by Joe Brooks

Created on: February 13, 2010

You may not need a plumber to find your septic tank. Perhaps you can find it yourself, which could save you some money when the professionals come to do whatever it is that they have to do. The first question, even before how, might be "why". Why might you need to find your septic tank? If you are having a problem already, you know why. If not, a wise person may be wanting to do some maintenance, or have this done by a professional, in order to prevent the problems from arriving. A thoughtful, shrewd, or even kind person might want to provide documentation of the location of the septic tank in order to supply it to a future buyer, or perhaps an inheriting descendant. All these are good reasons. Which brings us to how. How do you locate a septic tank?

The easiest way of all might be to listen to Erma Bombeck, that retro source of wise suburban humor who tells us: "the grass is always greener over the septic tank". So look outside. Do you see a rectangle of greener grass, several feet by several feet? Start your search there, and send a silent spiritual thank you to the spirit of Erma. But what if you don't have grass, or all the grass is lush and green? Are you stuck? No, there are other ways, many of which you can attempt yourself.

Of course there should be documentation, and you can search for it. Perhaps you can still contact the previous owners. That is the cleaner, drier way. But if you can't locate the paperwork, you can take some simple tools and venture out into the yard. The simplest simple tool would be a steel rod, perhaps five or six feet long. You could use rebar, but that isn't as slick as plain steel and will be harder to use. Locate the point where the sewage pipe leaves the house. Starting there, probe around gently, as you don't want to knock holes in anything and complicate the issue. The tank will be several feet from the house, at least, as code requires that. If you can't find it with a probe, you can try a magnetic detector. Those work because, even though the tank is concrete, there is metal in the top and reinforcements. Those detectors can work even if the tank is several feet deep in the ground.

If you want to get creative, and you think your soil and the neighbors can tolerate it, you could make a water powered probe pipe. You can do that by attaching a garden hose to a length of pipe. Water preasure will dig for you, and probably won't hurt anything. That is simple fun, and may help you find the tank or perhaps buried treasure or other good stuff.

There are a wide variety of problems you might encounter, especially when investigating tank location for an older home. They may not have used a concrete store-bought septic tank, as the restrictions were lax or non-existent then. You could find a buried car body, or who knows what, that some crafty homebody thought would work. You may find something that isn't even a septic tank, perhaps one of the Crypt Keepers long lost crypts, or, well, they never found Jimmy Hoffa, did they?

If your home methods don't work, or you find something unexpected or perhaps alarming, you might be ready to call a professional. They will come to your problem armed with technology, techniques, and knowledge gained from experience. A plumbing and septic professional can work wonders with simple tools. Your local plumber is the person to call. They will know the code, the history, and the best approach to fixing your plumbing system.

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