Found abandoned septic tank in my back yard

Ok so this is my second post, the first being my intro. I know it says differently in my account. It says this is my third, I think...don't know how that happened. So point being, forgive me if I make mistakes.

Anyway... I was doing a little landscaping in my yard, by the way I rent, and was moving some landscape pavers that seemed to be out of place. They were not in any way located on what would be a natural foot path through the yard. There were two 18"x18" side by side. After I moved the second one I was using a hoe to level out. The dirt to plant grass seed and I hit a fairly large flat stone. So I picked it up and there was a hole. It was really dark so I grabbed a stick and and reached as far down as I could and didn't touch the bottom. Then I dropped a pebble, there was water in the bottom, as I heard a little splash. So I asked around, and apparently my neighborhood was put on city water about 12 years ago.

So my question is this.

Would it be worth trying to pump out the water and taking a little look see, to see if this thing could be used as a shelter if anything crazy were to happen?
I live on the outskirts of a small city and I sont think I could escape very quickly. And if the neighborhood which is fairly large, is full of these things maybe we could all have shelter.

It seems like a pretty good idea to me , but any unforeseen you can point out or tips would be appreciated.

reply to post by Wetpaint72


Interesting idea...

I personally would not. If it is a septic tank, odds are it is not very large when measured in terms of living space. And it would need to be seriously cleaned out before it would even be safe to get into. And if it is very old at all, it is likely deteriorated and not in very good shape structurally.

So the cost would be pretty high, I think, for a pretty limited return. Especially given that you are renting, unless you are planning to buy the place.

It could work out well, but not terribly likely, I'm afraid.

Good thinking, though...

reply to post by Wetpaint72


When you opened up the tank; you didn't smell anything?

www.inspectapedia.com...

Myself, I would rather take the consequences above ground than hunker down in a septic tank!

Anyway, good luck!

reply to post by Open_Minded Skeptic


It didn't stink or anything and it is concrete. From what I can tell it is about 6 feet tall. I can't tell the length though. Do you know how I would even begin to get the water out. If that would be reasonable cost, just so I could see what I was dealing with, I would be willing to at least do that.

reply to post by Wetpaint72


Be careful, first of all...

If it is a septic tank (and a concrete tank certainly suggests that), then for obvious reasons you don't want to be messing with what is in there. If it is clean, you could get a simple sump pump and pump it out, but if you don't know what you are getting into, that could turn into a gigantic mess in a real hurry.

There should be someone there locally to you that does septic tank service, you can probably get them to come pump it out and inspect it... they have the equipment to do it safely. If it is a septic tank and you pump it, you might even be in trouble for pollution issues, which a septic service company would not.

As it happens, I just had mine pumped out, and it cost $240 + tax to get it done (actually cost more, but we had to find the tank, which you already have).

Regarding smell, if it was pumped out when decommissioned, and has been sitting for a while unused, it might not necessarily smell real bad without being disturbed. So I would not use smell alone as an indicator.

Good luck with it... and use caution.

Yeah I agree with the other posters above.

This could quickly turn expensive.

But it's probably best to have some professionals with equipment come out and give you an estimate on what you are looking at here.

Sounds like a sh*tty place to live to me . Wondering if this happened recently as my part of the hemisphere is covered in 6 feet of snow and it would be somewhat difficult to plant grass right now . Any way , i'd have a bug out bag packed and ready to go before taking cover in a crap tank but that's just me so you go for it if you want to you stinker .

reply to post by Open_Minded Skeptic


Good idea. I guess I don't have to tell them why.. They should just pump it out no questions asked. Lol. That price seems reasonable. I would first like to pump it out to see how dry it would stay and for how long. I wouldn't want to hunker down and drown. And I would only want to use it as a last resort . If there were no other options. The idea of living a while in a septic tank isn't a pretty one. So the alternative would have to be worse for me to even consider it. But one never knows. It would have to be the lesser of two evils, but I'd like an option, when there seems to be not many choices where I am.

Absolutely NOT !

A USED Septic tank cannot be cleaned well enough for you to use as shelter. It will make you very, very sick if it does kill you first.

Brand New concrete septic tank makes an excellent emergency shelter. Low cost, strong, temporary shelter it fit’s the bill.

Remove & Replace is a good idea if you plan to rent for sometime. Couple years or so.

