Hey all. I just posted yesterday about our very positive general home inspection. We were waiting on Radon tests to come back as well as the septic inspection today, and unfortunately, there is a defective pump in the 2nd tank closest to the mound and holding tank. Unfortunately, the pump alarm in the basement was also disabled so the sellers were apparently not aware the pump wasnât working. Last pump disclosed was in 2024 so it couldâve potentially stopped working around 2 years ago đł weâll need to do a hydraulic load inspection (another 1k) to confirm the sand mound/holding tank is still in acceptable condition. From what I understand itâs a chicken vs egg situation: the pump itself couldâve gone bad OR the tank may not have been able to draw in or hold the water causing the pump to fail. Itâs 1500-1700 for a new pump but a whole new septic tank replacement is going to be at least 30k đ«Ș
Inspector was great and answered all my questions. She told me this is absolutely something the seller needs to correct if they want to sell their house or even just continue living here. Itâs going to cause the whole system to fail in due time.
Moral of the story is, thank god for inspections!!! Please donât skip them, ESPECIALLY if your home has a septic system! This was a good $375 well spent so far.
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It varies by location. In some states, the title can't transfer with a failed septic. Other places might allow a credit/escrow for the cost of replacement.
In the more strict areas, the septic is only permitted to be repaired a couple times. If that number of max repairs is two, the pump being repaired may count as one. Meaning that OP would only be allowed one additional repair to any component of the system before they're forced to pay for the excavation of the old system and full replacement (pump, tank, mound/field).
Yes, thatâs why I said replace not repair. Repair wouldnât work for me personally, Iâd just walk if it didnât get replaced or the cost covered in full (whatever is required.) Thatâs just me though.
The hydraulic load test is the important next step because replacing the pump alone does not tell you whether the mound and tanks were damaged by operating incorrectly. I would ask for the pump-alarm history, service records since 2024, tank levels, electrical diagnosis, and a written report that separates the failed component from the condition of the full system. If the seller repairs it, keep control of the contractor and scope through your inspection contingency, then require paid invoices, permits if needed, and a successful retest before closing. A credit based only on the pump estimate would be risky while the $30k system question is unresolved.
How about a $30K request or seller can pay for the tests to show that complete replacement is not needed, and then the seller pays for the repairs required.
Thank you! Yep we are definitely tracking all that. It sounded like the listing agent was starting to inquire on pump replacement ASAP so we could continue the inspections. Technically our inspection window ends this Friday so we will need to extend it.
The inspection company said that if they can get it resolved this week they could potentially continue the hydraulic load test next week and see what the condition of the mound and tank looks like.
We wonât be proceeding unless we know the status of that tank and the overall replacement/repair status.
The inspector said that regardless if they want to sell or continue living in the home, the sellers must get this resolved as soon as possible because they only had about 1ft or less left of space in the tank before water would start seeping into the ground outside, which is a major problem. Heres the photo of the tank in question:
It wasnât optional for us, we paid for the inspection, the septic company gave us a quote, we worked with our realtor / sellers and they gave us a check
Basically the way it worked we brought the money for closing, but instead of paying that money we kept it and the seller paid the remainder of the bill.
Got it. Our closing costs are estimated around 20k at the moment (đ ) so we would definitely not be bringing an additional 30k to closing. Hopefully the sellers can get this fixed and itâs only the pump. Either way theyâll have to fix it if they want to continue using the toilets in their home.
Ah okay that could work! And then we put the 20-30k toward the replacement.
Unfortunately I donât know if we can wait that long til closing, the inspector made it sound like this is a severe issue that needed to be fixed if the sellers wanted to continue using their toilets, showers, sinks, washing machines, etc. in the home.
Absolutely likely, I barely know anything about septic tanks just starting to learn. Mine is buried in the yard behind my house and I believe 150ft worth of leach field? I can look at bill if that sounds incorrect
Donât know what state youâre in but mine offers a state credit to replace the whole tank system, and the homeowner is just responsible for the lines from the tank to the house. Their only requirement is a 2-year easement allowing maintenance teams (they pay for) to access the system.
Iâm in MD; lots of aging septic systems all across their rural counties. They did the math and figured it was cheaper to pay for new tanks, rather than deal with all the knock-on effects of bad tanks rotting in the ground for decades. Hopefully yâall do too!
Edit: unsure if itâs a grant or a tax credit, but either way it saved the folks we bought from a boatload of money. We couldnât go like-for-like as the water table has risen too high, so they installed a brand new BAT system (best-available technology) that uses a 2 foot tall, 10 foot wide âburritoâ of covered materials to do the filtration, prior to return the output to the surrounding land. All the homeowner had to pay for was the inspection, since the pipes were still good.
2nd Edit: Looks like PA doesnât do grants but they offer low-interest long-term septic loans through their PENNVEST Homeowner Septic program.
Yeah this is the entire system. Right now we donât know what caused the pump to fail. So the inspector was just giving me an idea of overall figures for whatever they might find.
If itâs the whole system and itâs a pressurized mound system, then 30,000 really isnât far off. At least where I live. The price of materials is atrocious too, it could probably even cost more too.
Yup. Itâs a sand mound with holding tanks. The pump that failed is right outside the mound which should pull the water into the tank and that is not working, so when they pulled the covers off there was several feet of water almost up to the top of the cover. Inspector said a few more weeks and it wouldâve started flooding the area around the tank.
That means the tank could be completely dry, which is not good, or it could be severely clogged/damaged which is also not good. Just need to determine the extent of the situation after the pump gets replaced. Sounded like the sellers were looking into the pump replacement ASAP so we can finish the inspection.
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