I have this Grinder pump that came with the house we are just in the township but attached to the towns sewer system. Back a few years before we owned the place about 6 neighbors got together who all had failing septics and asked to be put on water and sewer the water was no problem but we are slightly below the fall line and needed a lift station. No one wanted to pay for a community one so they opted for everyone to own their own. Basically what I have is a tank that comes out above grade and it is 24 dia and goes down pretty deep 12 / 14 foot I cant tell and Im not sticking my tape measure down there. At the bottom sits a grinder pump attached to an out pipe with a pit-less type disconnect the pump has ropes attached to pull it up. There is a Jbox and a couple of tether floats. One is hooked up to an alarm on the side of the house where there is a couple breakers mounted in a box. The other float is on the end of about a 20 rubber coated power cable Im assuming is rated to be in there. The trouble I had from day one is the alarm used to go off as the float would get stuck on the side of the tank a little and wouldnt flip up before the other safety one did. Once that trips it shuts everything off except the alarm and I get up and go out take the cover off grab the S-stick and bump the float. Worked great and was a PITA and in the winter under 3 of snow and ice was a real PITA. Part of the problem was as the tank fills what tips the float was the weight of the extra cable down in the stuff so the length of that cable was key. I drain the hot tub into it and it gives me time to experiment and I came on to the perfect length of that cable that seemed to work best and I zip tied the cable to the Jbox so that couldnt change. Then I got a stack of 1.25 washers and zip tied them to the cable down low in a spot that even gives an extra yank when it hits the height to turn on the pump.
Total success almost. All winter not one misfire the neighbors didnt need to call and tell me my @#%$&*$ alarm is going off again. The other night right before bed about midnight we hear a slight humming and I said its the neighbors something working. You know women they keep going around trying to find the noise and when they dont sleep no one sleeps. So get up get dressed get the boots on and outside we go. the damn grinder is running and loud. I take off the cover and there is a blast of heat and mist and smells and when the fog cleared my flashlight showed that float balanced perfect on top of the motor and the pump churning the last little bit of water to death. I gave the cable a yank and it shut off. The next day I filled it and thank god the pump is working ok.
Here is the problem with a 24 tank and maybe 6 or 8 of cable that it can move around on sooner or later its going to get snagged on something it seems. It is on the side of the tank that is the most open and I watched it cycle now at least 30 times and it always stays where you think it should.
Wondering if anyone has a cool trick to try to fix the problem. I would post a pic but I might have to put it with a spoiler alert or something as its not a pretty picture. Maybe next time I drain the tub running 450 gallons of 103 water down it cleans it up pretty well. I have a couple ideas left but dont know if I like them. One would be to shorten the on off points way up and solve the problem but cycle the pump 5 times as often.
Total success almost. All winter not one misfire the neighbors didnt need to call and tell me my @#%$&*$ alarm is going off again. The other night right before bed about midnight we hear a slight humming and I said its the neighbors something working. You know women they keep going around trying to find the noise and when they dont sleep no one sleeps. So get up get dressed get the boots on and outside we go. the damn grinder is running and loud. I take off the cover and there is a blast of heat and mist and smells and when the fog cleared my flashlight showed that float balanced perfect on top of the motor and the pump churning the last little bit of water to death. I gave the cable a yank and it shut off. The next day I filled it and thank god the pump is working ok.
Here is the problem with a 24 tank and maybe 6 or 8 of cable that it can move around on sooner or later its going to get snagged on something it seems. It is on the side of the tank that is the most open and I watched it cycle now at least 30 times and it always stays where you think it should.
Wondering if anyone has a cool trick to try to fix the problem. I would post a pic but I might have to put it with a spoiler alert or something as its not a pretty picture. Maybe next time I drain the tub running 450 gallons of 103 water down it cleans it up pretty well. I have a couple ideas left but dont know if I like them. One would be to shorten the on off points way up and solve the problem but cycle the pump 5 times as often.