Removal is very easy and you then have a hole for the new one to go into. You can accomplish this for about $800 dollars start to finish.

An alternative is a “Rabbit Hole” You take the large concrete round pipe sections, three or four. Place together on top of the ground, then cover with soil. You have them above ground so that the rain does not come in and you are laying in water, Tornado comes, you run and jump into you hole, like a rabbit, hence rabbit hole. Cost is under $300

reply to post by bandito


Sorry to hear about the snow. I live in very south Florida. It has been 80 degreese fo about a week! Come on down. Have a mini vacation! You could help me check it out lol. I promise it doesn't stink!

You may have a constant penetration of ground water in that tank and waterproofing it would require extensive excavation of the perimeter etc etc. At best, you may be able to convert this structure into a temporary storm shelter of sorts.

If you dig it out, you can just replace it with one of these little guys.

www.hardenedstructures.com...

Good luck and have fun.

reply to post by brokedown


Awesome. Now that is within the old budget. And thank you and everyone else for all the helpful advice. I don't really have any where else to go so I thought it would be a place to start to search for options. So is rabbit hole what I should search...is this the manufacturer brand or just slang.
Thanks again.

reply to post by Wetpaint72


I believe what you found is called a Cistern. In the days before city water and electricity everyone had one, they would collect rain water. I can remember my Mom and Grandma would not wash their hair in nothing but rain water. We also had barrels around the house, to catch rainwater. I would just break the cement enough so that you can landscape it down, and fill it with dirt and rocks. Again, I don't think it's a septic tank.

reply to post by autowrench


This is what I was going to suggest, especially if there were no major stinks coming from it.
You may even want to check if it is still usuable, having off mains water can be a good little bonus.

reply to post by Wetpaint72


My answer is:
If it is a septic tank then no leave it be... the odds of finding a nasty pathogen are to great

but is it a septic tank????

Where I live lots of folks have storm cellars... and it wasn't that many years ago, bomb shelters was a booming biz...

Still if your that into to the idea see if you can dip a can on a string into the brackish water, take it to a lab and see if it's safe... that should be your next step before doing anything else...

reply to post by Wetpaint72


If you a renter, I am assuming you don't own the property. Therefore you shouldn't be messing around with it.
Discuss the situation with your landlord. Secondly, the tank should probably be filled with sand or gravel for
safety reasons. So a child or animal can't fall in there. Lastly, messing around inside a septic tank is the last
thing you want to do, unless it was completely cleaned and sterilized. If someone gets hurt due to your tinkerings,
you could be liable legally and financially. Regards.

Are you sure this is an abandoned septic tank and not an abandoned well for water? From the sounds of it, you might have stumbled across either an artesian well (I have one on my property, but we get our water from a 200 ft. deep well on the other side of the property), or perhaps just a normal well. I would have someone come in to check it out. If you can get some sort of water sample, that might tell you something as well (no pun intended). The color of the water, the smell, etc. will be your first indicator. You can get a simple water testing kit at any science supply store or online. If this is indeed a well and not a septic tank, you might have found yourself a nice little stock pile of potable water in a time of crisis. Either way, I wish you luck in finding out what this is. Please keep us updated.



Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

reply to post by autowrench


How would I tell the difference. I did originally think that septic tanks were metal, which is why I asked the neighbors. But neither of them were there when the transition initially occurred to city water. So they were just relaying what they had heard. Why fill it? Could it still be used to collect water? Or could it not be pumped?

Originally posted by Wetpaint72
reply to post by bandito

 

Sorry to hear about the snow. I live in very south Florida. It has been 80 degreese fo about a week! Come on down. Have a mini vacation! You could help me check it out lol. I promise it doesn't stink!

Sure , rub it in . 110 degrees warmer than it was here last night . True . 46 below last week and the ground is frozen 6 feet down so pretty hard digging a septic tank here , if i wanted to , which i don't . I have a poop phobia .

reply to post by truthseeker1984


Holy crap maybe you guys are on to something. I do live in very south coastal Florida. Maybe it is a storm shelter or something. I know the neighborhood was established as a " neighborhood" as early as the 1940's. But was settled much much earlier. And I also thought that the city filled the septic tanks with rock or something when they made the transition, for safety reasons. Hmmm maybe I should ask more questions around here.