A year ago we converted our home to an overhead sewer system. There was an ejector pit installed for the active laundry room floor drain and a future basement bathroom. (The laundry is still tied to the main stack with a check valve) For a year we never once had the ejector pit discharge. Now, this year we put in basement bath. Two days after completing the underground plumbing, we hear the ejector pump discharge. I mentioned to the contractor that the gasket around the underground piping might be leaking- he said not so. Now the bathroom is finished, I noticed that the ejector pump is going off more than I think we are using the bathroom. We stopped using the bathroom for two days, and the pump goes off one or two times a day. The contractor says there is no way to know if it is his gasket (for the bathroom underground plumbing) or the other gasket for the laundry room drain (done by another plumber) which is leaking. Additionally, which plumber/contractor do I hold responsible to fix this? Thanks for your thoughts.



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Yes, you look into the pit to see WHERE the water is coming from, but if water can get INTO the pit, then sewage can get OUT of it if the water gets hich enough.

Is your water meter inside, or outside the home?

It is inside- why?

If you have developed a leak outside the home, a meter outside can make it very quick to determine whether the water is coming from your water supply or the drainage somewhere. As it stands, you could use a pressure gauge on a hose spigot and shut the water off at the street to see if the pressure is bleeding out somewhere. If the pressure holds steady, you are looking at a drain problem, if not, it is most likely the supply.

as hj said, you slide the cover up a few inches, manually activate the pump to remove as much water as possible and you look for the ground water coming into the tank.

So if we see ground water leaking in, is the gasket better sealed from the outside or the inside? (obviously we do not want to break up the basement floor if we do not have to.)

Sorry, wasn't thinking last night. Brain was think sump pit, not ejector.

sewer ejector tanks that i am familiar with have a piece of 4" pipe molded into the tank. the plumber uses a 4 inch no hub clamp to add pipe to it.
i have seen tanks that have a friction fit gasket for connecting the inlet pipe.
i have also seen thanks that use a metal flange that is curvered to fit the contour of the tank and bolted in place.
so, if you have a pipe sticking inside the tank, you have one of the latter 2 that i mentioned. if you see an opening for the inlet then you have the first one i mentioned.

Thanks so much for your time and responses. Yes, I know that there is a 4" pipe coming into the basin and there is indeed a friction fitting. It is my belief that the gasket around the pipe is leaking but my contrator is being resistant to looking into the problem. My question is how does one fix a leak from around the gasket because I would think that it would be hard to do because the high water table is always pressing in. My contradtor says to do nothing- a little water coming in just "keeps the pump primed". I am concerned about power outages and heavy rain- then what- overflowing seweage in the bathroom from the ejector pit!!!



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power outages and overflowing pump basins are problems that lots and lots of people would have.
as for the leak, it could be as simple as cleaning and drying the area and applying silicone seal. or, it could entail removing the pipe and replacing the gasket.

Thanks for the reply. I guess we will clean and use a silicone seal then hope for the best. I can hardly image having to jackhammer up the floor to replace the pipe and gasket. Would it be bad to just buy a small generator for emergencies and not worry about the leak? I think springtime is going to be the main problem. Thanks.

Genset, are becoming very popular these days with automatic switch over. Besides your ejector pump, the natural gas power will protect your sump pump, freezer and refrigerator. It also adds value to your home.

Best Wishes

thats what i would do.
i used to lose power 2-3 times a winter. i went to a big box store on black friday 2 years ago and bought a small generac propane generator. it runs off a barbeque tank. runs for 9 hours without refill. no gasoline to store;..
as fate would have it, i have not lost power for the past 2 winters.
as for your tank leak, you are not going to get any sewage leaking out of it because the pump kicks on before the water level reaches the inlet.

Generator it is! Thanks for the help.



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Did you fix your problem by using the silicone? I have ground water leaking into my sewerage pit and it's coming from around the 4" pipe where the gasket is. Fortunately for me, my sewerage pit isn't set up yet.

Do I take the gasket off, apply the silicone, then replace the gasket????

Never done this before so will need all the help I can get.

thanks