Septic Alarm went off

[teejk]

My age, inclination and financial situation are such that when, this sort of situation arises in our household, I call my friendly septic service guy and let him take care of it! In my younger years I was very much a DYI as much as possible, still am for many things but for that really unpleasant stuff - I know a guy:laughing:

Same for roofing and lately any plumbing job that makes me rake my shoulder blades on the bottom of a cabinet. But you do raise a good point. With modern septic systems a qualified pro will be your best friend. They have seen everything, know where to look and know what has to be done.

 

[flewism]

I have a similar system, house was built in 1990 and the pumps been replaced at least 3 times only get 6-8 years out of the effluent pumps and the alarm goes off. It is an hour job for a pro after the tank is pumped out.

 

[mapper]

Same for roofing and lately any plumbing job that makes me rake my shoulder blades on the bottom of a cabinet. But you do raise a good point. With modern septic systems a qualified pro will be your best friend. They have seen everything, know where to look and know what has to be done.

My pump went out a couple years ago, called my septic guy, he showed up in less than an hour. Had everything he needed on the pumper truck, including the replacement pump. Took him less than an hour to replace it. Cost a bit more but by the time I acquired a pump, picked up the plumbing bits needed and the special filled wire nuts etc. , it would have been at least a day or two later before I would have been done. (Not to mention a trip or two back to town for what I missed the first time)

 

[JK22]

That IS another thought sd455dan. I have a long, ridgid, fine mesh vertical filter on the outlet of my two compartment septic tank. Allows only liquid to enter the pump tank. Depending upon how your control panel is set up - either a low water alarm in the pump tank or, heaven forbid, overflow out of the access manhole on the second compartment of the septic tank.

I have the same system and my alarm goes off much more frequently when this filter gets clogged. But first we start hunting for a running toilet.

 

[PILOON]

OK. that's why I keep my outhouse active, 'just in case'. LOL.
Dang those septic systems that act up.
Generally it is not 'if' but its 'when'. Long live one that is simply dependent on gravity.

In my neck of the woods most folks still have that little house with the crescent moon in the door just for those occasions.

A telephone booth, AKA outhouse, is still an acceptable alternate option.

 

[check]

OK. that's why I keep my outhouse active, 'just in case'. LOL.
Dang those septic systems that act up.
Generally it is not 'if' but its 'when'. Long live one that is simply dependent on gravity.

In my neck of the woods most folks still have that little house with the crescent moon in the door just for those occasions.

A telephone booth, AKA outhouse, is still an acceptable alternate option.

That might be an idea for us, Bob, but we do have a couple of beat up old outhouses at the rental property 500 yds. away. (Water system is shut down over there and lines are drained in Winter.). Have to check and see what the local bylaws say.

 

[check]

Same for roofing and lately any plumbing job that makes me rake my shoulder blades on the bottom of a cabinet. But you do raise a good point. With modern septic systems a qualified pro will be your best friend. They have seen everything, know where to look and know what has to be done.

Well, it’s not rocket science for me. I was there in 2002 when the system was installed new, and when it was pumped as part of the regular maintenance program. More recently, by the way, the original pump did fail a couple of years ago, and so we replaced it with a sewage pump that I happened to have available. (Which is one reason why I did not think the problem was likely to be the pump.). I was present at the repair back then, and my guy was very experienced with these things. (I will use him again if I ever need him.)

 

[check]

That IS another thought sd455dan. I have a long, ridgid, fine mesh vertical filter on the outlet of my two compartment septic tank. Allows only liquid to enter the pump tank. Depending upon how your control panel is set up - either a low water alarm in the pump tank or, heaven forbid, overflow out of the access manhole on the second compartment of the septic tank.

Gheez I hope that’s not the problem! But it may very well just be tangled floats, which I will check out when the ground thaws. (Keeping in mind that the pump it self and it’s float are both functioning effectively right now, as evidenced by our little test.)

My money is on the alarm box itself, which is fortunately inside the cottage. I can easily open it up and do a continuity test, to see if this float switch is in fact activated. And if it’s not, then I will simply need a new alarm box. Here’s hoping!

 

[check]

i also believe its the top alarm float . every system ive worked on has either 2 or 3 floats. the lowest float was for off. the middle float is the run float and the upper float was the alarm float. ive seen these floats get jammed up or tangled up in the pump and alarm wiring alot of times because they wernt zipped tied properly. Only opening the cover will tell.

Mine only has 2 floats, and as I said earlier I will be checking them out when the snow and ice go away.

And thanks again for all the great suggestions, guys! It is nice to know you have a TBN community behind you when you need it!

Now if only I could get rid of them pesky attack beavers that keep setting up shop under my big old boathouse...

 

[Katahdin]

I have a similar system, house was built in 1990 and the pumps been replaced at least 3 times only get 6-8 years out of the effluent pumps and the alarm goes off. It is an hour job for a pro after the tank is pumped out.

I had a similar problem. Turned out the pump was 120V and the wiring was 240V. The pumps were burning out every 6 years.

I discovered the cause after my wife ordered a different brand pump, she works in waste water engineering and was the subject matter expert. The new pump had overload protection and would stop running after a few seconds. When I looked at the pumps spec-sheet I saw it was 120V and I was sure my wife made a mistake, because I knew the wiring from the house was 240V. My wife was right, the original pump was 120V, and it was wired wrong when the house was built.