DIY guideSeptic system

Check the septic effluent filter

Find out whether your septic tank has an effluent filter in a riser of its own, and rinse it there. The tank's own lid stays shut.

7 steps

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Check the papers or the last pumping report: an effluent filter sits at the tank's outlet, on the drain field's side.
Look for a small cap of its own on the field's side of the tank. If it's under the tank's main lid, that's a pro's.
Put on rubber gloves and goggles, and have nobody run water in the house while you work.
Never lean over or reach into the opening: septic gases can make you pass out.
Open the small cap, pull the filter up by its handle, and hold it over the opening.
Spray it clean with the hose, letting the water run back down the opening, never onto the lawn.
Slide the filter back until it seats, close the cap tight, and wash up well.
Water standing high in the riser, a filter that won't come clean, or no riser of its own: ask Handyman for a septic pro.

Handyman says: Leave it closed. I'll find a septic pro.

Free for every home. Handyman asks a few questions, then books a pro it trusts.