What is this? Septic?

Started by jesse977, May 13, 2016, 12:37:48 AM

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jesse977

Im buying a cabin in the desert. When I went to look at the cabin this was about 200 yards away. Is it a septic? it was up on a little hill above the cabin. The neighbors home is pictured in the background.


jesse977



CabinNick

There are others on here that would know much better than I but the first rusted out tank sure looks like a heating oil tank.  The other looks like a water tank. 

jesse977



the tank is where im standing in this pic

glenn kangiser

Both a kind of odd looking installation.  Maybe loosen the caps and look or sniff?  ???
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.


Redoverfarm

Agree w/ Glenn.  Could be a cistern as well.   ???

flyingvan

Metal would be a poor choice for a septic tank.  They usually have big lids and no venting (unless it's an aerobic system, pretty high tech for a small desert application) and it's too shallow.  That said, people have done some pretty creative stuff over the years.   There's an urban (well, rural at least) legend of a buried school bus plumbed as a septic pit
Find what you love and let it kill you.

UK4X4

if the big tank is on a hill above the house...

Looks to me like the large steel tank was for holding water, with a fill and breath lines on top the desert looks like it was flattened to allow you to drive up to it and fill the tank from a vehicle

If the spade shovel is in the same position in each picture, then it would make sence that the steel drum rusted out, so they pulled back the plastic underground supply pipe from the steel drum and made a temporary connection to the plastic tank.

Dig down where the pallet is, and theres probably an outlet on the steel tank that goes no where.

Basically it looks like that's your gravity water system !

NathanS

Quote from: flyingvan on May 13, 2016, 08:19:10 AM
Metal would be a poor choice for a septic tank.  They usually have big lids and no venting (unless it's an aerobic system, pretty high tech for a small desert application) and it's too shallow.  That said, people have done some pretty creative stuff over the years.   There's an urban (well, rural at least) legend of a buried school bus plumbed as a septic pit

I was talking to my lumber sales person and she was saying that before engineered septic plans were required in our area people would use old cars create cesspools. She said that there are a lot of 'interesting' stories if you talk to the local excavators about stuff they find.


glenn kangiser

Makes the most sense if it was a water tank being on a hill above.  A septic system being uphill would require a sewage pump with a small collection tank  at the house.   ???
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

hpinson

The creativity in rural water storage and line routing you see is astounding.  My place has plastic water lines running here and there. One 1" line runs all the way across my property.

It turns out that several of my neighbors, in the 1980's were tapping into a productive well unbeknownst to the well owner.  Long 1" lines buried snaked to various adjacent properties. Storage was various tanks gleaned from the local oil industry.

There are also several buried 55 gallon drums, that were used for something.  ???

The sewer seepage tank was improvised to say the least. Half a fiberglass tank, open on the bottom, and no leach field.  The state made me dig it all up and collapse it.

I still am finding water lines here and there that I have no idea what the destination was. Some old chicken coop or horse pen?


bayview

Fuel Tank?

Smaller pipe for the pump . . . Larger for filling.

We had a buried tank on the farm that was used in the 1920-30's.   Still had the old fuel pump above ground - Until 1970's when the pump was removed.

It looked just like your picture when the pump was removed.

/.
    . . . said the focus was safety, not filling town coffers with permit money . . .