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OUTSIDE INSPECTION of the SEPTIC SYSTEM - Simple Visual Site Inspection Gives Key Information About Septic System Condition SepticAPedia © How to Perform a Septic Loading & Dye Test: Septic Testing Procedure Details - a chapter of "Inspecting, Testing, & Maintaining Residential Septic Systems" Enter your search terms Submit search form   Search This Website - InspectAPedia.com

This document describes how to look for visual evidence of septic failure without or before testing a septic system and also difficult site conditions that may require special measures to install a working septic system. A later page, FAILURE SPOTS, which is part of our STEP BY STEP procedure, describes where you're likely to see actual evidence of septic failure during a loading and dye test. Looking for these conditions can give key information about the condition of the septic system before (and perhaps without) performing a septic loading and dye test and also before (and perhaps without) invasive septic system inspection measures such as excavation. Anyone buying a property or owning a property and needing to assess the condition of the septic system should consider this easy procedure. Simply paying attention to a building site's shape and other visual clues can give critically important information. These pages are part of our SEPTIC DYE TEST PROCEDURE for testing septic system function. Technical review by industry experts has been performed and is ongoing - reviewers are listed at "References." Comments and suggestions for content are welcome. Use of this information at other websites is prohibited; reproduction in electronic or printed form is prohibited. © Copyright 2008 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use the links at page left to navigate this document or to go to Other Website Topics. Green links at left show where you are in our document & website.

The observations described here can be performed regardless of whether or not a septic test is planned at a property.There are often visual clues, such as the ones described here, which can be strong indicators of a history of septic system problems or of a building site which will involve special difficulties in installing an effective onsite wastewater disposal system.

These site observations can increase the property owner, seller, or buyer's understanding of the chances that significant costs are likely to be faced in providing or repairing the septic system.

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IMMEDIATE FAILURE EVIDENCE - Immediate evidence of septic failure

Before starting a septic dye test some in building and outside site inspection are very important. For example, in the photo shown here, the soapy water on the ground surface by this pool combined with the knowledge (from inspection and via owner) that the pool was constructed partly atop the leach field, was such clear evidence of a failure that no dye test was required. So perhaps the first question should be is there already evidence of a septic system failure or of a site with special problems or unsafe conditions?

Visible septic system components: tank cover, tank pumping access ports, marker stones, D-boxes, vents are obvious indicators that should be observed and recorded before, during, and after the septic test. In the photo shown here, the septic tank was obviously home-made, and was about 4 ft. by 4 ft., abutting the home, and (we were told) about 4 ft. deep - this tank is too small to be functional by any modern standard. It also was a strong suggestion that other "home made" septic components would be at the property. This system sent dyed septic effluent to the surface of the yard on a single toilet flush. Do you see that pump in the center of the photo foreground? The owner had used it to pump effluent from his septic tank across the yard surface (pipes exposed to freezing) to his leach field. An agent who stood insisting that the system was "perfectly fine" had the bad luck to be sprayed with dyed septic effluent as soon as the pump began to run.

• Existing tank access ports: if the tank location is known, is there a readily accessible and reasonably easily opened septic tank inspection or pumping port?

LOOK FOR COMPONENTS - Look for Septic System Components

• Possible Tank Locations: what are the likely locations for a septic tank?
• Shared systems What are all of the possible locations for a tank on the property? Perhaps there is essentially none, or room for a tank but no absorption system. Do not assume that all septic components are even on the property. Some older properties were built with shared septic systems, or individual tanks and a shared leach field. Later owners may never have been told that their leach field was on a neighbor's property, and vice versa.
• Space for septics? Is there even room for a conventional tank and drainfield at this property?

Are there site encumbrances likely to make installation or replacement of the septic system difficult or costly, such as nearby streams or lakes, storm drains, trees, rocky or steep site conditions (see our septic failure case examples), or limited distances from a well or property boundary? Remember to check nearby streams and lakes during and after the dye test. Are there pipes extending from the property into a nearby stream, possibly discharging septage? The site shown in this photo was all that was available to place a septic system. Rocky and steep, a conventional system could not work properly (though special steep slope septic system designs are available. This system appeared to be in failure before we started our test - we saw water, probably septic effluent running over a rock just below the reported (new) septic tank. Our dye confirmed that it was from the septic system. Here is the same rock ledge with increased effluent flow as soon as we started our septic test. Sewage from this system had been discharging to the surface from an overflow pipe or from the bottom of a tiny, home made seepage pit which itself was sitting on solid rock, sending septic effluent running downhill to Wappingers Creek and from there to the Hudson River for decades. We were informed by the agent that the system was in perfect working order but that the owners, simply to improve the "curb appeal" of the property, had just installed a new septic tank. Unfortunately what was needed was an entire steep slope system to handle the effluent. The seller's money was not well spent.

