metal snake in the plumbing drain and electronic equipment can trace the routing of a drain line precisely as well every bit locating the inlet to the septic tank. Details are

at SEPTIC TANK LOCATING EQUIPMENT - plumbing snakes, electronic pipe tracing equipment, etc.

Watch out: well not e'er precisely. Radio transmitter and similar electronic devices that are used to pinpoint buried pipes can be thrown off a bit if there are other metal pipes buried nearby, crossing or in parallel to the pipeline of involvement.

Metal septic tanks can be found at their buried location using a metal detector.

When & How to Dig or Excavate to Observe the Septic Tank

The photo shows excavation during septic system repairs - this is not the best fashion to notice a septic tank. Knowing the septic tank location can avoid tank damage during repair work, and it will save on septic tank pumping cost since you won't be paying an excavator to find and betrayal the tank cover.

Avoid "finding" the septic tank by using a backhoe unless the operator is very skilled and careful. At our first home with a septic tank the backhoe operator "institute" the septic tank past driving over information technology and crushing information technology, leading to a plush repair.

If y'all take to excavate, or if y'all are excavating to confirm the septic tank location and to find its cleanout covers then heed this warning:

Spotter out: for dangerous septic tank covers that can collapse - falling into a septic tank is usually fatal. Don't utilize a heavy iron wrecking bar to "probe" for the septic tank by jamming it aggressively into the soil.

That's a good way to punch a pigsty in a steel septic tank chapeau, cause a tank cover to collapse,or to burst a cached pipe or suspension a toe.

Meet SEPTIC TANK COVERS - important safety concerns.

Also see SEPTIC TANK DEPTH - how deep might the septic tank be buried anyway?

How Nosotros Walk the Site to Recognize Where a Septic Tank Could or Would Not be Located

If no tape of the septic tank location is at paw, an experienced septic pumper can more often than not judge where the tank is probable to be by inspection of the belongings, or south/he can locate the tank by careful probing. Details are
at WHERE TO LOOK for the SEPTIC TANK - what are the reasonable locations where we could await for a septic tank

and then

at VISUAL CLUES LOCATE the SEPTIC TANK - what can we run into that tells us septic tank locatio. A summary is below:

Nosotros exercise not normally wait to detect a septic tank located:

• At a great distance from the building - such locations involve extra toll that people want to avoid
• Right next to or shut to the well - such locations are unsanitary and illegal

  See details at CLEARANCE DISTANCES, SEPTIC Organisation

• On top of visible solid stone or rock outcroppings or where soil is very thin over rock or shale
• At or close to the edges of the belongings -

  run into Altitude TO SEPTIC TANK - what are the clearance distances required between a septic tank and other things?

• In the midst of a dense growth of mature trees - how would the backhoe have gotten in there to dig a hole for the septic tank
• Downhill from the likely or apparent drainfield location - but a mutual exceptions include septic tanks that use an effluent pump system to lift effluent to a mound or raised bed septic organisation, or septic tanks that are located shut to only down hill from a building close to a lake or stream.

  Such installations may place the septic tank downhill from the building so that building drainage does not require a sewage pump; but in order to go the septic drainfield an acceptable distance from the lake or waterway the arrangement may have included an effluent pumping station: so the tank is downhill merely the drainfield may exist uphill from the position of the edifice itself.

We often wait to find a septic tank located

• Within 10-twenty feet from the building. During edifice construction it is oftentimes convenient to excavate for both the foundation and the septic tank hole at the same fourth dimension. And keeping the tank close (but non too close) to the structure saves on plumbing costs.
• Also encounter POSSIBLE SEPTIC TANK LOCATIONS - finding a septic tank includes ruling in and out where it might be

When the septic tank has been located, note if it is installed with improper clearances from other site features such as a private well, and inform the owner accordingly. The measurement process to record the septic tank cleanout comprehend location is

at Tape SEPTIC TANK LOCATION

Reader Q&A - also see the FAQs series linked-to beneath

It would be no surprise to detect an abased septic tank on a very old property.

Watch out: The real Hazard is that the encompass is on safe and someone Falls in and, depend on what'southward in the septic tank confront is a quick and nasty death. Safety matter is to fill information technology

So yeah. I alive in a house that is over a hundred years old. We started having some problems with standing water in the backyard a few weeks agone and just recently started to investigate.

Both my neighbor and my dad thought nosotros were hooked upwards completely to the main sewer organisation of the town just when we dug into the ground of the backyard we came beyond a physical construction to which only our kitchen sink drains. It seems every bit though the side of the physical structure had degraded creating a hole through which this nasty smelling h2o is coming out of.

Is it possible that the mystery physical structure is a septic tank?

Our programme is to uncover the rest of the structure to find the extent of its size and to cut down labor costs from the plumber ;)

Alicia

That could exist a round septic tank admission cover. I tin can't say in part because we know nothing almost your holding, site, age, history, plumbing, nor the sie of the stone-like item in your photo (It doesn't look prefectly-round only information technology may be tipped)

Lookout man out: it sits askew, may be leaking into the septic tank (risking flooding), and worst, if it is not secure over the septic tank top there could be a risk of it moving, tipping, and someone stepping into or falling into the septic tank - a quick fatal effect. Information technology needs to be investigated further by an experienced excavator or septic contractor.

