septic system pump shorting out?

gardengal1017 · #1 08/14/10, 01:34 PM

I have a septic system that pumps the water from the box just outside the house uphill slightly to the next "box" and then the liquid goes into the field lines. My problem is that the pump in the first box keeps throwing the circuit breaker. I presume there is a short someplace but how do I go about finding it?

Thanks

gardengal1017

Beeman · #2 08/14/10, 01:58 PM

Any chance the pump is jammed with something? Can you access the pump easily? If you can, with the circuit breaker turned off attempt to move the internals of the pump. Can you disconnect the electric wires at the pump? If so disconnecting them and then turning on the power would tell you if the line from the box to the pump was causing the short circuit.

rancher1913 · #3 08/15/10, 10:22 AM

if it trips instantly then you have a short, if it takes a second or two then you have a locked motor--either its jammed as beeman suggested or the motor is bad.

agmantoo · #4 08/15/10, 10:58 AM

What little experience that I have had with lift stations the fault is usually with a defective seal letting moisture get to the bearings in the motor. Large lift pumps even have sensors that detect such faults before the damage causes bearing failure.

raymilosh · #5 08/27/10, 03:18 PM

My limited experience with these pumps is as agman says. Water gets in the motor (which runs submerged in an oil) and ruins it. I took one apart to see about rebuilding it and found that it was way out of my league.
Just to let you know...new pumps for our system are $600 each and last about 10 to 15 years each. Smaller pumps for single systems (like yours) are more common and are likely less money, but they are still expensive. They are also installed in a way that makes them easy to replace.