Sewer Ejector Pumps
Sewer ejector pumps are needed whenever you have your city sewer lower than your property sewer. All sewer lines have to have flow downhill because it’s not a pressure system. This means you have to have what we call “fall” on your sewer line.
Let’s say your sidewalk is 3 feet higher than your house, like they have in some instances, the city sewer most likely is going to be higher than where your sewer comes out at your house. In this instance, you would have to put in a sewer ejector pit on the outside of the house where this house would dump into that sewer ejector pit, and then you would put in a pump, check valve, and so on, and run it over to the city.
The other instance is if you have a basement and you want to put a bathroom in the basement. The basement is going to be below the sewer in the house because the sewer is going to be on the first floor.
The Most Common Maintenance and Repair Issue
Either the pump goes bad or the float goes bad. Most sewer injector pumps will either have a float built onto them or they’ll have a secondary float that is strapped to the pipe. So, there’as a have a float on the pipe, and then a secondary float.
The thing about floats is that they’re not repairable. Because the floats themselves are a plastic-sealed unit, they can’t be fixed. You can barely see the seal on it, but if that seal breaks and they get water inside, they won’t work.
Installation Process of a Sewer Ejector Pump
We would take the union loose, pull the pump out, and put your new PVC mill adapter into the pump. If your PVC mill adapter is not damaged, you can unscrew the piping, put it back in your new pump, drop it back in, then reattach it to your union to your pipe, and then you plug it back in and make sure your floats are proper. After that, we fill it up and make sure it’s working.
Sewer Ejection Pumps Vs. Sump Pumps
Sump pumps are designed just to pump water, maybe a little bit of dirt.
A sewer injector pump is designed to be a grinder/pump combination. So most of them have a stainless steel blade that’s very sharp. So, when you flush toilet paper–and anything else–that blade will chop it up just like a garbage disposal. It then pumps it out of the house.
Sump pumps are just pumps. It can move water and maybe a little bit of dirt, but it doesn’t chop stuff up. If you get a paper towel in a sump pump, it will stop. They will lock up your pump and cause it not to work. A paper towel on a sewer injector pump will just get shredded up and pump through.
Have a sewer ejection pump issue? Call us today and we’ll get it handled.