Howdy. Is this photo a septic tank cover? It is up a colina from my house at a good distance from the firm. Otherwise, I fear my septic tank may be underneath my concrete patio.

email to roseh@nc.rr.com

Belinda

Yes it certainly possible that you lot have found your septic tank.

Watch out: if the condition of the septic tank including its materials of structure and the condition of the encompass or any access openings are unknown there is the risk filter cover is unsafe.

Should someone step through or fall through the risk is Serious injury or fifty-fifty a fatality. Therefore it would be smart to keep away from the suspected septic tank location until you accept had an excavator expose enough of information technology to understand whst us at that place, and its status.

Watch out: too for a septic failure that is likely if your septic arrangement is one in which no i knew the location of the septic tank.

When no one knows where the septic tank is located to me that suggests that no i has been doing the required regular maintenance of pumping the septic tank. When we never pump the septic tank we shorten the life of the drainfield.

I wanted to institute flowers exterior my bedroom window, I stuck my shovel in the ground and hit a solid object but 6 inches down. Using a probe it appears to exist appr. 4x5 ft lrg and only ten anxiety away from original dwelling house and 4 ft away from the improver. Septic??

Certainly, Brian, particularly in older towns.

In fact we have inspected homes in areas where in that location is municipal sewer simply found cases in which

- the home was never connected to the sewer and still is on private septic

and too cases in which

- the domicile had a septic, was afterward connected to sewer, but the septic tank was left in place and not properly abandoned - this forming a rubber hazard

I have urban center sewer, is it possible to have an quondam septic on my property still? There is a heavy thick round piece physical in the middle of my back thousand and I don't know what it is.

Question: does this concrete affair hateful nosotros have a septic tank?

2018/eleven/04 Jenna said:

First, please excuse my ignorance. Now .We are because the purchase of a new home

BUT I am completely dislocated/concerned with the sewer/septic situation. The home is owned past a visitor and the disclosure is basically worthless.

At that place are ii "covers" on the side of the house. One, concrete, I assumed was a septic? The other looks like a sewer manhole cover. The neighbors home too has the metal "manhole" cover.

So I approximate my questions are...does this domicile accept a septic system? Or is it continued to a city arrangement? Isn't this rather shut to the house if it is a septic tank?

If not...why does this business firm and the neighbors (presumably all) accept a manhole access in the yard? And are there any precautions/inspections/advice we need before proceeding with this house? THANK YOU!

Answer:

Jenna thank you for request about how to effigy out if a dwelling house is continued to public sewer or private septic - information technology's not an ignorant question; the only ignorant footstep would be failing to inquire.

SEPTIC or SEWER Connexion?

will help you figure out the answer.

A call to your city'southward building or water or sewer department can sometimes close the question immediately: ask if there is public sewer bachelor to homes on your street.

Beyond that:

The square concrete on the ground in your photo looks like a septic tank access port and marks a common and reasonable location for a septic tank most you rhome - but could be something else. It is mutual for a septic tank to exist shut to the house, perhaps 10 anxiety from the foundation.

It should be piffling to simply lift the cover to see what it locates.

If you meet into a pool of sewage you know information technology's a septic tank.

Just

Watch out: at any unknown belongings where there may be a septic tank of unknown condition there's a risk of falling into a tank or even being overcome past fumes.

Never piece of work solitary, and never lean over the septic opening, nor step onto a questionable tank cover.

...

Continue reading DISTANCE TO SEPTIC TANK if yous are looking for its location, or select a topic from the closely-related manufactures beneath, or encounter the complete ARTICLE Alphabetize.

Or see SEPTIC TANK LOCATION FAQs questions & answers posted originally at this article

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• DISTANCE TO SEPTIC TANK - what are the clearance distances required betwixt a septic tank and other things?
• HOME BUYERS GUIDE to SEPTIC SYSTEMS
• Domicile SELLERS GUIDE TO SEPTIC SYSTEMS
• HOW TO OPEN a SEPTIC TANK if yous have plant the septic tank an dare inspecting or servicing the septic tank
• POSSIBLE SEPTIC TANK LOCATIONS - finding a septic tank includes ruling in and out where information technology might be
• SEPTIC COMPONENT LOCATION VIDEOS spotter a video on how we figure out where a septic tank could or could not be located
• SEPTIC D-BOX LOCATION - notice the Distribution Box
• SEPTIC DRAINFIELD LOCATION - find the Drainfield
• SEPTIC or SEWER CONNECTION? - detect out if the building is connected to a municipal sewer line or to a private onsite septic system
• SEPTIC TANK DEPTH - how deep might the septic tank be cached anyway?
• SEPTIC TANK LOCATING EQUIPMENT - plumbing snakes, electronic piping tracing equipment, etc.
• SEPTIC TANK SNOWMELT - clues to component location
• SEPTIC VIDEOS - watch a video on how nosotros figure out where a septic tank could or could not exist located,
• SEWER / SEPTIC Pipage CAMERAS - scope out the bleed pipe to see where it goes and to come across its status
• TABLE of REQUIRED SEPTIC & WELL CLEARANCE DISTANCES
• VISUAL CLUES LOCATE the SEPTIC TANK

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