Septic pump and floats wiring

Plumbing Forums

Help Support Plumbing Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Rolla_rolla

New Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2018
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
77355
Hello all. I have an aerobic system with a 120v 1/2 hp pump with 3 floats. My middle float got stuck "on" so my pump would run non stop. I replaced the middle float but now the pump turns on and off based only on the position of the new float. The bottom "off" float never gets a chance to drop. I'm sure I wired all back the way I found it but you never know. I have 6 wires coming from the control panel: black, white, green (120v, neutral, ground). 2 red (solid copper with 120v on each) and another green wire. The middle "on" float is wired to the black hot wire from the panel and the black wire from the pump. The pump neutral and ground are wired to the neutral and ground from the panel. The 2 red panel wires are wired to the bottom "off" float. The alarm float black wire is 3 wayed with the black wires from the pump and the "on" float. The alarm white wire is wired to the extra green wire from the panel. Does this sound right? Thanks for your help.
 
usually there is a knot in the wiring or something that stops the position of the floats from changing....cant tell you about the wiring cause im not an electrician did the lengths change?????
 
So it sounds like you are saying you had to remove and reconnect all the wires from the 3 floats at the control panel? With 2 floats controlling the pump operation, I assume the logic is within the panel. So it sounds to me you must verify the correct wire is connected to the correct terminal at the panel. Not so sure an electrician would know without a diagram. The control logic is likely in solid-state logic circuits.
I would contact the manufacturer or vendor to obtain the correct connections of each wire to the control panel terminals.
Simple enough if you have the connection instructions to look at.
 
You need a wiring diagram to know for sure. Usually the top float is for the high-water alarm, the 2nd float is the override float, and the bottom float is timer-driven so that it runs only at night. Is there a clock/timer in the control box? Is it working? There is probably a switch on it that can be switched to 'on' or 'off' or 'timed'. The timed position is usually in the middle and is the normal position. I would guess the timer is switched off or has stopped running.
 
More likely Bottom Float is just a permissive for pump operation when top float is tripped. Relay (function) holds for pump operation until bottom float breaks the circuit. The OP probably already knows this.

The logic would probably be something like this...
tank1.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top