Septic System Mysteries—

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LearningOhio

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Hi! I know you all are busy so if you have any time to reply, I’ll be very grateful. I bought this old farmhouse 30 years ago from the former owners who lived here themselves for 25 years and who bought it from a relative who lived here 30 years or more before that. The house was here in 1900 when records first were kept. The former owners live down the road still. No one knows where the septic system is and no one has cared in the “not broke, don’t fix it” kind of thing. I do care and have had three different companies come to try to clean it out just in case but they can’t find it. Three years ago, we had record rain and water got in the basement. A tree had volunteered itself nearby but who knows if that was it. They put vibrating cable down the hole in the sump and said it stopped on something hard so they stopped trying to go forward. The water went out but they said to find the septic system and/or blockage, they needed to have two sides of the yard excavated and have the concrete floor and basement walls cut out to look for the pipes/drains. They said it might go south or east based on the sewer J pipe and sump drainage holes. I asked about cameras and they said they won’t help. Last week, we had record rain, and water again came in the basement. It didn’t pump out all the way and yesterday the toilet wouldn’t flush correctly. They did the same today with the cable thing and said after 10 feet straight out from the sewer pipe, they can’t tell where it goes. The water’s nearly gone and the toilet is better but not right. They again say I need to have both sides of the yard and the concrete inside excavated to find what’s there. I don’t understand how it’s gone so long without care or any trouble so I wonder if there ever was a true septic system. Or has it just been flowing out under the ground in the fields maybe? I’ve had much done to the house over the years and the words, “I’ve never seen this before”, from contractors are familiar to me. Will they be able to create a new septic if there’s not one there, surely? And are new septic systems like $10,000-$20,000? For the last 60 years at least, four to five people lived here. Now it’s just two and I have no clue how this all might cost. Thank you for any thoughts. I’ll go have some Tums now!
 
Find a plumbing company that offers drain pipe locating services. The transmitter is fixed to a cable then inserted into the pipe. Then the operator uses a handheld device similar to a metal detector to find the signal being transmitted by the transmitter on the end of the cable.

Locate the system then investigate from there.
 
Find a plumbing company that offers drain pipe locating services. The transmitter is fixed to a cable then inserted into the pipe. Then the operator uses a handheld device similar to a metal detector to find the signal being transmitted by the transmitter on the end of the cable.

Locate the system then investigate from there.

Thank you so very much! I did this and they found it! There’s a 1500-gallon concrete tank there but it was covered by four feet of soil! Maybe from a basement excavated decades ago! I’m so relieved! Thank you!
 
Check your property records. Also, it is important to know the location of your septic tank and the drain field to avoid placing heavy things on top or parking or driving the car on top.

Thank you for your reply! I appreciate the help! The problem was there were no records at all. But I followed advice here and found someone who could search with a drainpipe locator and they found the tank! They uncovered it and added risers, cleaned it out (at least 40 years!), and the next morning I had this volunteer tree in that area cut down, I am so relieved. We’ve had no issues since then but I know we still could and if so, I’ll have whatever the issue is fixed. Thankfully, because people “thought” the septic was on that side of the house, I never let anyone drive on it, etc. I am very grateful for all the help!
 
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That's a pretty cool tool. Also some companies offer underground detection services to locate tanks and such. Their technology detects disruptions in the soil below.
 
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