Septic Search and Find

Yet another job tackled and dealt with. I'm no expert on septic systems, in fact, most of my life I never had to deal with them and didn't really even know what they were. That's what happens when you grow up in the big city.

Since moving here, however, I've become very familiar with them. Not so much because we had problems with ours, we did not, but more so because you hear about all these horror stories, and they all involve urine and defecation. Not exactly dinnertime topics.

Either way, we knew we were due to have our's pumped, and this was something we'd never done before. The tank was pumped prior to our moving in, but we had yet to take care of it. We are not heavy septic users, and are vigilant about not putting the wrong stuff down there, or even using our garbage disposal. I'd say we're pretty conscientious users, but even the most careful person still needs to have the stuff pumped out.

I'd heard of people who claim to have never pumped their tank, which I don't believe, but some say every year, some say every other, and others say 4-5 years. Who do you believe? We could erred to the side of caution and just done it after one year, but that would have involved me digging and locating the tank lid.

Naturally, I put it off for 4 years. The time had come, however, and it was best to do it before the ground froze. At least, that's what I thought, especially since I was the one who was going to do the shoveling.

I recall MG telling me the distance from the house, but also recall SG actually digging it up, and there was a residual bare spot where he did it, even after 4 years. I started there, and ended up going down probably about 4 feet before I found the lid. I eventually figured out that the location of the tank actually lines up with some landmarks, so I'll use those the next time.

Now that I've found the tank, I just have to wait for the guy to come and pump it. I just hope we don't get a frost before that time because the tank is exposed.

Until then, thanks for reading.