Dodged a bullet today and avoided a messy disaster in our new house...

[leeland]

So my wife and I built a new house...we moved in in the middle of March...

It is out in the country so we have a well and septic system.

I am still taking inventory and learning the finer points about things like how I should have purchased a backup sump pump system and also a battery backup system and had it all figured out prior to the construction...

So about a week ago...someone asked me if I knew where our septic system alarm was. I knew there should be one but I didn't at the time know where it was. I searched and searched...and couldn't locate it. Had a couple of calls with the builder about it and he said I was probably just missing it.

Fast forward to Thursday of last week...they came and finally did our rough grade of our lawn and pushed dirt around where it had sunk by the foundation...etc...

Over the weekend I notice two wires wrapped around the power meter outside and I go and take a look. They were 12/2 and 14/2 wires that were buried in the ground.

I bust out the phone and call the builder...again telling him I can't locate the alarm...and also found two wires after they did the rough grade...he assures me there is nothing to worry about and that I am probably missing the box but to call him on Monday if I still can't find it.

So I look, don't find it and call him again today...which prompts a call from the septic guy. I explain to him I am probably an artard and am missing it but I can't find it and then also mention the two grey wires I found that look like electrical wires.

He pauses and tells me to find the keys to the septic system covers...I do and he tells me to take the last one off...I do...he says now tell me about how far down the 'liquid' is...you should see some towards the bottom...

I relied...ummm...yah...the 'liquid' is about a foot from the top...

LONG pause...I have to call xxx and figure out what the hell happened...

He informs me that for the past 2 months we haven't had our septic pump running (IT WAS NEVER HOOKED UP) and that the tank was almost ready to flood. I would have known that had an alarm been installed but the alarm wasn't installed either lol.

SO...he calls back and informs me they are getting it fixed tomorrow but I had two choices...

1. splice the wires...plug into an extension cord...plug the cord in and run the pump...
2. wait until tomorrow to be able to flush a toilet.

I went with #1.

So we were 1 dish washer cycle, 1 shower, 1 load of laundry from potentially having our septic system back up into our basement


As usual...I got the standard...'How can this happen...this has never happens...I have never heard of such a thing happening...' which ALWAYS seems to happen to me lol.

 

[Tsavo]

4 years ago, I had a rapid spring thaw following a winter with lots of snow. I awoke one morning to the most awful stench filling the house.

Long story short, the sewer backed up into the downstairs bathtub, almost filling it to overflowing.

To make matters worse, I'd just finished renovating the downstairs and completed the bathroom just a few days prior.

At least it didn't ruin my newly refinished tub or flow onto the new tile. I'm pretty sure I would have had to start over if that happened...but I would have been tempted to throw a match on the whole works and walk away.

 

[Bignate603]

This whole septic alarm thing is completely new to me.

 

[railer]

septic alarm? I have never heard of that before, and we've had septic systems for about all my life. Is that an aeration pump that was disconnected, by chance?
Septic tanks usually just gravity flow to a leachfield. Sometimes they'll have an aeration pump to help get the effluent cleaner, and these are usually only used if you have poor drainage, or limited space for a leachfield. I don't think your septic was in any danger of overflowing....

 

[skyking]

it is part of the OP's pump system. I have one, it is a two tank setup. the gray water flows out of the primary tank into a second tank, which is the pump chamber. That was the lid he looked under. There are three floats. One is a low limit which turns off the pump, the other is the high limit. The distance between determines the dose or number of gallons pumped in one cycle. Above that is the alarm float.
They are used where you can't situate the house above the proper area for the drainfield, and also in soil conditions that either drain too well or not at all. In the former, the pressure line is very shallow and a significant portion of water is lost via evaporation. In the latter, the lines are high in a sand mound system, and almost all the water is lost via evaporation.

 

[AlienCraft]

Yikes!

 

[Blieb]

That's a pretty shitty situation!
And could have been a pretty shitty situation!
And ... well, yeah, you get the idea.

 

[allisolm]

Be sure you have sump pump coverage on your homeowner's insurance. Having it saved my son over $26,000 in repairs when his failed to work properly.

 

[highland145]

As usual...I got the standard...'How can this happen...this has never happens...I have never heard of such a thing happening...' which ALWAYS seems to happen to me lol.

Sad but true. People rerly care about doing a quality job anymore.

Be sure you have sump pump coverage on your homeowner's insurance. Having it saved my son over $26,000 in repairs when his failed to work properly.

What? It's not covered already? <shakes head> Insurance companies, ftl.

 

[lokiju]

That could of been really shitty!

/cheesy pun

 

[Vette73]

Sad but true. People rerly care about doing a quality job anymore.

What? It's not covered already? <shakes head> Insurance companies, ftl.

Oh I'm sorry, did you want your homeowners insurance polcy to cover your home... thats extra.

With ours its extra for the sump, the garage, french doors, if the roof is 5+ years old, etc...

 

[highland145]

Oh I'm sorry, did you want your homeowners insurance polcy to cover your home... thats extra.

With ours its extra for the sump, the garage, french doors, if the roof is 5+ years old, etc...

