Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How much weight can a septic tank cover handle?

Concrete, I believe have one septic system on the new property that I don't know exactly where it is... I know the location, drain field etc, but not the tank lid. Worried if I drive a Kubota L2501 over it... Perhaps even a 600#+ Zero turn mower. I guess I should just pay to find it exactly. The other one I know where it is.

How deep is it?

A tile probe should find it.

I made a probe with a 5/6" rod, and a ball bearing weld on the end.

Little tractor, ZTR should be fine.

Darn sure need to find it.
You ever gave a truck drive through,
It won't be nice.

Anxiously awaiting pix that are surely to follow

Perhaps you can try a metal detector to find the actual cover, that should have rebar..

L frame is fine to drive over it however I wouldn’t park on too if it!!!

If it's concrete, keep in mind that freezing and thawing can cause cracks. Even if it's plenty sturdy upon installation, I never trusted a tractor on top. Each corner is flagged for ease of visability. It can be hand mowed, weed eater, etc.

I don't even want the tractor close to mine. I have a repair to make from the last mowing where the guy got too close and clipped the corner. It was well marked and I walked him to it. He must've gotten stoned or mad about something.

I’d find it, you’ll need to know sooner or later if you have stoppage issues. There is nothing more fuucked up than running a sewer cable in a septic tank, grease, oil trap, or any other type of interceptor and getting it hung up.

I have mine by a circle drive that goes around house, had stock trailer on that side of house, Swans food truck couldn't get by trailer, so he drove big tandem axle truck over top of tank, I jumped his ass, made him call big boss , pics sent , still have not had any trouble , been 4 years ago.

We found ours accidently with a tractor and it wasn't pretty. It was a brick tank with a concrete cover. Use a metal detector or the probe as suggested earlier. Don't drive on it as it may be in poor condition.

We replaced ours about ten years ago with a larger concrete tank and two risers with a lid as ours is pretty deep. No problems with the tank but it is well marked these days.

We found ours accidently with a tractor and it wasn't pretty. It was a brick tank with a concrete cover. Use a metal detector or the probe as suggested earlier. Don't drive on it as it may be in poor condition.

We replaced ours about ten years ago with a larger concrete tank and two risers with a lid as ours is pretty deep. No problems with the tank but it is well marked these days.

You need to find the tank and the lid. period. I owned a septic pumping company for 22 years and have seen more that one tank collapsed because the home owner did not know it was there. Also, Many concrete tanks experience what is called gas erosion. This is when the hydrogen sulfide that is given off by the anaerobic breakdown of the organics rises and mixes with the air above the top of the outlet baffle. Once it mixes it turns into sulfuric acid and eats and weakens the concrete. I saw many tanks with enough gas erosion that the tank lost all its structural integrity and had to be replaced. If there is unseen gas erosion you can even stick a probe right through the top of the lid or the tank. Been there and done that.

This one is at the MIL quarters, a single wide. Planning on getting rid of it, but the septic and well are still there. Had the main house pumped and inspected, but not this one. I know the clear areas around it, and that is where it is, as to the cover?? \Guess I will get it pumped and I guess filled in/decommissioned.

3,203 pounds point loaded in the middle (dry dirt )

(Y-2%)÷L= SWL.

Y= Yield

L= luck

When I had my septic tank installed I specifically asked the guy if it would handle the weight of my MF471 (6600 lbs) driving over it, he assured me it would. So far it’s held up fine.

If it’ll handle my tractor I wouldn’t worry about a tractor weighing 1/3 as much.

Ya , find that sucker fast! I read about the erosion above. Very appropriate, and if all the pre cast concrete were actually poured in controlled environments with the latest mix designs it would be fine, but quite often it is poured too wet, dried too fast (without curing) and lousy mix design, or in some instances left over mud from another pour! Weak concrete does not last as long as it should !

Local Health department should have a plat with it located or at the very least a drawing.

Jack,
Don't know what they have done in Virginia, but here....

It's not uncommon for older homes to be bought, and in the sale process or
remodel....to find a stacked block tank, or an oil barrel tank, or.....

