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Septic Problem Triage

Most homeowners do not arrive at septic work knowing what to ask for. They arrive with a symptom, a deadline or a suspicion — and then have to guess which service to book. Booking the wrong one is how money gets wasted.

This tool organises what you are observing into the most appropriate service conversation, tells you what to gather, and gives you the questions to ask. It does not diagnose your system, and it says so throughout.

Septic emergency checklist · Request urgent service

Answer what you can

0 of 17 answered. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to submit a request afterwards. Only the first two questions are required.

1. What best describes your situation?
2. How urgent is it?
3. When did it start?
4. Is more than one fixture affected?One fixture affected while the rest are normal usually points at that fixture rather than the system.
5. Is there visible water or unusually wet ground near the system?
6. Where is the odor, if any?
7. Is an alarm sounding?
8. When was the tank last pumped?
9. Has there been unusually heavy water use recently?Guests, a gathering, several loads of laundry together, or a filled tub or pool.
10. Has there been a power interruption recently?Only relevant if your system has a pump or control panel.
11. How is the property used?
12. Is a property purchase or sale involved?
13. Do you know where the system is?
14. Do you have any records?
15. How would you prefer to be contacted?

Answer the first two questions to continue.

What this tool will never tell you

  • That your system has failed.
  • That your system is safe, or that it is compliant with any code.
  • That your drain field has failed.
  • That your system is certified in any way.
  • That it replaces an onsite inspection.
  • To open or enter a septic tank, for any reason.
  • How to perform a repair yourself.
  • What your local jurisdiction requires.

Those limits are deliberate and they are enforced in the code, not just in the copy. The rules that produce each result are pure functions covered by automated tests, which is what makes the conclusions predictable rather than plausible-sounding.

How the rules are ordered

The ordering is the whole design, because several answers can be true at once and only one of them should determine what you do next. Urgency and health exposure come first, then the observations that point at a specific component, then the situational paths, then the pattern across fixtures.

  1. Wastewater indoors or at the surface — an emergency, and a health matter before an equipment matter.
  2. An active alarm, or a recent alarm after a power interruption — urgent, because the reserve capacity above the float is finite.
  3. Wet ground or odor over the field — a drain-field evaluation, because that is where the expensive component is.
  4. Symptoms that returned within three months of a pumping — a diagnosis, because accumulation is not the constraint.
  5. A purchase or sale — an inspection, scoped to the decision being made.
  6. A construction or planning project — a site evaluation and design conversation.
  7. An unknown or unlocated system — gather records first, then inspect.
  8. Multiple fixtures affected, or odor outdoors near the tank — a diagnostic visit.
  9. A single fixture affected — check the interior plumbing before anything is excavated.
  10. Otherwise — routine maintenance, with measurements requested.

About this tool

Does this tool diagnose my septic system?

No, and it is built so that it cannot pretend to. It organises what you are observing into the most appropriate service conversation. It never states that a system has failed, never confirms safety or code compliance, never confirms drain-field failure, and is not a substitute for an onsite inspection by a qualified contractor.

How does it decide?

By a fixed set of ordered rules, not by a model or a score. Wastewater indoors or at the surface takes priority over everything else. An active alarm comes next, then wet ground over the field, then symptoms that returned shortly after a pumping, then transaction and project paths, and finally the pattern across fixtures. The same answers always produce the same result, and the rules are covered by automated tests.

Is anything I enter sent anywhere?

No. The tool runs entirely in your browser. Your answers are not transmitted, and the only thing stored is the resulting category, kept in your browser session so that it can be carried through as attribution if you choose to submit a request afterwards.

What if my situation does not fit any of the options?

Pick the closest match and read the result as a starting point rather than an answer, then describe your actual situation in your own words on the request form. The free-text field there matters more than any dropdown — specific detail is what produces a useful first visit.

Why are only the first two questions required?

Because the symptom and the urgency carry most of the routing weight, and a tool that demands fifteen answers before telling you anything gets abandoned. Every additional answer sharpens the result and adds to the reasons given, but you can get a useful category from two.