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Inspection & Maintenance Guide for Septic Pumps InspectAPedia®  -

• A guide to the inspection & maintenance of Septic tank pumps, septic grinder pumps, septic effluent pumps
• Sewage ejector pumps
• Sump Pumps
• Sewage Pumping Stations
• Septic Pump Alarm

This article gives inspection and maintenance advice for Sump Pumps, Sewage Ejector Pumps, Septic Grinder Pumps, Sewage Pumping Stations, & Septic Pump Alarms. Citation of this article by reference to this website and brief quotation for the sole purpose of review are permitted. Use of this information at other websites, in books or pamphlets for sale is reserved to the author.

Technical review by industry experts has been performed and is ongoing - reviewers welcomed and are listed at "References." This document is a chapter of Inspecting, Testing, & Maintaining Residential Septic Systems an online book on septic systems. Sketches are from the Environment One Low Pressure Sewer Systems Grinder Pump catalog. © Copyright 2009 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use the links at page left to navigate this document or to go to Other Website Topics. Green links show where you are in our document & website.

Guide to Sewage Ejector Pump Inspection

The general name for these pumps is sewage grinder pumps if they are intended to grind and move black water or sewage, or sewage effluent pumps if the pump is intended only to move clarified effluent, say from a septic tank to a drain field. Some of the common pump brands include ABS pumps, Crane (centrifugal grinders) pumps, Environment One or E/One sewage pumps, Goulds pumps, Hydromatic pumps, Liberty sewage pumps, Little Giant pumps, Myers pumps, Tsurumi pumps, Webtrol sewage pumps, and Zoeller sewage grinder pumps. Several sewage pump manufacturers produce a separate line of commercial or municipal sewage grinder pumps from those used in residential application.

What you see at a building site may indicate a history of problems: The pumps at page top may have been a misapplication for this municipal lift station ,which may explain why we found these discarded units on the site. Septic pump systems vary by these parameters:

Is the proper pump installed? Septic pump manufacturers provide a pump selection and sizing table that is used to guide the installer in selecting the proper pump. We've seen sewage handling systems where the wrong type or wrong capacity of pump was installed, sometimes as an attempt to "save money."

Are modifications to the septic pump system visible ? What do they mean?

The septic grinder pump at left has had a hole cut at floor level to permit other basement leakage to enter the pumping chamber to be pumped away.

Of course any sewage backup will flow back out of this hole into the room, and might prevent the pump alarm from functioning - but then is there a pump alarm installed? From the number of wires entering the tank, probably not. Also we see no check valve (see photo at right, brass valve on the left hand vertical outlet pipe). Also the wiring connections entering the tank are held in place with gray-painted-over masking tape - not particularly reliable.

Guide to Sewage Ejector Pump Maintenance

Inspect the sewage grinder tank for the following:

• Accessibility to the tank and pump for inspection, pump replacement, or repairs
  
  
• Venting: Presence of adequate tank venting. Openings in the tank itself may discharge odors, dangerous sewer gases, or even bacteria and sewage backup into the room. If a vent is omitted, when the pump is running it will create an unwanted vacuum in the sewage reservoir.
  
  
• Presence of each of the components shown in the sketch above
  
  
• Evidence of leaks, exposed wires, unprotected openings into the tank
  
  
• Evidence of backups or overflows which may show recent failures
  
  
• Pump operation: turn on a nearby plumbing fixture to fill the reservoir tank, observe the pump operation, turning on and off normally
  
  
• Damaged ejector/grinder pump reservoir or basin: the fiberglass or plastic container should be intact, with no cracks, breaks, improper holes, or other damage. Some basins are made of cast iron and use a cast iron lid. The lid should fit securely, be of the proper material, and not be leaking.
  
  
• A check valve on the discharge line is needed at the discharge line (as we show in the right hand photo above). Unless a check valve is installed, when the septic pump motor turns off you'll hear a large volume of water running backwards into the pumping chamber from the discharge line, causing the pump to turn on again too soon or even to cycle continuously; the check valve also assures that a sewer main does not back up into a building and flood it through the sewage ejector pump system.

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Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

SEPTIC SYSTEM PUMPS
  Sewage Ejector Pump Grinder Pump
    What is a Sewage Ejector?
  Free-Standing Sewage Grinder Pump
  Septic Pump Alarm Systems
  Septic Pump Buyers Guide
  Septic Pump Duplex System Designs
  Septic Pump Inspection & Maintenance
  Septic Pump Installation Guide
  Septic Pumping Stations
  Sump Pumps

SEPTIC SYSTEMS HOME
SEPTIC SYSTEM ARTICLES
HOME BUYERS GUIDE to SEPTIC SYSTEMS
HOME SELLERS GUIDE TO SEPTIC INSPECT
SEPTIC AUTHORITIES
SEPTIC BOOKS
SEPTIC CONSULTANTS
SEPTIC FIELD INSPECTION
SEPTIC SYSTEM DESIGN BASICS
SEPTIC SYSTEM DESIGN ALTERNATIVES
SEPTIC SYSTEM INSPECTION & TEST GUIDE
SEPTIC SYSTEMS ONLINE BOOK
SEPTIC TANK PUMPING SCHEDULE
SEPTIC TANK PUMPING PROCEDURE
SEPTIC TANK INSPECTION PROCEDURE
SEPTIC TREATMENTS & CHEMICALS
SEPTIC BOOKS REFERENCES CODES
SEWER LINE REPLACEMENT
TOILET ALTERNATIVES
VIDEO GUIDES: Septic Videos
VIDEO GUIDES - InspectAPedia.com
WASTEWATER TREATMENT BASICS
WATER, WELLS, WATER TANKS: TESTING GUIDE
WHAT CAN GO INTO TOILETS & DRAINS?

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

• Our recommended books about building design, inspection, and repair, and about indoor environment testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
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More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

• The Septic System Information Website home page for this topic
• Septic Systems Inspection, Testing, & Maintenance- online textbook. Detailed how to inspect, maintain, repair information
• The Home Buyer's Guide to Septic Systems
• Septic Tank Pumping Guide: When, Why, How to pump the septic tank
• Home & Outdoor Living Water Requirements
• Septic Tank Capacity vs Usage in Daily Gallons of Wastewater Flow, calculating required septic tank size, calculating septic tank volume from size measurements
• How Big Should the Leach Field Be? - table of soil percolation rate vs. field size
• Septic System Drainfield Absorption System Biomat Formation - what leads to drain field clogging and expensive drainfield repairs
• Table of Required Septic & Well Clearances: Distances Between Septic System & Wells, Streams, Trees, etc.
  Pennsylvania State Fact Sheets relating to domestic wastewater treatment systems include
  
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-161, Septic System Failure: Diagnosis and Treatment
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-162, The Soil Media and the Percolation Test
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-l64, Mound Systems for Wastewater Treatment
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-165, Septic Tank-Soil Absorption Systems
• Document Sources used for this web page include but are not limited to: Agricultural Fact Sheet #SW-161 "Septic Tank Pumping," by Paul D. Robillard and Kelli S. Martin. Penn State College of Agriculture - Cooperative Extension, edited and annotated by Dan Friedman (Thanks: to Bob Mackey for proofreading the original source material.)

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