Ejector pump necessary?

[moeglein]

I would like to add a bathroom (including sink, shower and toilet) in my daylight basement. The house's sewer line runs right through the area of interest, but it exits the building with the top of the pipe only about 2" below basement floor level.

I can run a new pipe under the footer and pick up the sewer line down the hill somewhere. That'll probably involve a day of digging. It has been proposed to add an ejector pump, but that seems like overkill to solve the problem of a few inches of drop.

All suggestions gratefully appreciated...

 

[SewerRatz]

An Ejector pump is the way to go, this way if your sewer ever backs up it will not back up out of your newly installed bathroom. Some locals around here require an ejector pump to be installed even if the gravity sewer is deep enough.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

How much drop is there outside the house to where you are considering making the connection? My personal opinion, if you've got enough drop and you're willing to dig it up, my feeling is gravity is always better than relying on a pump and electricity.

 

[SewerRatz]

The pump and electricity is just for the add on bathroom. And it can protect from disastrous sewer back up in the basement. I would also check with your local plumbing inspector and make sure how they want the basement bathroom hooked up to the sewer. No matter how much you want to install it, the state, county and local code has the final say.

 

[moeglein]

There is plenty of drop outside the house (~20% slope).

How much drop is there outside the house to where you are considering making the connection? My personal opinion, if you've got enough drop and you're willing to dig it up, my feeling is gravity is always better than relying on a pump and electricity.

 

[moeglein]

So how are the sewer lines in two- or three-story houses normally plumbed? How do you prevent back-flow in a downstairs bathroom without some sort of backflow prevention? I have a hard time believing that an ejector pump is any sort of standard way of doing it.

An Ejector pump is the way to go, this way if your sewer ever backs up it will not back up out of your newly installed bathroom. Some locals around here require an ejector pump to be installed even if the gravity sewer is deep enough.

 

[SewerRatz]

Some are plumbed as overhead sewer and others are in-ground sewers. One of the local cities is Clarendon Hills that requires any basement bathroom that is being plumbed in to discharge into an ejector pump. All the homes have in ground sewers there, heck they are approximately 3 foot below the floor so plenty of room to rough in the bathroom for a direct hook up. Trouble is every decent rain their city sewers backup. So if a homeowner was to tap directly into the sewer pipe for the rough in first big rain they will have a flooded basement. With the ejector pump they will not get any water since all the basement drains get pumped into the sewer and there is a check valve on the ejector pump to prevent back flow.

Personally every time I was hired I would show the home owner the benefits of using the ejector pump to discharge any water used in the basement even if it is not required by the local city I am working in. Yes the pump can fail or you might have a power outage, all that means is you do not use the basement plumbing, you still can use your upstairs plumbing till the power comes back on, or till you replace the pump. Like I said its best to see what your locality requires. If they do not require you to use an ejector pump, then the final decision rests with you.

 

[hj]

pump

There are many solutions to various problems. An ejector pump is usually the last resort. IF you can connect the bathroom to a gravity sewer, that is the best way. Was there a reason why the sewer was installed so shallow? Normally it would not be done that way, if for no other reason than that everything is usually easier if the sewer is deeper.

 

[moeglein]

There are many solutions to various problems. An ejector pump is usually the last resort. IF you can connect the bathroom to a gravity sewer, that is the best way. Was there a reason why the sewer was installed so shallow? Normally it would not be done that way, if for no other reason than that everything is usually easier if the sewer is deeper.

Thanks for reinforcing what I was thinking.

It would definitely have been better if the sewer line were deeper. I think the plumber didn't want to go under the footer, so he went above it. Now, we're having to go under. It'll take a day or so to dig it out (we are about a half-day into it, and everything seems to be going fine.)

 

[moeglein]

Personally every time I was hired I would show the home owner the benefits of using the ejector pump to discharge any water used in the basement even if it is not required by the local city I am working in. Yes the pump can fail or you might have a power outage, all that means is you do not use the basement plumbing, you still can use your upstairs plumbing till the power comes back on, or till you replace the pump. Like I said its best to see what your locality requires. If they do not require you to use an ejector pump, then the final decision rests with you.

Thanks for yourhelp.

I think we have a bit of a misunderstanding. This is a *daylight* basement, not a typical basement like one might see in the midwest, with sump pump and a range of drainage concerns.

The soil outside is effectively even with the floor level. My only problem is that the sewer line is only a couple inches below floor level, and it goes out just above the footer. The line drops off pretty well outside, so it shouldn't be a problem tieing into it. We just need to go under the footer, which is never a whole lot of fun.

I'll know more by the end of the day, once the trench is dug...

 

[moeglein]

Update...

We managed to get the trench dug in about 6 hours' time, picking up the sewer pipe just where it really dives down about 10' from the house. We'll put a check valve in and should be good to go!