druber
New Member
I'll start by apologizing for my ignorance. I will probably use some incorrect terminology and not know all the details.
Our septic system requires a pump to move the effluent to the drain field. A while ago, the pump failed. We had it replaced by a pro. He said the new pump was quite a bit more powerful than the old pump.
A month or so after installation, the high level alarm started going off. We could hear the pump running but the level was not going down. I called the installer and he feared we might have a clogged drain field pipe. He came out to investigate. What he found was air in the drain field pipes. His process for fixing it was: unplug pump, remove cap from end of drain field pipe, plug in the pump, and replace cap when water started to emerge.
He seemed to think it was a passing issue. He didn't charge me and told me to call if it happened again.
It didn't happen again for a couple of months. When it did, I didn't want to wait for him to come, so I just fixed it in the same way he did.
That was 1.5 years ago. It continues to happen. Sometimes it takes a couple of months and sometimes it happens multiple times in a month. It is such an easy fix, I just never called him back.
I did try to do a little research into why it was happening and how I might fix it. It seems like it could be an air lock issue. Some suggested drilling a small hole in the discharge pipe just above the pump. Initially, this seemed to help, but we're back to having to do our temporary fix about once a month or so.
Anybody have any ideas on what is happening and how to fix it?
I can try to answer any additional questions.
Thanks.
Our septic system requires a pump to move the effluent to the drain field. A while ago, the pump failed. We had it replaced by a pro. He said the new pump was quite a bit more powerful than the old pump.
A month or so after installation, the high level alarm started going off. We could hear the pump running but the level was not going down. I called the installer and he feared we might have a clogged drain field pipe. He came out to investigate. What he found was air in the drain field pipes. His process for fixing it was: unplug pump, remove cap from end of drain field pipe, plug in the pump, and replace cap when water started to emerge.
He seemed to think it was a passing issue. He didn't charge me and told me to call if it happened again.
It didn't happen again for a couple of months. When it did, I didn't want to wait for him to come, so I just fixed it in the same way he did.
That was 1.5 years ago. It continues to happen. Sometimes it takes a couple of months and sometimes it happens multiple times in a month. It is such an easy fix, I just never called him back.
I did try to do a little research into why it was happening and how I might fix it. It seems like it could be an air lock issue. Some suggested drilling a small hole in the discharge pipe just above the pump. Initially, this seemed to help, but we're back to having to do our temporary fix about once a month or so.
Anybody have any ideas on what is happening and how to fix it?
I can try to answer any additional questions.
Thanks.