Oakstown BAF system tripping fuse

boatbuilder

I have an Oakstown septic tank treatment system... has been installed and working well for about 7 years.
I got it desludged just before Christmas and was working fine after that.
Just noticed yesterday that the switch has tripped on the fuse panel and the light is on under "ALARM" but there are no lights under "water" or "air".
When I put the switch up it stays up for an hour or so and then trips off again.
Any ideas what could be the problem?

_Brian

boatbuilder wrote: »

I have an Oakstown septic tank treatment system... has been installed and working well for about 7 years.
I got it desludged just before Christmas and was working fine after that.
Just noticed yesterday that the switch has tripped on the fuse panel and the light is on under "ALARM" but there are no lights under "water" or "air".
When I put the switch up it stays up for an hour or so and then trips off again.
Any ideas what could be the problem?

Ours had a problem where the green box on the tank flooded and tripped out the breaker similar to that.
Actually it flooded the compressor which stopped working too.. Oakstown wanted €300 to replace it.. Stripped, dried it out and its still working two years later..

I drilled a few holes in the bottom of the box and it drains down into the tank now if it does take in water.

boatbuilder

Thanks, I'll have a look at the green box tomorrow as a matter of interest.

I think my problem may have been with the float switches on the pump.
Just there now I shone a torch down the manhole cover where the pump is and it sounded like it was still trying to pump even though the chamber was empty (was probably costing me on electricity!)

The wire going to the bottom float on the pump was snagging on the other electric wire going into the top of the pump, preventing the float from going down properly when the water level dropped. I presume the main black pump wire is supposed to be tied up high out of the way but it had fallen down.
With a metal hook on a piece of rope, I lifted up the wire and tied it out of harms way allowing the float to do its thing, so I hope that does the trick! (Never seen such big spiders in my life by the way!)

Hopefully this will help someone else with similar problems...not much out there on the net about trouble shooting the Oakstown system - but maybe that's because there doesn't seem to be too much that can go wrong with them.

boatbuilder

Looks like I didn't fix the problem after all. The alarm light is back on and the trip switch flipped. Air and water are still pumping though.

_Brian

OK I'm working from memory here but there is a pressure sensor in the green box. This reports back to the control box that adequate pressure is achieved. This may not be reporting back.

boatbuilder

Had a look in the green box today. Full of spider webs but otherwise dry as a bone in there. Seems to be pumping air ok. I saw a small box attached to the air hose - maybe this is the pressure sensor... what reasons would it have for not reporting back?

Can't figure it out- I initially thought it was the water pump not switching off properly, but the last time the switch tripped, the water pump wasn't running.

There are two float switches - one attached to the pump itself, and one hanging from the manhole - what height should the top one be suspended at?
Pity there isn't an operating or service manual available anywhere.

_Brian

The one attached to the pump will start and stop the pump as the level rises and falls.
I'd expect the second is to warn of the tank being overfull so I'd expect it will reach higher inside the tank than the one connected to the pump.

I'd expect there are only two warnings being fed back from the system.
No air or tank overfull, I can't think of any other useful alarms that could be reported. As they cover anything that would go wring with the system.



The air pressure sensor could just be broke or I've seen similar sensors get a bit of dirt stuck in the entry and so stop the air activating the switch.

From memory there are double contacts in that pressure switch and the system only uses one set. You could switch the signal over to the unused contacts.

I'd be getting a multimeter and testing the switch to see if it changes when the air is powered on and off.

boatbuilder

I'm pretty sure the water pump switches are working ok now. I lifted the pump out and tied the cable for the float switch more securely to the handle of the pump.
Next port of call is that air sensor...