Water in a septic tank can become sludge.
Measuring the capacity of an underground tank is a useful step in figuring out the size of a septic tank, especially if you need to know its size in order to determine whether it can accommodate your household needs. If you are pulling permits on your house for construction, some local governmental agencies will require you to mark the capacity of the septic tank. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Open the cover to the underground tank.
2. Insert a dry 1 inch by 3 inch by 8 foot furring strip into the underground tank until it touches the bottom of the tank. A furring strip is a thin piece of wood that is used for framing; it is useful for measuring an underground tank because of its thin size and long length.
3. Place a mark on the furring strip where it touches the top of the tank when the other end of the furring strip is touching the bottom of the tank.
4. Remove the furring strip from the underground tank.
5. Measure the distance from the water mark left on the strip to the line that marked the top of the tank. You can use the water level to find out how many gallons of water are in the tank if you know its total gallon capacity.
6. Measure the amount of water inside the tank by dividing the total capacity of the tank in gallons by the number of feet from the top of the tank to the bottom. For example, 200 gallons total tank capacity divided by four feet of height equals 50 gallons per foot. This will give you the gallons per feet capacity of the tank. Multiply that gallons per feet capacity by the distance from the bottom of the tank to the water mark on the furring strip. This will give you the amount of water in the tank by gallons.
Tags: furring strip, underground tank, bottom tank, septic tank, amount water, capacity tank, distance from
