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
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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.
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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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.
Septic Tank Capacity vs Usage in Daily Gallons of Wastewater Flow, calculating required septic tank size, calculating septic tank volume from size measurements
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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