Buying a lake community home in the winter

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Originally Posted by BillTex

Sorry-I don’t understand why this would be any more difficult in the winter?
Maybe you need to locate the pump out and shovel the snow?

Other than that, the septic tests I have observed involved a calculation of flow rate from a hose ( 5 GPM target) and then the hose was placed in the pump out for a period of time while the fluid level was observed.

Other than dealing with snow/cold I don’t understand why this would be any more difficult in winter. A properly functioning system must be capable of flow in all seasons.
Can you explain what I am missing?

Thx, Bill

It appears we're talking about a winterized house. Without more detail, that likely means no water for that hose you so casually pull out. In some communities, the entire water system is drained for the winter. Nothing flowing through the septic, so frozen ground deeper than might occur on an operating system. If you don't have exact measurements for the pump out, driving a rod into frozen ground may not be easy or successful. If you want to take core samples from the leach field, also very difficult. At my place there is gravity feed from toilets, etc. to the tank, then to the macerator pump, then up to the leach field. Many people remove the pump for the winter.