[reese]

If you have a manual chlorine unit ( drop the tablets in ) can you do this yourself or does it have to be done by the licensed technician ? My mom said she has to pay the guy $ 300.00 per year to drop the tablets in. Does not sound right to me...
I also was told that the alarm went off 4 times in one week in which each time he had to make a service call, on the last call one of the renters questioned him and he said the filter was plugged up, it needed a new one. Why didn't he catch this the first time ?
He has also told her that this is a special system and he is the only one that can properly maintain it. This really does not sound right to me. This is in Brazoria county.

 

[Chuck]

Sounds like he is trying perpetuate a gravy train and tends to prey on the less knowledgeable. I think you should definately get a second opinion. Adding chlorine to a system does not require anything special other than doing the exact same thing he is doing. Good luck.

 

[MLCinNCTX]

If you have a manual chlorine unit ( drop the tablets in ) can you do this yourself or does it have to be done by the licensed technician ? My mom said she has to pay the guy $ 300.00 per year to drop the tablets in. Does not sound right to me...
I also was told that the alarm went off 4 times in one week in which each time he had to make a service call, on the last call one of the renters questioned him and he said the filter was plugged up, it needed a new one. Why didn't he catch this the first time ?
He has also told her that this is a special system and he is the only one that can properly maintain it. This really does not sound right to me. This is in Brazoria county.

Check with your County Sanatarian (sp) he is the guy that approves the spetic permits for your county. I live in Grayson County and we are required to have an annual maintainance contract in place and listed with the county to maintain the system. The charge from my guy is $125 per year and he comes out once a year and changes the pump filter and checks all the alarms. The results of test are sent to the county. I have two systems on my place, one for the house and one for the shop/ranch office and the guy just charges the one price.

You can add the clorine yourself, while it looks like swimming pool tablets it is not get septic system clorine. It is sold at places like Home Depot or Lowes. The clorine is important as it is the product that kills the bacteria prior to the water being dischaged.

Shop around $300 for "adding clorine" sounds high till you think about it. Over a year you may use a $100 of product. This will depend on the amount of usage the system gets. Then think about the four trips a year to put the clorine in. (once a quarter on my systems) The guy is not going to get rich at $50 a trip with fuel, windshield time and time on the job.

 

[rockhound76]

Sounds like a ripoff if that's all he's doing, but I bet it is not. This charge is probably for a full inspection each quarter. As for chlorine, you can add the tabs yourself, just open the dispenser, pull out the inner sleeve (if there is one) and load them up. Use ONLY septic tabs, not pool chlorine.

Our county (Montgomery) requires a maintainence agreement. They run from $150 to $300 a year depending on system size and type. I think we pay about $200. This service requires things like filter inspection, aerator and pump action and tank level. A sample of our discharge is tested for bacteria, as well.

If the pump is alarming frequently, it may be getting overloaded or have some other problem. Usually, you have a user's manual that will tell you how to read the codes. If it is simply the "water alarm", this could be from being undersized for the demand or it could be a leak.

Ours did this for a while, until we learned the tank had a crack in it. After this was repaired, it took a couple of "vacation return-home wash runs" to teach my wife that she can't run 8 loads in a day and not expect an alarm. We now spread them out.

Regarding power outages: AEROBIC systems do not have field lines. If the power goes out, they essentially are just big holding tanks with limited capacity. I do not suggest you take long showers during these times.

You can have a qualified electrician (or handyman husband) wire up a plug to hook a generator to the tank to pump it out during extended outages, but don't forget to pull the T-connector when you hook up so power doesn't go back into the panel. You don't wanted to kill a lineman on the street.