Last week we had some major septic tank problems and I didn’t realize how little I knew about septic tanks. I always thought they were pretty straight forward, just a big concrete box in the ground where all your junk goes, simple right? Sort of. When ours broke down, with it went the running water for five days until it could be fixed and I decided then was a good time to start learning about my septic tank so that I can avoid this in the future. I’m writing a short hub page to tell you the most important thing I learned about my septic tank. There is no theory here, just practical advice that I have followed and it WILL save my back in the future.

So let’s start with my dumbest move of the year. I didn’t realize that normal septic tanks have three different openings on the top. I did some major landscaping in the spring, near my septic tank, and I thought I was being clever by leaving the lid to the septic tank covered by one easily removed rock. So when we had this little septic tank problem, I was very proud of myself for having planned ahead in my landscaping. The lid was close to the surface, I could uncover it in less than a minute and I was patting myself on the back. I called the septic service and the septic tank guy asked me, “is the opening accessible” and I said, “yes of course, this isn’t amateur hour.” He was able to squeeze me in five days later; five days without running water. The whole family was anxious for the fifth day so that we could finally shower again!

Upon arrival the first thing the septic man did was look at my perfectly accessible septic tank opening shake his head. He told me that this septic tank has three openings with three lids and the one I had left easily accessible was only a vent for the gases. The main open, where the junk is pumped from, was 4 feet away under a 3 foot deep pile of hard dirt. Yeah, I felt like an idiot.

The next day I spent three hours digging 3 feet up my gorgeous landscaping to find the main lid of my septic tank. I was pretty close to breaking my back, but I guess it was a happy sacrifice to be able to shower again. How can you benefit from my mistake? Easy, find your septic tank lid BEFORE you have septic tank problems!

The first thing I did after having the septic tank pumped was install a septic riser because I did not want to go through this ordeal again. Septic risers are either concrete or some sort of plastic and they allow easy access to your septic tank’s main entry. They are a few feet high and they can be cut to size. You install them directly over the lid of your septic tank, then you fill dirt or gravel in around them. I think keeping your septic tank buried under a few feet of dirt is a good idea otherwise the neighborhood could get a little stinky. Everybody who likes stinky neighborhoods put your hands up…that’s what I thought!