Originally Posted By: cmccann This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Saw something for the first time yesterday. Inspecting a 1972 shed style roof, walk out basement 3200sgft. I was looking at what I thought was a sump pump in the basement when someone flushed the toilet up stairs. To my surprise it emptied into the sump area. Needless to say I was surprised. I had never seen this before and referred to my code check book. They are used to get the sewage up to the main sewer due to the fact the sewage drains are so far below the street. Has anyone else had any experience with this set up?
Originally Posted By: rmeyers This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Chuck,
Fairly common in this area. Hopefully you were just hearing the water flow and not seeing it! The ejector system should be a sealed pit, properly vented through the plumbing system it pumps into. If the system was not sealed then there are sanitary issues that need to be addressed.
Usually test the system by running enough water through the system to get the pump to kick on (usually a couple of flushes in addition to running faucets will suffice). And checking the piping and valves.
Recently had a unit without proper seals around the pipe penetrations. In the event of a pump failure, common with these systems, the raw sewage would be flooding the basement or lower level (even quicker than overflowing the fixtures).
I generally suggest back up pumps and alarms for these systems in order to catch mal-functions quickly. They are not typically "fun" things to work on. You might want to educate the end user that certain "marginal items" that might pass through the regular gravity plumbing system can play havoc with ejector pumps and float controls (use your imagination or ask your local plumber). 
Originally Posted By: cmccann This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Thanks Russell,
I told them that these types of pump systems do require oversight and maint./cleaning periodically.  The system was sealed, but I pulled the rubber grommet back to take a peak. I won't do that again......