Our vacation home has a pump on the septic and an aerator. Our electric bill seems high even when we are not there. How often should the aerator kick on?
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1"Seems high" and "is high" are different things. How do you know its the aerator and not, say, the refrigerator or hotwater heater or some other electric appliance? How often does the aerator (not the pump) come on when you are there? What's the pump/aerator's rated power draw?– Carl WitthoftCommented Sep 23, 2016 at 17:43
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2 Answers
The aerator should run 24/7 nonstop and should not cost more than 10 dollars a month to run. If you electric bill is high something else is causing it or the system is not correctly hooked up.
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1I have worked on systems that cycled so I don't think 24/7 is true for all.– Ed BealCommented Aug 25, 2017 at 19:03
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@EdBeal I've been looking at this, and it appears the amount of cycling (or 24/7 operation) depends on the size of tank and number of people using it. A typical ("Jet") pump uses about 500 watts, so 1 unit of electricity every 2 hours - if its running 24/7 at 15c / unit thats a cost of $54 per month. I bet that when its not in use you could safely reduce this to 30 minutes every 2 hours, saving of over $40 per month.– davidgoCommented Jan 25, 2019 at 0:38
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I totally agree with what you are saying, if there is no addition to the tank the pump would not be running. This is the same as I was saying. The plc monitors the system and runs as needed, but running 24-7 something is wrong.– Ed BealCommented Jan 25, 2019 at 2:46
I agree that one could save money on electric cost if they are working with an original JET aerator. Others for sale at about half the cost do not have the moisture protection that JET units have. They are filled with oil and will give maybe twice or three times the length of service than others one can buy a lot cheaper. I just went through this with my sewage plant and got about two years of motor life with another brand, cycling it on/off as versus running it others 24/7. Another that maters is what the code in your area calls. In my county in Ohio it's required to run the unit 24/7 regardless of the brand of aerator. Best to check on that as well...there may be a fine for not running it full time if you get caught. There are totally different arguments for aeration plants where the aerator motor is NOT located in the area where it's exposed to high moisture as the JET Brand/style plant is. There are other brands other than JET and that figures into this as well. I'd say to check your county to see what the requirements are....many (I'd say most) people do not know the difference between an aeration and septic plants. Even (on the web) you'll find people calling these plants "septic". THEY are not...they are aerobic and treat your sewage very differently. Sorry for getting into the weeds there!
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This is pretty hard to read as a big wall of text. Please edit to provide some formatting. Also, I keep reading "JET" as the brand name of a woodworking tool company. Please either proper case that or indicate that it is, in fact, the name of a pump manufacturer, too.– FreeManCommented Feb 14 at 16:30