School me on my aerobic septic system

[Buick355]

We just bought a house that's on a septic system and well water, which is all new to me. I found a broken septic sprinkler head, so I replaced it. Now I'm trying to figure out how to manually turn on the septic sprinklers. Any ideas? I found a timer, which appears to be broken, but it also looks like it had a float in the septic tank that probably turns on the sprinklers. I'm not sure what the timer is for. I attached pics if that helps.

[Vertnut]

Timer is there so the sprinklers will go off at night or anytime you don't want to ruin an outdoor event. Reach down and raise the float by hand. The sprinklers should go off. It's important that everything works properly: the air pump on top/outside, the inner pump inside the tank, and that float that tells it when to turn the pump on. The aerator (outside air pump) runs all the time.

[ceyko]

This is one area I don't f around with at my house. My first couple of weeks I tried and goofed some stuff up creating a nice odor that took about 3 days to fully go away when repaired.

1. I think this is more than just Grayson County - It should be inspected quarterly.
2. I highly recommend having a pro check it out for you. Typically inspection work is cheap and it maybe a requirement where you are located.

I will say though, next time my air pump goes out I'll probably do it myself. It was way too expensive getting that replaced.

[Buick355]

Yeah, I think I'll replace the timer and call someone to check it all out and maintain it regularly for me. The last thing I need is a fucked up shitter. I think a maintenance program is only like $300/year.