Septic Alarm went off

[bunyip]

The pump is on a chain but even grabbing tht is unappealing, we had the cover off once and one of the dogs fell in, it was a joy fishing it out and carrying it to a suitable spot to wash it.
We have been here almost 17 years and we replaced a pump not long after we moved in and again about 2 years ago, it will gravity drain but overflow when it is full and gets a big dump from the washing machine when the chamber is full, we have the old tank that is only about 30" wide, new regulations require a minimum of 48", plumber told me was so they can turn around if the fall in.
There should not be solids in the pump chamber but Murphy dictates that one will always find its way through, in our case it was horse hair blocking the impeller because the girls were putting horse rugs through the washer, we now have an old washing machine outside that they use and it just drains into a paddock.

 

[Cub 7274]

My alarm went off twice 1st time the line had frozen from the tank to the hill that was the first winter the line had to be dug up and insulated
The 2nd time the pump had failed and had to be replaced that was after 10 years

 

[hawkeye08]

Time for some troubleshooting, sounds like you already verified you have power.. now to determine if the tank is full or if the float switch failed or something else.. When our alarm went off 25 years ago, the pipe at the distribution box in the drainfield had frozen (dbox is only 12" deep).. I solved it by digging down and drilling a small hole in standpipe going to dbox, filling hole with some gravel and have not had that problem since..

 

[PILOON]

Float switches occasionally get tangled and cause problems.
Simply jiggling the power line might clear that kind of fault.

Check any electrical connections for corrosion as a pumping station is a very corrosive atmosphere.

This is one situation where a clamp on amp meter is an asset.

Good luck!
Been there also, twice, and naturally in colds of winter.
Had my wife feed a wood fire (to thaw out the lid) while I went to purchase a new pump and switch.
Naturally that was when I discovered that the float switch was simply tangled with a power line.

One trick suggested to me was to install a check valve but to drill a small 'leak hole' so as to have a gentle back flow.
Apparently a rapid back flow can mess up the pump and even unscrew the impellor.
Also it is easier on the pump if it does not need to push a column of effluent each time it cycles.

My present pump is onto its 20 th year of faithful operation.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I would check into whether or not your outlet to your drain field has become frozen or blocked. Before you start the awesome task of taking out your pump, look for something more obvious, like what time of year is it? Winter? Hmmm, maybe something just got frozen?

 

[drssg]

I generally like to be a do-it-yourself guy, but I think I would hire this one out.

If nothing else, it seems like you would want to get the tank pumped, so you can see what you’re doing better.

 

[Zippo1]

We had the same issue and it turned out to be a bad float.

 

[check]

Ok, guys, thanks for all the great ideas!

So, with a lot of effort and my tractor’s FEL, I cleared off all the snow over top the pump tank, but of course there is a layer of ice underneath the snow.

Fortunately my power supply came down through a piece of 4 inch ABS pipe, and so I could look down and see that the extension cord was still plugged into the pump cord. So the question became, is there power down there at the bottom of that 4 foot section of pipe? Well it took some work, but I was finally able to dig up the pipe, which had a couple of sections to it, and then pull the sections apart to get at the exact point where the extension cord plugged into the pump cord. Then it was bad news good news bad news good news. The first bad news was that the extension cord was fine, so it seemed like it had to be something to do with the pump itself and or the pumps cord where it plugs into the extension cord. More digging and liberating, and then I remembered that there was actually two cords coming up one of which had both the male and a female end on it. Lightbulb went on right away – that was the float switch. And of course the switch was off, which would explain why I had an open when I checked the other end of the extension cord. So I unplugged the float switch, set a prayer, and plugged the pump directly into the extension cord. Joy! The pump went on. You could barely hear it, because of course the pump tank was buried under snow and ice, but you could hear the pump. OK, so the pump worked. But that was also bad news, because it meant that the float switch was not working properly. Or was it? More bad news, because after I let the pump run for a while and then I unplugged it again, I went inside and the alarm was still on. So did this mean that the pump was going on but not actually pumping any effluent out? Shouldn’t the alarm have turned itself off after I pumped for a little bit?

OK, I have to go check the holes in my barn floor now. Will finish this report later.

 

[check]

OK, SWMBO says I can’t leave all my TBN friends out there hanging like that, because some of you are probably OCD and will be up all night trying to figure this out. So forget about “What the Heck is Making These Holes”, and get on with it.

Here is how we left things. SWMBO went down to the basement and ran a garden hose into a stand pipe that was close to the main exit of our sewage system from the cottage. She then turned on the water, and let it run, watching the standpipe to see if it overflowed or not. She had one hand on the garden hose valve so that she could turn it off instantly if the standpipe started to overflow, which would of course indicate that the pump tank was not working. Meanwhile I was outside with my ear to the ground, listening to hear if the pump came on.

Lo and behold, after a while the pump came on and stayed on for maybe 10 or 15 seconds which is about what you would expect, and then shut off! There was nothing wrong with that system at all! The alarm was going off for no good reason.

So, we covered the pump tank area with the snow again (for insulation) and headed back down south to go home. I will leave it like that for now, and just unplug the alarm, until it gets warm enough to dig the alarm wires up, or maybe I can just work on the alarm itself from the inside. Either way, the important point is we do have a sewage system which seems to function, which is a big deal. You can imagine what it would be like going up to the country place in the middle of the winter and being unable to run any water or to use the toilets.

OK, that’s enough for now. It is bedtime anyway.

 

[mapper]

My pump chamber is set up with the floats zip tied to a section of PVC pipe which clips onto the filter basket that the pump sits inside. It has been my experience that the acidic atmosphere in the chamber causes the zip ties to get brittle and fail. This may be what happened with your alarm float, it's no longer tethered and just floating free.