Anyone Move A Septic Tank

azgardener

I'm afraid my septic tank is going to need to be removed after we knock down the house. We are not sure of its exact outline but I know it is very close to our future basement. Just curious what I might be looking at if it needs to come up?

We are forced to tie into the city sewer system when we re build so I know we wont be using the septic anymore. Removing it is sure to be a unpleasant job. It is only about 18"-24" deep and about 30 years old. I don't know how they size those things but the house is only 900 sq.ft. so it is probably one of the smaller ones.

I have the labor and equipment to do it myself but what do you do with a used septic tank ? I'm not sure this is a job I want to tackle.

Brock

Was digging a footing the other day and scraped the side of one. We went ahead with the concrete pour because it was against the tank, not in it. We started filling the footing with concrete right out of the truck and all of a sudden the footing burped and all our concrete went sailing into the old septic tank. I turned and looked at the concrete truck driver and he had the biggest grin on his face that I have ever seen. He knew right away that the septic tank wall had colapsed and all that liquid gold was lost. (the driver also is the owner of the concrete company). It cost us about 500 bucks for the lesson.

I know the tanks are varying sizes. There will be a manhole cover on yours. Pull the cover and look in it. The health dept in our area will allow you to break the top with a back hoe and fill it in with dirt. Much cheaper than concrete I might add. LOL

azgardener

So we would just pump it dry and break off anything in our way and backfill with dirt I like that answer. This is a potential unknown added expense that has been nagging at me I'm glad I asked. Thank you.

A W Smith

Ive never seen anyone actually remove a tank. I seen them backfilled.

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nlgutters

speaking of septic tanks. My buddy was drilling a well the other day and tey drilled thru the septic. they emptyed the tank in the guys house about 1500 gallons of ****. they said it was blowing out the toilet and hitting the ceiling. Buy the time they noticed it was running out th doors and they had emptyed the tank. I guess the guy was not happy

Teetorbilt

Pop the top and fill is the way that I've always seen it done. Just remember where it is as far as landscaping goes. It might also make a good planter, just drop a small tree into it.

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A W Smith

And it's got its own fertilizer!

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Kgmz

I am a certified septic installer in Washington and Oregon, so our rules and laws may be different.

Around here by the law you are supposed to:

1. Hire a pumper to pump out the tank, if the tank is to be removed he also has to wash out the tank and pump it out again. And then he will supply paperwork to give to the county to show proof of this.

2. Remove or destroy the lid or top of tank

3. Fill the void with soil. Or break the tank and remove and take the concrete to a recycling yard.

4. Certify the abandonment to the Health Department via the septic/pump tank decommissioning certificate.


Around here they would prefer that the tank is abandoned in place, as it is harder to get the tank clean enough and dispose of the tank material. But if it is in the way of a building, etc. then it is Ok to remove it. If fact I just did one last week at a commercial site we are developing. The tank was there for a old mobile home that was removed years ago.


The certificate is just a form the licensed contractor fills out and attaches a drawing of the location of the tank and the form from the pumper. Also around here there is a $130 fee for the decommission certificate if you are hooking up to sewer.

Here is a link to a decommisioning form for Pierce County, Washington.

http://www.tpchd.org/files/library/d205e5c02f8e280f.pdf

Brock

I don't really understand this. Wells and plumbing are not my area of expertise. Having said that, I understand that the septic tank is not under any pressure at all. It is simply a concrete box that the waste water enters from a gravity drain from the home. Drilling through it would be like having a 5 gallon bucket of water and drilling through the bottom of the bucket. Yes the well water will come up after you install a pump, but it only comes up the pipe that the well driller places in the ground. Correct?

Please elaborate and save myself or someone else from this type of disaster.

rino1494

I've taken out old tanks and moved them before. If it was me, I would just take off the lid and fill it with dirt.

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genecarp

BACKFILL, reconnect to sewars

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jmic

We deal with them all the time. Have it pumped and then crush it and fill over it. History .

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Joe

nlgutters

Dont know the exact details. But the way they figured it because the ground was frozen all the air pressure from the drill found the easiest path and that was into his house. they have been drilling wells for 20 years and never thought this could happen. yah u would figure once they got through it would go down the hole(but it didn't). They were actually sitting talking to the homeowner when they noticed. They did get lucky though because the salesmman wanted to put the well some where else. But homeowner instited it go there.

Alan Mesmer

I would add that you should put a few holes in the bottom of the tank with your excavator bucket to prevent water from holding in it. We always crush and fill too. I have only seen two tanks moved and they were less than two years old when the new city system came through.
Alan