bought shovel, DH is ready to dig that big hole

[imgoingtodisney]

in the front yard so we can have the septic pumped!
Called the septic cleaning guys and they suggested taking a long pipe and sticking it in the ground until we felt concrete. Guess what? After only 2 tries, it worked. We have concrete. Now the digging begins - wish us luck. The septic co was surprised it had been 9yrs too. Our front yard slopes down away from the house. This may be what has saved our butts.

 

[I <3 Eeyore]

Gee, when I had a house with a septic tank the cleaning guys dug their own hole. All I had to do was write the check.

 

[vickyBaby]

 

[aahmom1]

Are you pumping it out yourself? If so, into what?

 

[gepetto]

Why are you digging? Are you replacing the tank?

If you don't maintain your septic system on a regular basis, it could back up into your house.

 

[Planogirl]

We had a septic tank when we lived in the country and we never had to do any digging. Are you doing some kind of maintenance?

 

[SplshMtn99]

Could be wrong...but I believe she's trying to say the cover to the septic tank is covered over with dirt........so the dirt needs to be removed before the septic company can pump.

We live in a condo in same town. The septic was pumped every 6 months. But the cover was just a concrete circle that could EASILY be slid aside. It acutally always suprised me that that is all they had for a cover. Doesn't matter anymore. We were connected to town sewer this winter. The cover is no gone.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

We have the same kind of tank, there is a concrete cover that is buried about a foot under the ground, you do save a fair bit of cash on the pumping if you have it cleared for them. I never thought of it as a project though, it never takes me more than 15 minutes!!

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Youre right - its the concrete cover down about 1-1.5 ft
When DH was young he helped his Dad dig a trench so they could put in a pool. Hopefully the septic cover wont be so hard to find.
And he already said we're putting on some type of riser so he doesnt need to dig this hole again.

 

[dianeschlicht]

WE had ours pumped a couple years ago, and the cover was 8 feet down!! DH dug it by hand and then installed a culvert on end so he could reach it more easily next time. I'm glad to say there wont be a next time though, since we will be moving into our new log home sometime this summer, and a brand new septic system there where everything is near the surface!

 

[Aprille]

Originally posted by dianeschlicht
WE had ours pumped a couple years ago, and the cover was 8 feet down!!

8 feet down?!?! Yikes! Luckily ours was only about 18 inches down. When we had ours pumped a while back I called several places and none of them would uncover the tank cover for us. We had to do it ourselves. Being former city slickers we had no clue where to begin. DH started at a place in the yard that dipped a bit. Luckily that turned out to be it.

imgoingtodisney - good luck to your DH on finding and uncovering your tank cover.

 

[Buz]

All you need is someone that does dowsing. I have a co-worker that found and mapped water lines that way. He uses welding rods and is very 'matter of fact' about it. He turned out to be within a foot of each one.

Me, I'd have to see it to believe it.

Buz

 

[Mskanga]

Don't remind me of my adventures last year with my septic.
We have a pipe that comes out of the ground and almost 4 years ago when we had the septic pumped for the first time , dh decided to bury it because it didn't do anything. Last year we had a clogg somewhere in the pipe going from the house to the tank and of course I thought we need to pump the tank out but I also knew there was a clogg somewhere. I called the septic people and told me they would charge $200-250 to dig up the hole and I thought for that price I can rent a backhoe and have dh do it and also do some yard work with it. I rented it , dh took the day from work and did what he had to do.
The septic guy comes out , starts pumping the tank and he's asking where the pipe that should be coming out of the ground is and I say somwhere under there. The guys digs out a bit, finds it and he sticks the shovel handle down and voila, there is the clogg!! pushes it down and the water starts flowing again!
Turns out I never used powder detergent for laundry but I did sometimes for the dishwasher and that clogged the pipe over time.
So I learned two things that day, the pipe is sticking out of the ground again ( and nobody will ever touch it ) and the lid is covered with a bunch of bricks and a little bit of dirt on the top , this way the next time we don't have to go through this again.
DH can say whatever he wants but I am the one home dealing with all these problems.

 

[Mskanga]

BTW, our septic tank lid is 4' under and we live in stoneville ( lots of rocks in the ground ) so shoveling deep is out of the question here without a machine.

 

[bumcat]

I don't know anything about septic tanks but I now have the Dolores Caliborne movie in my head!

 

[perdidobay]

How often should you have a spectic tank pumped out? It's been 6 years since we built our house, we've never had it done.... but I put a spectic treatment in every month.
How much does it cost?
I know we have a cleanout pipe that is above ground.
TIA

 

[Mskanga]

Perdidobay
It all depends on how many people live in the house , the average is every 2-3 years for a household of 3-4 people, if more people then it's every 2 years.
Our tank is 1000 gallons capacity and our company charged us $185 last year to pump up to 1000 gallons.
They also charge extra to dig the hole to the tank lid , that usually is about 12-18 inches underground but sometimes it's more. The pipe sticking out of the ground cannot be used for cleaning purposes although I have heard some people say they did , I just can't see how they can clean it up that way.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

neighbors have an air valve sticking out of the ground which I dont believe the septic can be pumped from

Other neighbors have a riser on their manhole cover which is used for pumping

Um right now both DH & DS10.5 are outside making holes in the front yard! They have hit concrete but guess it wasnt the manhole cover. Im afraid to go back to work but on the other hand it's a good thing I am!

 

[JohnTBap]

Let me get this straight - someone is coming to suck the poop from this thing? You poop, flush, and then it just sits there in a tank??

 

[Pin Wizard]

Another one of the joys of homeownership.