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Sewage pumpSewage Ejector Pumps & Septic Pumps
Inspection & Maintenance Guide

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Septic pumps & grinder pumps:

How to inspect sewage grinder pumps or septic pump installations for proper installation, operation, and testing.

This article gives inspection and maintenance advice for Sump Pumps, Sewage Ejector Pumps, Septic Grinder Pumps, Sewage Pumping Stations, & Septic Pump Alarms.

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Guide to Sewage Ejector Pump Inspection

Sewage inspection detail 2The general name for sewage pumps pumps is sewage grinder pumps if they are intended to grind and move black water or sewage (including solid wastes), 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 sewage grinder or septic 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.

Sketches are from the Environment One Low Pressure Sewer Systems Grinder Pump catalog.

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?

Sewage pump inspection detail

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.

Sewage inspection detail 2

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: inspection checklist

Duplex septic pump installation Inspect the sewage grinder tank for the following:

Septic & Sewage Pump Maintenance Guides & Instructions


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Continue reading  at SEWAGE PUMP DAMAGE & REPAIR or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

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INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to SEPTIC SYSTEMS

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