- Cupajo
- Mar 30, 2014 (Originally Posted)
- Sorry I have no pics as this occurred before I had a good camera and I never knew I would be sharing this tale. Since I used a metal detector I hope it's OK to post it here even if it is a long tale!!
What she told me next sent cold chills up my spine!! Her son felt so badly about flushing the ring that he called the septic tank cleaning company and had them pump the tank. He then rode to the disposal site where he screened the waste matter as it was drained from the truck using his fingers to “feel” for the jewel. Result, no ring!! Upon returning home he used a small sledge to enlarge the access port in the septic tank and climbed down inside it. He then using his fingers again felt around the bottom of the tank in an effort to find the ring. Result? No ring!! (Amazingly the son hadn’t been asphyxiated by the septic tank air/gasses and seemed none the worse for wear!!) (I suspect he had a crappy taste in his mouth for a long time after!)
His Mom was a longtime customer and had always been a challenge to work for in that she questioned every minor expense no matter how apparent it was that I was being as fair as any human could be. She asked me if I thought the ring could be caught inside the toilet and I assured her I didn’t know, but I really didn’t think it was possible, especially since it was wrapped in tissue.
She asked me to take the toilet out and check and if it wasn’t there to crawl into the small area under the ranch style house and check the toilet drain pipe for any catch-points where the ring might have gotten caught!!
Fast forward--- removed and checked toilet with strong light and mirrors—no ring!! Same result for the soil pipe inspection!!
She then asked me if I thought it might still be in the tank. I explained to her that I saw three possibilities, one the ring was still in the tank, two the ring wasn’t found in the waste stream at the disposal site and three the ring was still in the truck’s large tank. I assured her the septic tank was worth investigating, the only viable option at that point and that I would use my metal detector to search the floor of the tank to improve our chances of finding the ring.
I bought a tiny coin shooting coil for my Whites 6000 DI, called the septic cleaning service and scheduled a pump out. On the appointed day I had the truck driver place his suction hose at the end of the tank where it was farthest from the soil pipe emptying into the tank. When the tank was pumped down to an inch or so of sludge covering the bottom I had him shut off the pump so I could run my coil over the steel re-enforced concrete tank’s bottom to find what I may. It was laden with lots of signals and it wasn’t too difficult to tune out the rebar rods buried in the tanks bottom. After a few minutes I had a fair idea of where the various signals were located and had the operator fire up his suction pump again.
Using his high pressure water hose I started washing down the tanks bottom as the customer’s husband closely watched what I was doing. Starting at the soil pipe area I cleared away sludge for roughly half of the tank’s bottom finding all sorts of metal objects such as cosmetics tubes, lipsticks and nails etc that had somehow found their way into the tank lying about.
Using the high pressure water hose and a strong light I was able to see every inch of the bottom clearly and so far no ring. I reasoned the normal waste flow would not move it very far and considered the hatch recess of the tanks bottom a likely spot for it to get caught. (For those folks that have never seen a concrete septic tank, the top and bottom halves of the tank are cast in huge molds and cemented together to form a complete reservoir for human waste. The recess I refer to is identical to the one cast into the top half of the tank.)
As the area close to the square recess got clear of sludge I became more careful in my use of the water stream and suddenly there was a flash of light from what could have only been a diamond!!! I asked the husband if he saw that and he hadn’t. I showed him where to look and repeated the splash that had revealed the diamond to me.
I asked the operator to let me use his sludge scoop, a large shovel with a bend formed in the scoop part. I placed it next to the ring and used a splash from the hose to jump the ring onto the scoop! I rinsed off the jewel and handed it to the husband and he rushed off to call his wife at work with the good news! The brief glimpse I got of the ring revealed a beautiful emerald cut diamond of 2-3 carats and a large teardrop diamond on each side of the center stone all in a platinum or maybe white gold setting!!
This job was a learning experience for me in several ways. First I learned that I can recover things from a septic tank without placing my life at risk. Then I learned that no matter how hard you try some people just don’t know how to appreciate what you do for them. I charged the lady $100.00 for all my efforts and no charge for the coil I bought which I haven’t used since!! She asked me if that was the best price I could come up with no matter that she had her $7,000.00 ring back!!! (Later had someone who knew this lady well tell me that at one point during all this the customer asked her if I might have found and kept the ring!!)
In the end I got my $100.00 and another metal detecting story to share!!!!!!!!!
Respectfully submitted,
Cupajo
PS This customer is quibbling with her maker now and I don’t know who has the ring!!
