If you’re not the original owner of your home and it’s time to pump your septic tank, you might find yourself in a quandary. After all, you have to know where the tank is to get it pumped out! Since your septic tank will be buried somewhere between 4 inches and 4 feet underground, vegetation may have grown over the tank lid, burying it forever unless you can find it.
At Rowell’s Services, we would be happy to use our electronic tank locating resources to help you find your septic tank and its lid. This will tell you, absolutely and for sure, where your tank is, so you can know for next time.
How Does Electronic Tank Locating Work?
Most of the time, we use a flushable transmitter to help us find the location of your septic tank. This process is fast and easy, and then you can get your tank pumped or repaired right away.
- Allow your Rowell’s plumber access to a toilet. We’ll need to get the transmitter into your sewer line, and this is the easiest way.
- Turn on the Prototek transmitter. Most of them have a black power button that is hard to miss.
- Check for the LED. It should flash when the transmitter is turned on and working. If it is red, the battery has died.
- Flush the transmitter down your toilet.
- Locate the transmitter with the Prototek receiver. It should only take a couple of minutes for the transmitter to make its way down your toilet, through your sewer lines, and into your septic tank. Once it’s there, we can detect its signal with our receiver. This tells us where your septic tank is located.
- Find the access lid. Most residential septic tanks are rectangular and measure roughly 5 feet x 8 feet. Once you know where it is, it’s usually fairly easy to find the limits and the outline of your tank. From there, we will probe in probable places for the lid.
Once we’ve found the lid, you know most of what you need to know about your septic tank. Be sure to note the location for further pumping or repairs, and remember to tell the new owners where it is when you sell the house. That way, they won’t have to go through the same process again.
Benefits of Electronic Tank Locating
There are other ways to find your septic tank, but we use electronic tank locating because we believe it is the best option for you and for our plumbers. Here’s why:
- It’s inexpensive. Because it doesn’t require much time or digging, electronic septic tank locating costs less than many other methods. Unless you have old blueprints for your property, it’s probably the cheapest possible method.
- It’s fast. It only takes a few minutes, at most, for the transmitter to make its way to your tank, and a few more to find it. Instead of pouring over maps or trying to follow your pipes, you can find your septic tank quickly.
- It’s less labor intensive. Electronic tank locating involves less activity – particularly less digging! – then doing it most other ways. All you have to do is flush and walk, and possibly pry up the lid.
If you need to find your septic tank, call us at Rowell’s Services today! We’ll get to you soon and help you determine the exact location of your tank so you can have it flushed or repaired fast. View more of our septic services here, or contact us online to schedule an appointment today!
Alan Gentry
Shana Jackson
Jesicca Emrick-Ginther