WTH? Surprised we don't hear about insurance agents getting capped....a lot.

 

[Gibson486]

septic alarm? I have never heard of that before, and we've had septic systems for about all my life. Is that an aeration pump that was disconnected, by chance?
Septic tanks usually just gravity flow to a leachfield. Sometimes they'll have an aeration pump to help get the effluent cleaner, and these are usually only used if you have poor drainage, or limited space for a leachfield. I don't think your septic was in any danger of overflowing....

Why would you need an aeration pump for a septic tank? Also, aeration does not make effluent cleaner. It's purpose is to give the waste oxygen so the little bacteria/bugs that aid the in the biological waste process do not die.

 

[Turin39789]

Sad but true. People rerly care about doing a quality job anymore.

What? It's not covered already? <shakes head> Insurance companies, ftl.

Nope, thats an extra rider.

We're sneaking by without it on the logic that the home is on a crawlspace and on top of a hill and I'm hoping gravity will help me out.

 

[Gibson486]

This whole septic alarm thing is completely new to me.

It's usually only in areas that are extremely old or in extremely rural areas.

 

[highland145]

Nope, thats an extra rider.

We're sneaking by without it on the logic that the home is on a crawlspace and on top of a hill and I'm hoping gravity will help me out.

Always heard it rolls down hill. How close is the neighbor?

 

[JTsyo]

*remembers the scene from Meet the Parents*
*chuckles*

 

[Fritzo]

There are a gillion things that go into a new house, and things like this happen all the time. We had water pouring into our basement from a wall the first time it rained after we built. I called the builder, and they forgot to seal the steel I-beam---and our flower bed on the outside was seeping into the house. They had to dig up our landscaping, clean everything, then seal it with a special plastic cement.

It happens.

 

[skyking]

This explains the pressure type septic system in great detail. It has nothing to do with a sump pump or the associated insurance.
http://www.eco-nomic.com/indexsdd.htm#Pressure%20Type

We have one where we live because the soil drains too good. A traditional system would flow effluent right on down into the aquifer and contaminate domestic water wells.

 

[Scotteq]

You need to call the builder and give him crap about his shitty work...







That's right - 1 Sentence, 2 Puns.

 

[kotss]

When we moved into our new home back in 2006, the Grinder Pump was never electrically connected. We were living in the house for 6 months and then we had a freak ice storm in October. The town came around to run the Grinder pumps for people because the power was out and they could not do it for me since the pump was not even installed. This was the towns fault, they were supposed to install the pump upon issuance of the Certificate of Residency. They came back on the next business day after the pump was discovered missing and cleaned it out and installed the pump. Lucky for us the holding tank was high enough that gravity was letting the liquid flow to the sewer line. The tank was about 80-90 &#37; full of solid waste though, we were close to overflowing and having a backup. Those pumps are expensive, they cost around 3-4 grand. This could have been a crappy situation, but we lucked out.

 

[skyking]

You need to call the builder and give him crap about his shitty work...







That's right - 1 Sentence, 2 Puns.

Well played sir. You win 2 internets.

 

[PingSpike]

septic alarm? I have never heard of that before, and we've had septic systems for about all my life. Is that an aeration pump that was disconnected, by chance?
Septic tanks usually just gravity flow to a leachfield. Sometimes they'll have an aeration pump to help get the effluent cleaner, and these are usually only used if you have poor drainage, or limited space for a leachfield. I don't think your septic was in any danger of overflowing....

More or less already explained but...Conventional septic systems just use gravity to operate. This is probably a mound system, I have one and it has an alarm and an electric pump system. Basically the soil won't work for a conventional septic so a large mound of dirt is brought in and the system is built into that. There are two tanks, one holds the solid shit like a regular system and water is pumped to the second dosing tank. When the dosing tank reaches a threshold the water is pumped out at a controlled rate. I believe the whole purpose of this system is to control the rate of the water outflow so as not to overwhelm the mound system's ability to filter it.

If the pump fails an alarm goes off when the tank gets full to prevent a shit happens scenario.

Oh I'm sorry, did you want your homeowners insurance polcy to cover your home... thats extra.

With ours its extra for the sump, the garage, french doors, if the roof is 5+ years old, etc...

We recently had a bunch of flooding around here, record breaking and they're doing things on the news how almost no one that lives by the lake has flood insurance. But they kept using examples of people who got washed out when rivers overflowed their banks of people who should have had flood insurance. Yet in the same article and insurance agent was describing what it covered and it seemed clear the washouts of drive ways and quick overflows didn't even apply, you pretty much had to have your house surrounded with water due to being by a lake. And of course it doesn't cover your driveway at all.

They also said the average cost of a flood claim was $15-20K...but that flood insurance costs $2500/yr! Sounds like you'd be better off self insuring anyway at that rate.

 

[Kroze]

WTF, people still uses septic tank? lol.

 

[Scotteq]

WTF, people still uses septic tank? lol.

It depends on where you live - Even in a state as populous as NJ, there are still many areas which do not offer city sewers and water treatment. When you don't have that, then you must go to a septic.