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Installation Guide for Septic Pumps InspectAPedia®  -

• A guide to installing 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 explains the differences between and gives installation 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 links 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.

Guide to Sewage Grinder Pump Installation Details

The sewage grinder pump is housed in a plastic or steel reservoir which receives waste from the bathroom or other plumbing fixtures it serves. When a float inside the reservoir indicates that the sewage level has reached a high level in the reservoir, the float turns on the grinder pump which grinds and pumps away the waste.

The pump shown at the top of this page is a sewage grinder pump which grinds the waste and pumps the solid/liquid measure to the building main drain. At left the sewage grinder pump parts include:

1. Sewage Grinder tank (this is an Environment One Grinder Pump System)
2. Lifting eyes for removing the assembly (the circles at the mid-tank seam)
3. Electrical wiring leads for the grinder pump and septic pump alarm
4. Electrical disconnect box for the grinder pump system
5. Drain inlet: 4" PVC tank inlet for connection to building drains served by the pump
6. Sewage pump tank vent. The sewage grinder tank must be vented either directly or through the inlet pipe and within 4 ft. of the tank to a building plumbing vent stack
7. Drain inlet gravity service line - wastewater flows into the tank by gravity from this line.
8. Ground sewage outlet: 1 1/4" male pipe thread discharge outlet (the small diameter pipe leaving the tank at top right and passing through the foundation wall)
9. Concrete septic pumping tank anchor (900 pounds, or about 6 cu .ft. of concrete to prevent the tank from floating up out of the ground)
10. Sewage Pumping Tank bedding gravel, 6" deep of rounded pea gravel.

(Sketch is from the Environment One Low Pressure Sewer Systems Grinder Pump catalog.)

Sewage or Septic Grinder pumps grind the solid waste entering the system, then pump it to the building drain. The building sewer drain then carries this mixture by gravity (a gravity main system) or by pump pressure (a forced main) to its destination at a septic tank and drainfield system or to a municipal sewer. Septic grinders are intended for use at residential or small commercial locations.

Because the waste is ground and pumped under pressure, these pumps can lift high distances, say from a basement floor even to a street sewer which may be uphill from the home, or to a high pressure sewer main that may be located some distance away.

For example, we inspected a summer camp community which used this force-main sewer system to move waste from buildings across a site covering several acres to a common septic system.

Small sewage ejectors are for homes and commercial applications where toilet usage and wastewater loads are modest.

A typical home sewage grinder pump uses a 1/3 to two horsepower electric motor which powers a grinder mechanism that grinds the waste, and an actual sewage waste pump which moves the ground sewage/wastewater mixture up a riser pipe to its destination: the building main sewer drain, where the wastewater is carried to a septic tank or to a community sewer line.

Guide to Non-Clogging Sewer Pumps

Non-clogging sewer pumps, or "non-clogs", are similar in principle to the grinder pumps discussed above, but they have more capacity, and can move solids up to 4" in diameter to a sewer main or waste handling system.

Non-clogging pumps are used in some residential installations but more often in commercial or community systems or at Septic Pumping Stations.

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Our Septic Pump Inspection & Maintenance guide has additional important details that you should review if you are installing a septic pump or grinder pump.

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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