Invisible Septic Tank

[Megan McGinty]

I’m an agent and have a listing under contract. The buyers had their general inspection last Friday and couldn’t find the septic tank anywhere. I sent our contractor out and he also couldn’t find it. The seller has only actually owned the property for like a week so they know nothing about it. The former owner gave me the number of a company who cleaned it in November but they don’t answer any calls (the buyers agent, myself and my assistant all called every hour today) and their voicemail is full. I’m at a loss of what to do. How does one find an invisible non-existent septic tank?

[Ryan Murdock]

Does the town have a septic design on file? If not you should be able to see where the main drain line exits the house so you can at least get a sense of which direction the tank should be. If it was just pumped in November the ground should still show signs of being disturbed where they dug for the tank cover. A leach field is usually pretty easy to spot too if you know what you are looking for. 

Worst case a plumber can send a transmitter equipped camera down the line. Once you see the tank with the camera they can use the locating receiver to mark on the ground where it is.