I am wanting to buy a 2 acre piece of land that had a septic system installed sometime around 2002.  The owner was planning on putting a trailer on the lot, but the city wouldn't allow a trailer so the septic system has never been used.  My questions are:

1.  How do I find out how big the tank is?  I tried calling the county health department, but there is no address for the property and without that they need the original permit holders name, which I don't have.  

2.  If the existing tank is 1000 gallons, can I add a second 500 gallon tank for a 4 bedroom home?

3.  Would a 15 year old never used tank and lateral lines be worth using for a new home if the tank was the right size to use?

4.  Would i have to remove the old tank and lateral lines if I have to upsize or could I abandon them in place?


Thanks.  

These are all questions for a septic designer. But the size of the holding tank is not what determines the capacity of a system, it's the size of the leach field.

Seems like a visit to the tax assessor would be an easy way to determine the previous owner.

I had an old timer septic repair guy tell me that if the leach field is clay tile, having the pipes "dry" is bad and leads to them collapsing.

I'm not really sure how true this is as the soil should be pretty moist most of time. But this old guy had not been to my property in probably twenty years but when he came out, he knew / remembered exactly where my tank, junction boxes and fields are.

I've been talking to the guy who owns the land and I know his daughter had the septic system installed, but that doesn't help me find the records with the county health department because the permit wasn't pulled in either of their names.  More than likely whoever installed it pulled the permit and no one remembers who that was.  I've done quite a bit of digging with what information i can find, just cant connect the dots yet.

Find the tank , dig up the cleanout and have someone with a septic repair/installers license or a civil engineer inspect it . It will likely need pumping to see condition and size.

If the location is within a health district or town/city the local building department/health department will get a say on your ability to use part or all of the existing system .

Depending on the local soil type there are all sorts of rules/regs on what size / type of system is suitable for what size house.

Local health/building dept might give you some design help , or they might tell you to have your engineer bring his plan to them for approval .

No simple answer here , you will likely need some help from some local  . Lots of different issues both from what will work with the local soil types and how much control the local government has in the way of rules and regulations

See if there is a GIS website for the county. Locate the property and you should be able to see lot numbers, tax IDs, and stuff that would help the health department pull info.

Shouldn't be hard to get the names of who has owned the property.  First go to tax assessor and give parcel ID to them. Have them find past owner during that time frame.  Next go to local health dept and give them name of owner who installed tank.  The good news is that you know around when the tank was installed. I would think that the system may be useable in the condition it is in. As mentioned previously, have a septic person inspect it.  First need to find the cleanout door.


I needed to find out well info in the area of my vacant land.  I went to the assessor and then the health dept.  Within 48 hrs I had the owner's name and depth of every well drilled within a mile of my land.

There may not have been a permit pulled.

ETA.   I am a civil engineer and have designed a few septic systems.   Before you assume that you can use that one, have it tested for function.  

It may be just fine, but verify before making an offer.  Also make all offers subject to septic approval for your house

If it is ok and was permitted originally.  The lateral lines may be able to be expanded to meet current standards.  

The smaller tank will just have to be pumped sooner.

This.

Thanks everyone.  

As indicated above, if they pulled a permit they had to have a plot plan of the property indicating where the tank and lines were installed, size of tank and length of lines. The plot plan has to have a tax lot/block number which you will have to know before you can get the deed or a loan to purchase. Start backtracking with the current seller to find the deed (title search) which has all the poop you should need to get the permit info.

Cautionary sentence here..........
'IF' the property owner abandoned the land before it was system was inspected you might not have a full system, ie. they might have covered up everything and left without finishing it.