Today it's tightly regulated, has been since the late 80's.
Before that, not so much.



Reading about the gas erosion, never heard of it.

A few townships require pumping every three years, with an inspection.
That is not a popular thing. Not at $200 to pump.

Ours doesn't, and my friend the supervisor assures me it won't change.
Even that, right now, varies from twp to twp within the same county.

Yes find it, pump it out and have the baffles inspected. If they’re the older concrete type, one or both may have fallen off. You can have them replaced with pvc. Then stay off of it with anything but the lawn mower. Shouldn’t be that hard to find. If you can find your clean out tee outside the house that’ll help get you going in the right direction.

Back to the original question:

New tank installed during construction of the house across the street from me.

It handled a cement truck that backed over it going into the yard, it did NOT handle it coming back out..................

It didn't handle the weight going across either. The truck just finished it off on the return trip over. Normal residential septic tanks are not designed to have concentrated ground pressure on them. A foot of ground cover, lawn mowers. One is pushing the envelope when cars and pickups are driven over them. The newer two and three compartment tanks that are required are more forgiving. A concrete truck driver should know better than to drive over a septic tank and should be one of his first questions as to where it is when he gets on the job.

Our septic tank lid is in the yard. But the diverter valve is in cattle pasture - during the 25 years it had a concrete lid, the cows walked on it at will. When I had to replace it with a plastic diverter assembly, I read the specs on the lid and have since fenced the cows off of it.

I put the PVC risers on my lids and then the PVC cover over that, Now I know exactly where it is at. I keep a few small stones under 0ne corner of the the septic tank lids to let the gas escape and the riser is vented

For a lotta years back even in far northern Minnesota the septic tank installers have had to file paperwork and a sketch of location to the city or county. Have you tried checking there just to see if there are such records?

Osky

Use risers. If you need to get to your tank, it’s less than 5 mins and you are in. Plus, everyone can see location.

Bought property last year. First thing I installed. Replaced pump while I was there since it was 17 years old.

My brother drives a 1200 lb scag over his sometimes 2x a week.

Should is the magic word. Franklin Co. Health Dept clerk couldn't (wouldn't) look up the data without knowing the date the house was built. That took a trip across town to the hall of records where they have 3 different systems of retrieving property information, but first we had to go thru a bunch of old books before accessing the microfiche (remember them?) system that didn't work unless you hit the monitor in just the right spot. It took 2 hours with the help of an older woman who had worked there for decades. On my own it would never have been found. Then returning to the health dept. they only had an approximate position. It was explained that at times (70s & earlier) in the past the only maps that were drawn could have been in the dust on the hood of the county truck. Never did find that tank for sure & I lived there for 10 years. It was supposed to be pumped every 5 years due the lake being within 100 yards. Oh well...

Rural Arkansas, no permits for anything. MIL quarters have not been lived in for at least 4 years. I suppose the tank could actually be empty. (or full of ground water) I bought the property and of course the main house. The Single wide was transferred with no value. It's in good shape however, livable with all appliances HVAC etc. No need of it, perhaps I could keep everything and put the 5th wheel there (power, water, septic) Going to get the septic company that did the main house to come and check it over. Life has enough problems one can't control. This one I can.

If it is a modern tank there would be options for a traffic rated cover or a standard cover from most tank suppliers... just like electrical vaults... Unless you can find the installer and paperwork from the original install it is a crapshoot of course.... no pun intended...

If it has ever been pumped out, the company that pumped it may know where it is located if you can figure out who did the pumping...

When I was a kid, I worked for an excavator where we were putting in septic tanks and drain fields. I think you said you basically know where it is. To find the exact location, you can probably use a metal detector. The concrete tanks that we put in had a 6" square plug about a foot from each end with a 24" round hatch in the middle. Around here, building code is for the tank to be about 18" below grade. Unfortunately, I've seen them as deep as 30". I'd pump it out and fill it with sand if you're getting rid of the trailer.

I wouldn't drive anything bigger than a lawn mower over it.

My OLD house in MO has a septic that didn't survive my BIL driving his tractor over it. Since he lived there it didn't concern me. He seemed a trifle upset though.