Effluent Ejector system / jet trickles only

[Robyn]

Hello all, I live in rural Saskatchewan Canada, and we have a septic tank with a KL1 Effluent Ejector system to spray out the effluent in the bushes away from the house. The system has been working well for several years after we initially moved in, and then a year ago for some reason (likely a blockage) the connector to the buried inlet elbow broke and resulted in the 10ft stand pipe lifting out of the ground and no longer working as designed. It still pumped out from the septic tank, but instead of aerating and spraying through the ejector nozzle, it just seeped up and pooled at the area. It wasn't a major issue since it's well away from the house and such, but still we needed to fix it. So last month I got an excavator in and we pulled out the stand pipe, cleaned everything up, dug down to the discharge line and replaced the connector and re-buried the stand pipe and ejector pipe. We did a brief test before backfilling and discharge appeared to be working normally.

This is the KL1 ejector we have... http://www.groupwd.com/s/How-An-Ejector-Works.pdf

We have an effluent pump in the basement (I think it's a Monarch / BE-S50), and once everything was back in place and a normal cycle of the system was expected, I noted that it was taking a very long time for the pump to actually pump enough through to have the float switch triggered "off". Looking at the ejector, it is pumping effluent out, but instead of being a solid (fast) stream out from the jet about 2-3 feet, instead it's just trickling out. So there is movement but it's very slow; instead of a 2-3 minute pump cycle, it takes 20+ minutes of trickling at that slow rate.

While the cycle is running, if I pull the center 3/4" discharge pipe and top cap assembly out, then sufficient flow comes up the stand pipe and spills out the top. Of course this means that the frost-free feature of the system isn't applicable when the pump stops, as there's nowhere for the effluent in the stand pipe to fall back down and it will remain at a freeze-risk height. The venturi and 3/4" pipe itself all appear to be free of blockage, as I cleaned them carefully before the re-install. Obviously there's no blockage in the discharge pipe or the bottom of the stand pipe, as the correct flow is there when the 3/4 pipe isn't installed.

I'm wondering if the fact that the stand pipe is full of effluent is causing the venturi to not run at full flow rate? And since it's not flowing quickly, it can't clear the stand pipe, meaning it won't have fall-back room for the effluent and is going to possibly freeze overnight.

Is there any suggested solutions to get this system working again? If I somehow clear all the effluent from the stand pipe, is it likely the system will work again properly?

 

[Ronald Burley]

HI Robyn, same issue, 1/2 flow at best on the KL-1 PVC ejector. Did you find a solution? Thanks. Ron

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ARN91]

HI Robyn, same issue, 1/2 flow at best on the KL-1 PVC ejector. Did you find a solution? Thanks. Ron

having the same problem. did you guys figure out what was happening ?

 

[Dmax5500]

Hello all, I live in rural Saskatchewan Canada, and we have a septic tank with a KL1 Effluent Ejector system to spray out the effluent in the bushes away from the house. The system has been working well for several years after we initially moved in, and then a year ago for some reason (likely a blockage) the connector to the buried inlet elbow broke and resulted in the 10ft stand pipe lifting out of the ground and no longer working as designed. It still pumped out from the septic tank, but instead of aerating and spraying through the ejector nozzle, it just seeped up and pooled at the area. It wasn't a major issue since it's well away from the house and such, but still we needed to fix it. So last month I got an excavator in and we pulled out the stand pipe, cleaned everything up, dug down to the discharge line and replaced the connector and re-buried the stand pipe and ejector pipe. We did a brief test before backfilling and discharge appeared to be working normally.

This is the KL1 ejector we have... http://www.groupwd.com/s/How-An-Ejector-Works.pdf

We have an effluent pump in the basement (I think it's a Monarch / BE-S50), and once everything was back in place and a normal cycle of the system was expected, I noted that it was taking a very long time for the pump to actually pump enough through to have the float switch triggered "off". Looking at the ejector, it is pumping effluent out, but instead of being a solid (fast) stream out from the jet about 2-3 feet, instead it's just trickling out. So there is movement but it's very slow; instead of a 2-3 minute pump cycle, it takes 20+ minutes of trickling at that slow rate.

While the cycle is running, if I pull the center 3/4" discharge pipe and top cap assembly out, then sufficient flow comes up the stand pipe and spills out the top. Of course this means that the frost-free feature of the system isn't applicable when the pump stops, as there's nowhere for the effluent in the stand pipe to fall back down and it will remain at a freeze-risk height. The venturi and 3/4" pipe itself all appear to be free of blockage, as I cleaned them carefully before the re-install. Obviously there's no blockage in the discharge pipe or the bottom of the stand pipe, as the correct flow is there when the 3/4 pipe isn't installed.

I'm wondering if the fact that the stand pipe is full of effluent is causing the venturi to not run at full flow rate? And since it's not flowing quickly, it can't clear the stand pipe, meaning it won't have fall-back room for the effluent and is going to possibly freeze overnight.

Is there any suggested solutions to get this system working again? If I somehow clear all the effluent from the stand pipe, is it likely the system will work again properly?

Hello
Not sure if you got this problem covered. My story of the pipe breaking at the elbow was the same. I recently dug out the pit and replaced my elbow and a piece of the line. I did purposely dig a little lower than the past company that did the work. The reason for this was I backfilled it with a load of drain rock first to allow for the pipe not to freeze and have ground shift thereby causing breakage of pipes. After I backfilled I then got a plastic 45 gallon drum and cut out the bottom. I put my ejector pipe inside of that and filled the barrel with drain rock as well. After making sure my stand pipe was plumb I then backfilled around the barrel. Once this was done I tested the system using a 10’ piece of 3/4” pvc hooked up to the top of the ejector pipe. After achieving good flow then I completed backfilling. This project was over a course of 2 days although I could have done it over one day if I would have known what piping I needed. Also the weather wasn’t exactly warm at -35 for those days.
I did replace my pump a few months before this project.
**Check the end of your inside ejector pipe. If you pull it up you should see a small nozzle at the end that is screwed on, remove this end and make sure you can see through it as small pieces of calcium or a pebble can slow the flow.
Let me know how it goes.

 

[Dmax5500]

having the same problem. did you guys figure out what was happening ?

Hi Ron
read my reply in the other email, possible to have the same issue.

 

[Dmax5500]

Hello
Not sure if you got this problem covered. My story of the pipe breaking at the elbow was the same. I recently dug out the pit and replaced my elbow and a piece of the line. I did purposely dig a little lower than the past company that did the work. The reason for this was I backfilled it with a load of drain rock first to allow for the pipe not to freeze and have ground shift thereby causing breakage of pipes. After I backfilled I then got a plastic 45 gallon drum and cut out the bottom. I put my ejector pipe inside of that and filled the barrel with drain rock as well. After making sure my stand pipe was plumb I then backfilled around the barrel. Once this was done I tested the system using a 10’ piece of 3/4” pvc hooked up to the top of the ejector pipe. After achieving good flow then I completed backfilling. This project was over a course of 2 days although I could have done it over one day if I would have known what piping I needed. Also the weather wasn’t exactly warm at -35 for those days.
I did replace my pump a few months before this project.
**Check the end of your inside ejector pipe. If you pull it up you should see a small nozzle at the end that is screwed on, remove this end and make sure you can see through it as small pieces of calcium or a pebble can slow the flow.
Let me know how it goes.

Also check your inside pipe for hairline cracks and leaks. Also sounds like your drawing in excess air in your system