Why aren’t there simple machines for finding septic tank covers?

by philg

A new employee from our septic tank pumping company showed up recently. He was unable to find the tanks or covers, even with a map, and eventually abandoned the project. Why isn’t there an inexpensive electronic device that can find the metal covers underneath a foot or two of dirt/grass? Then the job could be done by people at a lower level of skill.

It looks as though this can be done with ground-penetrating radar (example). It seems that the necessary equipment is more than $10,000, though. Everything else with sensors and electronics has gotten cheaper. Cars are sprouting radars everywhere. Why can’t this technology be cut down to $250 the way that everything else has been?

[Separately, the new employee was a white guy in his 20s. All of the people that I’ve seen in Massachusetts pumping septic tanks are white males, from which it is reasonable to infer that they are using their white male privilege to exclude women and minorities from this job?]

14 thoughts on “Why aren’t there simple machines for finding septic tank covers?”

  2. Wouldn’t a metal detector pick this up?

    One you find it, I suggest you mark the spot with something on the surface that is staked into the ground. Paint it bright orange or yellow.

  3. There is. It’s called a metal detector. But it’s not specifically for find the covers to your shit tank! I think it’ll be easier to market the device as a “metal detector” than as a “shit tank locator”.

  4. As I mentioned earlier, male privilege is truly rampant in masonry(0.1% females) and drywall installation(0.3%).

    I do not have stats on white privilege in the above areas of activity, but each time I needed masonry work done or hang some drywall/do plastering, the contractors were white Irish folks from South Boston. Another contractor, a Russian plumber (a white male), made a racist remark to the effect that Irish are reputed for their plastering/skim coating skills thus stereotype threatening people of color and women out of this sort of occupation.

    The septic tank pumper was a white fellow from Natick, Irish too interestingly enough.

  5. With houses now crossing 8 figures & the government paying for most housing, you’d think home owners would know where their septic tanks were. What kind of economic collapse would happen if it became part of the mortgage application?

  6. “What kind of economic collapse would happen if it became part of the mortgage application?”

    In MA, it is part of the house sale process, and therefore part of the mortgage application, as a seller has to inspect the septic system before the sale and repair it if it fails the inspection. No collapse has happened so far.

  7. My septic guy had a gadget for this. He flushed a waterproof radio transmitter down the toilet. It cost about $35, floated, and was about the size of a ping-pong ball. With a receiver, he could locate the top of the tank.

    I knew the approximate tank location, but I would have had to do a lot more digging without this.

  8. In Texas we have sewer systems.

    Just sayin’…

    I find it fascinating that you’re on a septic tank. I would have thought everywhere in MA would be connected to sewer. Is it because development of the area occurred before sewer systems were everywhere? If your home was built before the area was densely populated, I’m kind of surprised you (or a previous owner) weren’t forced to connect to the sewer system when it came down the road.

  10. Mike: Some older houses in Weston, the most affluent town in MA, still have cesspools. I imagine in some other towns outside route 128 do as well.

  11. Usual story of incompetence, then he will show up again, you’ll have to show exact place to him again, and his office will charge you for the second visit. Happens here as well.

    When we had a plumbing emergency, plumber and, and then team with compressor showed up and were able to locate and efficiently clean everything on the same day with me just guiding them by phone while being at work (turns out tree roots plugged the drain pipe in the tank). Total bill was a $1000 though. Yet the septic company fails at this task regularly for a $100.

  12. Had ours rebuilt recently. Went on the roof and took “aerial” photos. Nowadays it takes two tanks and a mini lift station in Florida. We call it Mount Flushmore.

  13. Last time I had the septic guy out he used a metal rod with a T-handle to probe the ground. He found the tank immediately, then poked around until he found a raised spot — apparently the covers are raised a bit. The installers provided a diagram which triangulates the location of the covers based on other landmarks in the yard, but the septic guy preferred to probe.

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