Steve B wrote:
I went to my cabin this week to dig up the septic tank cap. I found where
the line came out of the house, and followed it for a few feet. It was
angled down into the ground at a steep angle, and I did not reach the tank.

I took two metal dowsing rods and located all the branches off the line from
the house. It looks like there is a main line from the cabin, a branch off
that, and then five lateral lines off that branch. I could not locate a
septic tank. We ran a hose down the line from the house, and it went twenty
feet straight to a point on the hill where past that, there could not be a
tank. And none of the lines hooked into a line coming out of where a tank
might be. At bottom is an attempt of what the lines look like.

How could/did you know the hose didn't just go into a tank rather than
continuing down a line? (Not saying it didn't, mind you, but don't know
from what you've said how you could tell where the end really was, only
how much had been played out...)

A friend of mine who is in construction big time suggested that the whole
thing was made without a septic tank, as it is a seasonal cabin, and only
gets light use.

Pretty reasonable "surmisation" I think given the data (assuming
there is a way to resolve the possible discrepancy raised above).
....

Anyone ever heard of this? What would you do?

Sure, lots of folks get by "on the cheap" if they can sneak it by the
inspectors or don't bother to get inspected or aren't subject to it.

What to do--how long has it been this way and are there problems at
present? If quite a while and no problems (so far), how is the usage
you foresee in comparison to previous? If continue light use
seasonally, it might just continue to function adequately for quite some
time. OTOH, if you become permanent residents, bring in a bunch of kids
and/or visitors, it could well fail in a month or two. Do you have to
meet a current code for some reason now that wasn't before?

What _ought_ to be done almost certainly of course, is to add a septic
tank if it doesn't have one...what you can get away with and for how
long is an unanswerable question. Of course, if the laterals are still
functioning now and you add the tank, you can probably keep them from
clogging w/ solids and not have to replace the drainfield. If you risk
over-use and _do_ clog the laterals, then it's the whole system
replacement instead of just a tank.

Of course, I've seen some cabins where there was the traditional
building w/ a half-moon in the door for that portion of the waste and
only "gray water" went down the drains. Mostly in mountains where
finding enough soil to make even a minimal rudimentary drainfield was a
major problem...

HTH at least some...

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