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SEPTIC SYSTEMS HOME SEPTIC INFO ARTICLES Drainfield Location Why Look For the Drainfield? Using Septic System Records Where to Look Areas Not Likely Locate Piping Precisely Excavating to find Drainfield Surprising Leachfield Locations HOME BUYERS GUIDE to SEPTIC SYSTEMS SEPTIC SYSTEMS ONLINE BOOK SEPTIC FIELD INSPECTION SEPTIC TREATMENTS SEPTIC VIDEOS More Information InspectAPedia® Home & Site Map Air Conditioning & Heat Pumps Bookstore Electrical Environment Exteriors Heating Home Inspection Insulate Ventilate Interiors Mold Inspect/Test Plumbing Water Septic Roofing Structure Accuracy & Privacy Policies Contact Us |
This article and our accompanying septic system location videos explains how to find the leach field or drainfield portion of a septic system. We include sketches and photos that help you learn what to look for, and we describe several methods useful for finding buried drainfield components. (Septic drain fields are also called soil absorption systems or seepage beds.) Also see How to Find the Septic Tank. More videos on septic system location & maintenance are at SEPTIC VIDEOS. In the page top photo you can see septic effluent running across a rocky surface during our septic loading test. Actually effluent was running across this rock before we began our septic test, but our dye succeed in proving that the wet area was indeed coming from a failed septic system. A conventional tank and drainfield could not work in this location. Citation of this article by reference to this website and brief quotation for the sole purpose of review are permitted. Use of this information at other websites, in books or pamphlets for sale is reserved to the author. Technical reviewers and content suggestions are welcome and are credited at "References." This is a chapter of Inspecting, Testing, & Maintaining Residential Septic Systems an online book on septic systems. © Copyright 2009 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website. How to Find the Septic System Drainfield - Part 9Surprising Leachfield LocationsDrainfields may be located very distant from the building and or septic tank
The reason this is abnormal is that it is expensive and trouble to dig great distances and there must either be proper slope (elevation change) between the tank and drainfield, or a pumping system is needed. So normally the septic contractor will not put a septic system component farther away from the building or the tank than is necessary. But rocky sites, steeps slopes, ponds, or other site features may mean that the tank or drainfield are located surprisingly far from the building they serve. Drainfields may be located off of the property they serve and even across a road or highwayWe've found leaching beds that were located across a public highway from the house and septic tank. We've found leaching beds that were not on the owner's property at all. The "drainfield" may turn out to be a nearby stream or lake
In the photo at left you can see that this septic tank is less than ten feet from a lake. For example, at properties along Wappingers Creek in Dutchess County, NY, many of the homes located their drainfields downhill from the house and too close to the creek. In times of spring rains the creek floods and floods the drainfield area. These are not working drainfields and are unsanitary. At a home inspection at one of these properties we found that the previous owner had installed a straight pipe from the end of his failed drainfield right into the creek. Our septic loading and dye test was turning Wappingers Creek a reddish pink! There may be no drainfield at all
This farm property, which we were inspecting outside Frankfort, Germany in 1968, had toilets but no working drainfield at all. Watch out.
... Technical Reviewers & References
Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website. SEPTIC DRAINFIELD LOCATION Detailed Guide for Finding Other Septic System ComponentsSEPTIC SYSTEMS HOMEHOW TO FIND A SEPTIC TANK SEPTIC SEARCH SAFETY WHO KNOWS SEPTIC LOCATION? FIND MAIN WASTE LINE EXIT DISTANCE TO TANK POSSIBLE SEPTIC TANK LOCATIONS VISUAL CLUES LOCATE TANK WHERE TO LOOK SEPTIC TANK DEPTH SEPTIC TANK LOCATING EQUIPMENT SEPTIC TANK COVERS DOCUMENT TANK LOCATION DRAINFIELD LOCATION Septic Systems Bookstore SEPTIC VIDEOS |
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10/23/2009 - 12/24/2006 - InspectAPedia.com/septic/Septic_Drainfield_Location8.htm - © 2009 - 1988 Copyright Daniel Friedman All Rights Reserved - InspectAPedia® is a Registered U.S. Trademark