I never seen a tap on the sump pump drain pipe before. What for do you need it?
Some people, who would otherwise pay for city water, like to irrigate vegetable gardens or water flowers with sump pump water
Interesting good call sounds good to me thanks .
Roy Cooke
Marc, this is not the case here. This house is on well. The sump pump discharge pipe is right near the wall. I do not see any purpose for this tap.
Having lived on a well for many years I can see many reasons .
Example
June is the driest month of the year when water could be needed in the garden .
Well water is much colder then sump water would be .
The well could have enough for the home but not the garden too.
Others just like the idea of saving their well.
I am still open for other thoughts .
Roy Cooke
I don’t see a hose bib. Could it be a shut off valve that was used as a connection by a weekend plumber.
I thought I sasw a second pipe coming out of the sump pump if not then Back to Sq one
Roy Cooke
Roy, this is not the second pipe. This is discharge hose from the water softener.
That were my thoughts too. But wait. this house has two sump pumps. The second one has indeed two pipes. One normal, without tap, discharging outside. The second one with the tap, connected to 4" pipe to the septic tank?! Why would you do this?
Bad thing to run sump pump into septic .
If it has much water coming from sump it will over load the bed .
The normal house hold usage of the system will not allow the Bacteria in the tank to do its thing and out into the field goes human waste .
Easy fix new bed about $25,000:00 in my area.
Thanks Yuri .
Roy Cooke
Roy, I think that is the reason why they installed the second pipe directly to outside. I don’t understand, though, why they did not remove or plugged the pipe to the septic? Now, if both sump pumps were installed by the same plumber, that will explain the presence of the shut-off tap on the second pump discharge pipe. Since I do not see any sensible reason for these taps, I would recommend to remove them together with the pipe going to the septic.
That is the worst discharge I have ever seen, where does the home owner think all that sump water is going to go? Right back into the sump by the looks of it.
As for the gate valve, I have no idea what he would do that for…
On closer inspection…
It looks like he would close that gate valve which would re-direct the water to the brass outlet below the valve, where I assume he would have a hose that he would use to feed something - plants, etc…
Jason, why would one do it this complicated way? They could install a TEE right off the end of the discharge pipe outside and use it as they like. Unless, of cause, they needed water to grow something inside :twisted: As you can see on the other sump pump there is a terrible corrosion and leaks at the fittings
Interesting thought…
Hmmm…water needed because they were “growing” something inside? That doesn’t sound good.
I often see gate valves in these systems. I thought they were to cut off any circulation or to stop gases from entering living spaces during pump replacement or repairs. Especially when tied into a septic system…you wouldn’t want a load coming back down that pipe while you were changing it out? yuchhhk, The second picture looked more like an effluent tank, to pump sewage up to a gravitational septic system, was it? These are necessary when you have systems in the basement eg. bathroom…laundry…floor drain etc. because they are lower than the gravity main going out to the septic tank, they need a lift to pump the sewage up to the main.
Thank you, Darrell. I rarely perform inspections for the properties with septic tanks, and I feel that this maybe the case that you describe.
Looks like a sewage ejector to me. As Darrell stated…
“click to enlarge”
Thank you, David. Now I know for sure why they had this arrangement. It amazes me how we always learn something on each inspection. 
If that’s the case…Did you note that that pump must be a sealed container?