Septic pump repair and replacement

What the pump does

Not every septic system has one. Where the drain field sits higher than the tank, or too far from it for gravity to do the work, a pump moves the wastewater instead. It is called a septic pump, a sump pump or a dosing pump depending on who is talking, and it is the same thing.

It sits in a dosing tank alongside a float, a float switch and an alarm box. The float reads the water level. When the level comes up, the float tells the pump to move that water out to the drain field. When the pump cannot, the level keeps rising and the float switch sets off the alarm.

What the alarm is telling you

That the water in the dosing tank is higher than it should be. The alarm is not the fault — it is the warning that arrives before wastewater backs up into the house, and it usually gives you hours rather than days.

Stop putting water into the system while you sort it out. Every load of laundry and every shower goes into a tank that has already told you it cannot empty itself.

Check this before you call

Check the power to the pump’s receptacle, and check the breaker. A tripped breaker is a genuinely common cause and it costs nothing to rule out. If the power is on and the alarm is still sounding, the pump, the float or the switch needs looking at.

We would rather tell you that here than send someone out to reset a breaker for you.

Signs the pump is failing

• The alarm light on the box is flashing or the buzzer is sounding
• Water backing up into the house
• Toilets gurgling when flushed
• Toilet water rising before it drains away
• Standing water in the shower

Repair or replace

Floats, switches and control components fail on their own and are often the whole fault. The pump itself is the more expensive part, and when one is being pulled it is worth looking at the float and switch at the same time, because getting back into the dosing tank a second time is most of the cost of the job.

What we will not do is replace a pump and leave you thinking the system is sorted if the real problem is a drain field that has stopped accepting water. A pump can only move wastewater somewhere that will take it.

Where we do this work

We handle septic pump repair across Duval, Clay, Nassau, St. Johns, Putnam, Union and Baker counties. Each area page covers the local ground conditions and which office issues the permit there.

Jacksonville · St. Augustine · Orange Park · Middleburg · Green Cove Springs · Ponte Vedra Beach · Fernandina Beach · Yulee

See every area we serve, all septic services, or who issues your permit.