Please forgive my ignorance of the parlance in advance as I'm as far removed from a plumbing person as one gets. We've owned our house for 6 years and have had issues with our ejector pump for the last 3, several times a year (air locks, clogging). This prompted a more thorough investigation by the local plumbers as to the underlying issue. They ran a camera from the manhole towards our house and found the lateral to be sound; however, there was sewage / liquid filling the majority of the pipe. They concluded that our current pump wasn't powerful enough to efficiently remove the waste from our house for such a large diameter pipe (4". Their proposal was to move the pit from our basement into the front yard, install an appropriately sized ejector pump, and to convert to a smaller diameter lateral. Pending approval by the township his plan is to thread a smaller diameter pipe through the preexisting one to connect with the said external tank. This begged the question as to the alternative if his plan wasn't approved and what it would cost. He rolled his eyes and sighed deeply; I didn't press.

It would seem to me that there exist pumps of sufficient power to move our home's waste to the sewer main without having to change the diameter of the pipe. Am I wrong? Any comments or suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks very much.

What brand and model sewer pump do you currently have? Does it service the entire house, or just a lower level? Is the municipal sewer main higher than your house? I.E., does your house sit on the bottom of a hill below the road? How does the plumber plan to get the waste from the house to an exterior sewer pit if you already need a pump in the house?

yeah, a lot of questions that need to be answered before even guessing.
if the pump is lifting the sewage high enough to reach the sewer pipe then reducing the size of the pipe will do nothing. the slope of the pipe will carry things away.
why the pump gets airlocked could be as simple as not having a small hole drilled in the discharge or not having proper venting.
relocating the tank to the front yard sounds like the contractor needs to buy a new truck at your expense.

What brand and model sewer pump do you currently have? Does it service the entire house, or just a lower level? Is the municipal sewer main higher than your house? I.E., does your house sit on the bottom of a hill below the road? How does the plumber plan to get the waste from the house to an exterior sewer pit if you already need a pump in the house?



Thank you for the response. It is a Grundfos SE502 M20 and does service the entire house. The main is higher and we do live below the road. I don't know the answer to your last question but I will ask once he gets back to us -- thanks for that.

yeah, a lot of questions that need to be answered before even guessing.
if the pump is lifting the sewage high enough to reach the sewer pipe then reducing the size of the pipe will do nothing. the slope of the pipe will carry things away.
why the pump gets airlocked could be as simple as not having a small hole drilled in the discharge or not having proper venting.
relocating the tank to the front yard sounds like the contractor needs to buy a new truck at your expense.




Again, thanks for the response. Yes, it is lifting the sewage high enough but it doesn't empty the exiting pipe by a long shot. The air locking issue is most likely secondary to faulty venting. The prior owners made some shady modifications to the basement plumbing (among other things) for unknown reasons. We're told that the basement sewage pit should only service a basement bathroom and washer / dryer, not the entire house, which it does currently.



Edited 1 times.

You are in the clutches of a "scam artist". Larger pipes do NOT require larger pumps, in fact the size of the pipe has NOTHING to do with the pump size as long as the pipe is the larger of the two. The pipe being full of water COULD just be a result of your pump being below the sewer main, which is a COMMON problem and changing the pipe would do NOTHING to eliminate it, nor would using a "bigger" pump.

Actually, he probably wants TWO trucks and thinks he has a "sucker" who will pay for them.

The answer to the last question is that he expects YOU to pay for the work of moving the pit. IF you need anything it is a properly designed DUPLEX system with all the associated bells and whistles to give you a system that is almost "flood proof" unless the power fails.

I did ask about installing a larger pump, i.e., a duplex system in the basement and he told me that the size would be prohibitive.

What your contractor is telling you just doesn't sound right. It could be something as simple as a belly in the main going out or the pipe being back-graded. Have you done any significant landscaping recently?



Edited 1 times.

He must have decided he could not jack the price up to his "normal" profit without sending you to another contractor. A duplex system DOES require a larger basin, but it is the only way to fully protect your property. Maybe he doesn't know HOW to install a duplex system so he wants to discourage you from investigating one. How about a picture of your current pump system?

"Pipe bellies" do NOT affect pump discharge lines. They can go "over hill and dale" if necessary.

When the contractor you had on site "rolled his eyes and sighed" when you asked him a question, he was saying he didn't care what happened as long as he took your money. It sounds to me like you need a new contractor.

Many thanks for the responses thus far. So, we've received our proposal and the highlights are as follows:

1. Install sewer pit, pump, and alarm with wiring to panel
2. Hook up to existing 4" cast iron approx 10 feet from house wall outside and use 4" cast iron to manhole as sleeve for 1 1/4" water service line

3. All digging to be within 20' of house
4. No brick walk repair included
5. Back - hoe for digging and back fill.
6. Stone
7. 1 Barnes Eco Tran sewer pump, pit, and alarm with OGP and PTR and 50' cord
8. Alarm to be mounted in basement close to electric panel
9. 4" PVC piping and fittings.
10. 1 1/4" water service plastic piping and fittings
11. 1 1/4" galvanized pipe to drive under walk
12. 3" pvc piping and fittings in basement
13. Remove large bushing and reinstall existing cleanout plug
14. Remove old sewer pump and pipe -- pit to remain where it is (basement)
15. Cap 3" pvc pipe going into sewer pit in basement
16. Plumbing permits

Again, not being a plumbing person limits my judgement regarding the project and the proposed cost. I'll be contacting another plumber in our area for a second opinion and this plumber for clarification. Any advice, comments, suggestions, etc., from the plumbing forum audience would again be much appreciated. Thanks for the time.



Edited 1 times.