RV Waste Disposal?

This 45' video inspection camera connected to your laptop will let you look a long way down that drain.

Why not take a garden hose and turn the water on, let it run in the hole and see if it a) fills up, or b) flows on down somewhere? If it flows away, it has to lead somewhere?

Is it possible the hole is an old hand-pump well that's been capped over?

I lived in a house that had a capped over hand-pump well. I ended up pouring another layer of concrete over the top, reinforced for wire and everything. I was afraid the concrete was too thin. With young kids at home, I didn't want to take any chances.

I also thought about putting in another hand pump, but I could shine a flashlight down that small hole in the middle of the concrete, and it was quite obvious a well, like you'd drop a bucket into a long time ago. I looked really bad. I couldn't see the value of a hand pump. I think at one time it was the primary water source to that house. But not no more. It was adapted to tap into a county water line. This was in SW Ohio.

The "stick in the hole" may be simply telling you there is an elbow down there.
IMO, your best bet is to find a plumber in your area that has the camera that can be put down there, and see where it goes. It probably does not go directly into a septic tank, it probably has an elbow and some pipe to somewhere.
There may not be any odor.
Some kids just love to drop rocks (and other things) into open holes. I think you should find out for sure what is there!

Wow! What a great response! I didn't realize I had a response till I drilled down into my message. I was about to delete it.

So it is NOT tied into the septic. We live in an area that is all septics and even a few cesspools I think (Outer Cape Cod).

There is no smell.

I've been here almost 13 years and just ignored it. So I put a stick down the hole and realized it's solid just a few inches down, so it was either filled in or just became that way over time.

Thanks again for all the helpful advice.

Rod

Sloop Smitten wrote:
I would expect it to connect to whatever sewer system your house is on. Doubt it is just a hole in the ground he was dumping sewage into. Go in the house and turn on the bathtub. Then come outside and listen to the hole. I would expect you will hear the water draining.

Ding ding ding- we have a winner at reply #3.

(AND maybe the toilet flush as suggested later in the thread might be slightly more noisy.)

If your property has a septic tank, it should be noted on the site survey.

:h
I have been dragging the double manholes off the septic to dump--it never occurred to me to use the cleanout which is closer to the house.
It has a screw on cover and would probably work great--and not so stinky. Why didn't I think of that?
I will need more sewer hose though. Then I will have to be sure it is not "uphill". :S

Would a drain auger--one of those metal balls on a reel of metal band work to give an idea of where that hole goes?

Another thought... Assuming it's tied to your septic / sewer system could be a wrong assumption. The last house we lived in did have a clean-out, on city facilities. The current house we live in does not have a clean out. It's on a septic system. But, around the parameter of my home are a couple of vents with slotted caps on them. At first (several years ago), I thought, whaoo! I can dump right in them. But further investigation and living there a while, I eventually learned they were not tied to the septic at all. They were vents for the drainage system around the parameter of the house. They are not connected to my leaching system. But they are connected to the field tile in the field behind our house. Dumping my trailer tanks in there would have been a bad mistake.

Since then, we had installed a cap on our septic tank for easy maintenance and easy pumping every few years or so. Very convenient now. I can just dump my trailer contents directly into my septic tank. Since we don't use any chemicals in any of our holding tanks, except kitchen cleaning stuff, nothing there to disturb the septic tank balance. Works great for us now.

Just saying, without knowing exactly what that opening is for, proceed carefully before dumping in it and you know for sure.

I have something on my property that looks like it might be a 3" sewer drain.. Would be so convenient if it is. Too bad it's not where I park the trailer. I'll have to check it out.

An easy way to tell - Have someone flush inside the house while you listen outside. If you can hear the flush, you know you're connected.