A Fourth of July We'll Remember

[Fishindude77]

Had (8) people at the lake house this weekend which is on a mound septic system. Waste goes to a tank, water runs off top of tank into a catch basin with pump, then water is pumped to the mound. Had the tank pumped a couple weeks ago just as a precautionary, it had been a few years. About day two of our visit, the toilets quit flushing so we had to get real creative on dealing with bathroom duties, dishes, etc. Luckily we had a friendly neighbor also.

Pretty much figured the pump was bad after we opened the tank and basin and both were full, plus breaker for pump kept tripping. My local septic guy was a real hero, came out here first thing yesterday with pump truck and a new pump, had the old pump pulled and new one installed in short order and put us back in business. He tells me those pumps are good for 10-12 years typically, this one was 12 years old.

Myself and a few others who have spent lots of time outdoors didn't have too much trouble, but a few were in panic mode. Just one of those situations you can't control, so you've got to deal with it.
Stuff like this never happens at a handy time. Makes a real solid case for routine preventative maintenance. If we still have this place in ten years, I'll just get the pump swapped before it quits.

[ua_guy]

Ugh. Sorry you had to deal with that over the holiday weekend. As the saying goes, "stuff" happens. What did the pump end up costing?

[bjl584]

I was just looking at my hot water tank a few days ago wondering how long it is going to last.
My Aunt's just went out, that's why I thought about mine.
The former owner put it in, so I have no idea how old it is.
I have the money.
It's just the pain of having to deal with it when it finally goes

[disneysteve]

I was just looking at my hot water tank a few days ago wondering how long it is going to last.
My Aunt's just went out, that's why I thought about mine.
The former owner put it in, so I have no idea how old it is.

They usually have a manufacture date on the info plate. Take a look. They're usually good for 10 years. After that, you're on borrowed time. Better to replace it proactively because when they fail, they often fail big time. They may start to leak and give you a warning but they could just burst and flood the place.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Not sump pump related but I changed out my car battery ahead of the 5 year warranty. For instance on my 2018 Dodge during the height of the pandemic (2020) I took it to Pepboys to get a new battery (only 2 years old battery). I figure with new cars they use the cheapest battery with maybe a 3 year warranty so out with the old and in with the new.

[Fishindude77]

Ugh. Sorry you had to deal with that over the holiday weekend. As the saying goes, "stuff" happens. What did the pump end up costing?

Approx. $1100

[srblanco7]

They usually have a manufacture date on the info plate. Take a look. They're usually good for 10 years. After that, you're on borrowed time. Better to replace it proactively because when they fail, they often fail big time. They may start to leak and give you a warning but they could just burst and flood the place.

We were definitely living on borrowed time - ours made it 18 years. We replaced last fall with an “on demand” system.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We were definitely living on borrowed time - ours made it 18 years. We replaced last fall with an “on demand” system.

Same when we renovated our basement area the water heater was like 15 years old. Contractor told us to just replace it and we did. Didn't want to be scrambling.

[kork13]

This current deployment of mine is just so stereotypical, with everything breaking while I'm gone..... Since the July 4th weekend, the West has been suffering with very high temps, mostly >100*. DW has made a variety of comments about how hot it was in the house, and over the last 3-4 days, it's been particularly bad (up to 90* inside). So we finally were able to get an HVAC guy over, and gratefully he was able to ID & fix the problem pretty quickly -- just a struggling capacitor on the condenser unit. $65 part + labor, and the A/C is now chugging along mightily. I wish we'd have gotten it checked out at the first signs of it not keeping up with the heat... But glad it was a relatively quick/easy/cheap fix.

Lesson learned: addressing an issue at the first signs of a problem can go a long way....

[Like2Plan]

This current deployment of mine is just so stereotypical, with everything breaking while I'm gone..... Since the July 4th weekend, the West has been suffering with very high temps, mostly >100*. DW has made a variety of comments about how hot it was in the house, and over the last 3-4 days, it's been particularly bad (up to 90* inside). So we finally were able to get an HVAC guy over, and gratefully he was able to ID & fix the problem pretty quickly -- just a struggling capacitor on the condenser unit. $65 part + labor, and the A/C is now chugging along mightily. I wish we'd have gotten it checked out at the first signs of it not keeping up with the heat... But glad it was a relatively quick/easy/cheap fix.

Lesson learned: addressing an issue at the first signs of a problem can go a long way....

Oh my goodness! I am glad they were able to fix the problem. 90 degrees inside is way too hot--especially with an infant and small children in the house.