I'm hoping someone with a little bit of electricity savvy here might be able to help me out as I am trying to find if there is any little plug-in device that operates in this manner.
I have a septic system that includes a pump because the leach field is uphill from the tanks. The pump resides in the second septic tank -- about 20 feet from the back step of my house. At that tank, there is an access cover, out of which comes the cord for the septic pump that sits in the muck down below. The cord comes up through the access cover and plugs into a short exterior electrical outlet pedestal nearby. It has worked well for years, with one exception.
A few years ago when we had a bitterly cold spell (much like the one we're entering now), the septic system malfunctioned in that the pump was not pumping the fluid up into the field. The pump was functioning (I removed the access cover and disconnected the lift pipe from the pipe connected to the leech field and could test the pump and see it was indeed pumping up, but then when connected to the leech field, it couldn't get anything through). After speaking with a septic guy later, he suspected a portion of (or all of) the leech field froze, leading to the pump being unable to evacuate the tank, though I do not know for certain. Eventually the tank was nearly full to the brim, which triggered an alarm . . . which is when I became aware of the problem. It appeared the pump was running non-stop trying to evacuate the tank, but without success. Fortunately, it did not burn out the pump. I called for assistance from a septic crew, but they wouldn't come out in the bitterly cold and snowy weather. But then, fortunately, a day or two later, while I was still waiting for a repair crew, the weather warmed quite a bit and the problem resolved itself and the pump successfully evacuated the tank into the field...so the crew never came out.
Fast forward a couple of years, and we are now entering into a similarly cold spell, though this one appears on track to last much longer.
What I'd like to find is a simile little plug-in device that I could put between the septic plug and the outlet that would have a light (or some other indicator) on it so that I could see when the pump is running and when it is not - preferably from inside the house if possible. If I could see that the pump is just running for a few minutes a few times an hour or few times a day, I would be able to safely presume it is working as intended; whereas if the light was on full-time (indicating the pump was running nonstop), I might get a heads-up of an impending problem.
It seems someone would make such a device, though I cannot come up with what it might be named, thus I do not know how to search Amazon or elsewhere for it. I do not have a desire to wire up anything intricate myself (particularly in this weather and because I'm not the most electricity-savvy person around); since there is a pedestal there, I'm hoping I can just find something that plugs in at the pedestal?
Any ideas?