Where I am located there are still a lot of rural areas that have septic and wells. Even alot of the homes just on the skits of the city (York, PA) are still septic and well.
I would like to know how others cover this in there Purchase offer. Do you consider it as part of the regular home inspection or do you have it as a stand alone inspection? Do you even deal with properties with septic and wells?
I will not bother with wells or septics. Not all home inspectors know anything about or inspect them if so great if not hire someone seperate. Hiring seperate inspections for the wells and septics means a more details and better inspection than home inspectors. I have inspected homes in the Texas DFW area and Northern Ca.
Having dealt with septics for years I can tell you the only real way to tell if it's good is to live in the house with a family using it on a daily basis. That said if it is an [u]obvious[/u] problem a septic company guy will be able to find it fast enough before you move in.
One way you should never ever test a system is to turn on all the faucets and let them run for a period of time to see if the leach field gets wet. You could totally screw up a system like that by overloading it. I've seen "septic inspectors" do this with the red dye test. Big no no.