It’s septic inspection day! Do you ever wonder where your poop goes?
Yes, a septic inspection matters! For a homeowner, you want to be sure that your septic system is in good working order. As a seller you want to be sure that your septic system is in good working order. And as a homebuyer, you don’t want to purchase a property without knowing that your poop is going to be disposed of properly. And the only way to know this is to have a septic inspection.
In this video you’ll learn about how septic systems work and you see a man being lowered into a poop tank! Stay tuned. I hope that his video will be fascinating for many of you.
A septic system is made up of a septic tank where all of the solids and liquids from a house go. The system also includes a distribution box as well as a leach field, or drain field. Septic systems are buried in the ground. The earth with its microorganisms and bacteria and earthly goodies play a big part in cleaning the wastewater from your dishwasher, washing machines, sinks and toilets before it returns to ground water.
During a septic inspection the drain field is located. They do this by inserting a long skinny rod into the earth and feel for the stones and the pipes in the drain field.
Once the field is found then they lift the lid of the septic tank. The upper part of the septic tank is inspected with mirrors to locate where the incoming pipe, the outgoing pipe, the condition of the rim of the tank, and the condition of the baffles or filters for the pipes.
Once the upper part of the tank is inspected, then it is time to empty it. Once it is emptied using the tanker the rest of the tank inspection can be performed. This part of the inspection looks for cracks and leaks and any other abnormalities in the system.
When the guys opened this lid during our inspection, the first thing that they said was that the level of the sewage was low which indicated that there was a leak in the tank somewhere. And yes, if there was smell-a-vision you would smell the strong stench of raw sewage everywhere.
Now the interesting part happens. One of the men (and they all have done this, everyone gets their turn) puts on a hazmat suit, gloves, facemask, boots, safety harness and gets lowered into the septic tank to find out where the problem is. He is also handed a camera at the end of a snake which is inserted into the outgoing pipe to find the distribution box.
There was a leak found at the outgoing pipe. And to fix it the distribution box had to be dug up. When they dug up the distribution box they found that the box was in bad shape so that had to be replaced too.
Now with all of the parts in working order, water is introduced into the system. It’s called a hydraulic load test. And the hydraulic load test will introduce water into the system that will replicate that of a normal household usage. The inspector returns the next day to see if all of the water that was introduced into the system and disbursed into the earth below or it is pooling and overflowing on top of the ground which would indicate another problem.
Septic systems are systems that must be maintained. Generally it is recommended that the homeowner have the septic tank emptied at least every two years. When a house is sold in PA the seller pays to have the tank emptied for the inspection. Remember it’s the homeowner’s poop and he should pay to have his own sewage hauled away.
This inspection was complicated because of its location in the house. But it also included someone being lowered into the tank which is very unusual!
If you have any other questions about septic inspections, please ask them below and I will get answers for you.
To get Christman Septic Service to your property, call tel:610-285-2563 or contact them through their web sight https://christmanseptic.com/