How to Inspect DIFFICULT SEPTIC SITES - Indicators of Difficult Septic Installation Sites

Flat site near lake: The land shown in this photo was a new home site which not only had standing water, but had only a few feet of elevation between the yard top grade and the top of the nearby lake also shown in the photo. I couldn't imagine how a conventional septic tank and drain field would work in this location. Here is a photo of the septic tank being installed at this property. That downspout you see spilling by the foundation needs to be extended away from the home, but not where the roof drainage will simply enter the septic tank and flood the leach field. Here is a photo of the end of the home footing drain, higher than where the bottom of a leach field trench needs to go, and spilling into the lake. Here is a photo of the contractor's "repair" of the exposed footing drain and minimal soil depth at the property. I can't inform readers of what the building department ultimately had to say about this installation.

• Site slope and runoff: Is surface runoff, sump pump drainage, storm drainage, or building roof runoff directed onto the septic tank or drain field area? (Risks flooding the system.)
• Vehicle areas: Is there evidence of driving or parking on the leachfield or over a tank? (Risks damaging the system or dangerous collapse.)
• Soil conditions before septic test start: What are soil and site conditions before start of the test: are there wet areas, evidence of surface discharge of effluent or sewage, green grassy or soft, suspect areas? Odors? It is important to be able to record these conditions and their extent before and after testing.
• Mound systems vs. original site: Has the mound system been constructed over a natural surface drainage path or stream? Are trees and stumps sticking out of the mound (meaning it was used to bury site debris not to make a proper absorption field)?

How to Inspect for Evidence of Recent Work on a Septic System

Evidence of recent work:Is there evidence of recent pump-out such as a maintenance record, information from the property owner, or evidence of recent excavation that could mark an access to a septic tank? In the photo shown here, discarded waste pipes left on the property surface were a strong indication of recent septic work.

In this photo of freshly piled soil, dirt had been pushed over septic system components located at the top of a steep slope, suggesting possible system operating problems which the contractor hoped to "correct" by burying a wet area. If he/she had gotten off of the backhoe to walk into the woods and look at the far end of this new dirt pile, s/he'd have seen that the dirt push was inadequate even to disguise a problem much less fix it. These measures are disappointing in their ineffectiveness and on occasion are suggestive of malfeasance too. The straw bales in the last photo were an ineffective prior attempt to ameliorate the effluent flow out of this system.

Safety Advice for Septic System Testing & Inspection

Is there any visual evidence of unsafe site conditions such as subsidence, collapse, sink holes, or report of presence of a cesspool, missing or damaged tank covers, or other old or site-built equipment? (If so dangerous, possibly fatal conditions could be present and it may be appropriate to rope off suspect areas and postpone any testing at all).

Navigating in the Septic Dye Test Procedure Text

If you are reading by scrolling down in this document instead of using the links at left, continue reading with STEP BY STEP

More Information About Septic Systems - Onsite Waste Disposal Design, Maintenance, Repair

• Return to the septic system textbook: Inspecting, Testing, & Maintaining Residential Septic Systems
• The Septic Information Website
  
  
• Safety Warnings to Septic System Inspectors
• Testing Water for Real Estate Transactions - Water Test Cheating Warnings for Home Buyers and Home Inspectors.
• Home & Outdoor Living Water Requirements
• Septic Tank Capacity vs Usage in Daily Gallons of Wastewater Flow calculating septic tank volume and septic tank size required
• How Big Should the Leach Field Be? - table of soil percolation rate vs. field size
• The Home Buyer's Guide to Septic Systems
• Material Safety Data Sheet MSDS for Red Septic Dye from Tramfloc.
• MSDS for Septic Dye Tablets from Tramfloc.
• MSDS for Septic Dye Liquid from Tramfloc.
• Septic Dye Technical Data Bulletin from Tramfloc.
• Tramfloc, Inc. source of septic system testing tracer dyes
• Bright Dyes Inc. source of septic system testing tracer dyes
• Pollard Water source of septic system testing tracer dyes

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