So on the last thread i was posting how the septic alarm would come on and then pop the fuse. Well what we discovered is that the float on the pump was bad, which would cause the pump to run dry and then trip the breaker. the way you knew the breaker was tripped was when the water backed up!!
So i paid a septic guy 190 bucks to dig the septic up check if needed to be pumped, find the access to the pump, dig it up and change the float.
Ok that worked for a day or so until i saw the breaker was tripped again. So every morning i would flip the breaker and it would turn on the pump and suck it out then when i got home it was tripped again.
Well since yesterday the pump breaker would NOT flip back on it would spark and stay tripped. Well I'm like WTF? Im thinking it was the pump had ran dry and was short circuited. So i call my electrician friend and he tells me how to trouble shoot if its wiring, bad breaker, or bad septic alarm or bad pump.
Well the range of bad goes from 10 bucks to 600 bucks..
So i first disconnect the wire from the breaker and flip the breaker on, Ok GOOD not a bad breaker.
-Then i go outside and disconnect the pump from the septic alarm, Breaker tripped. (not the pump!!)
-Then i disconnect the wiring from the septic alarm totally, Breaker tripped.
So this tells me its a wire from the box to the Lift station.
Now theres a junction box outside. Basically the wire goes from the breaker, through the attic, out the other side of the house, down the house to a junction box, wire nuts in the box with a wire from the junction box to the septic alarm, then the pump is plugged into the septic alarm.
So i disconnect the wires at the junction box and flip the breaker, GOOD. NO tripped breaker.
So i discovered that its the wire from the junction box to the septic alarm (15 foot wire)
So i start digging and dig up the whole wire from the house to the septic alarm and what do you know !! A BURNT WIRE under the ground. Those dumbos who installed the septic alarm buried the wire in the ground just bare wire no conduit. And some how the wire got nicked or damaged and was shorting and flipping the breaker.
Well lucky me case i was gonna have t pay a septic guy 600 bucks to re dig and re install a new pump because i thought the pump had a short!
Total fix cost me 30 bucks for wire, conduit, connectors.
NOW FINALLY. the crap can run forth onward towards the drain field!
That's great news! My luck usually runs the opposite direction, the $600 pump. Can't make out the cable info on your wire, but that wire in the picture looks like what the electricians call UF (underground feeder) , it can be used as direct burial but should be buried deeper than it appears to have been. PVC Conduit and 3 runs of whatever, #10 or #12, would have not cost much more than a piece of UF, just a little more work.
Glad it was an easy fix.
Treefarmer
I get new pumps about every 5 years 300+ installed. Its really a simple thing to do your self. I just had a whole new system two tanks pump and field 7000.
