It Happens

[Clint Carter]

So this weekend i bought a parts tractor and some implments from a guy whos late father owned and went to pick it up. The first thing i asked was were do you want me to drive to get in the back to get to the stuff, and he told me the way he wanted to go. I then asked were is the septic tank for the house located, he then said (I think it is up at the back coner of the house, but dont worry, there is back there you can tear up!) I then said OK, So I drove in and loaded everything up and on my way out IT HAPPENED The good thing is that the the septic tank was for an old house that was moved down the hill and was not using this tank anymore.

[Harold R]

Oops. Hope you got out without tearing your truck up. Sounds like the owner was ok about it.

[Clint Carter]

I used the winch mounted on the front of the trailer and a tree about 20 yards back behind the truck and it puilled it right out, i fill very lucky, it did not tear anything up, and i got out with out a tow truck. the hole was about 7 feet deep, 4 foot wide and 6foot long

[RaymondDurban]

Yikes!! That's never good!! Glad you made it out unscathed, that could have gotten expensive quick!!

[VinceD]

Although that gives rise to some really bad jokes, I'm glad you got out OK with no damage.

[Eugene]

A deep hole appeared last spring in back yard of Mom's house. Probed the ground and hit concrete about 8 to 10 inches down. Shoveled off the dirt. Put a jack hammer to what turned out to be a large concrete cover. Concrete just crumbled away. Turned out it was a very old septic tank that Mom didn't know was there. We solved what could have been a dangerous situation.

Years ago my Dad drove a fuel tanker wagon/truck that serviced farmers. Farm owner wasn't sure where the septic tank was until the tank wagon fell in.

[Tezell]

Talk about luck!! I am afraid mine would have not been that good.

[Bus Driver]

Our first septic tank was home built, long before the days of inspections. I think the US Dept of Agriculture published plans and instructions. Ours was concrete block walls with concrete floor. Given our finances, the floor might have been a bit thinner than specified and might have had extra sand in the mix. The top was slabs of concrete made in lumber forms. The top was 6 pieces as I remember and the slabs were placed cantilevered on the walls and butting in the middle. Definitely would not handle vehicle traffic, but it never collapsed from foot or mowing traffic.

[Eugene]

Good topic. Reminded me that I have an old septic tank in the back yard. Outline of tank shows up during dry spells. Need to open it up. Fill. Just put the task on my "to do list".

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Eugene, maybe the city of Lynn has a Superfund to help with clean up of hazardous items like that. Wonder if the drain field is good or if it is still connected to city sewer so the fluids in it have some place to go when you start filling it in.

[Eugene]

I talked to the water and sewer superintendant several years ago about testing the tank to see if it was still or even connected to the city sewer. Never heard back.

House dates from 1897. Guessing septic tank would have been installed around that time since the inlet is inside the current garage. Probably full - hopefully.

[Bus Driver]

I helped dig three sites for the "Little Brown Shack Out Back" over 50 years ago. It was simply moved over to the new hole each time. One of those sites continues to slowly subside an inch or so each year.

[beaconlight]

Don't remember them being septic tanks till later on. Weren't they originally cess pools? Septic tanks were not called that till steel and or concrete came along.