Hi all. Newbie here. I just bought a home with a basement utility sink below the sewer line. The original owner rigged up a rube-goldberg contraption, with a pump mounted to the bottom of a sink, and a float switch mounted IN THE SINK. It was disgusting, with a constant 1-2" of standing, dirty water in the sink at any given time. No vent, obviously.
So, I hired a plumber to come out to fix the problem and he suggested a zoeller pump in the box with a sure-vent. Going to the roof would be a major expense.
Anyway, the plumber cancelled on me, so I went and bought the supplies myself. First thing I see in the pump manual is that the pump can't be used with an AAV. I searched the forum here and the internet, and the definitive consensus is that a pump in the box won't work with an AAV.
As an aside, I live in NJ, and in this state, it is impossible to get a master plumber to come to your house. What you get are the retards that work under the master plumbers licence, hence the bad advice. This is a very frustrating situation, and I've already twice had to get the board of master plumbers involved to penalize master plumbers for allowing idiots to screw up my plumbing jobs. The system is broken and this corrupt practice serves nothing more than to enrich unscrupulous master plumbers while depriving the public of having a licenced professional do the job. Hence, why I am here and asking for your help.
So I have this pump and an AAV, and according to STUDOR, it is indeed possible to use an ejector pump with an AAV. The spec sheets for their valves state: THE VALVE MAY BE INSTALLED ON SEWER EJECTORS, IF INSTALLED ACCORDING TO ENGINEER DESIGN..
Take a look at this diagram on page 14 of the Studor design manual:
http://www.studor.com/DesignCriteria.pdf
They basically have the vent coming out of the box, and then a loop back from the waste discharge to the vent again. In any case, I figured I can do no worse than what the so-called "plumber" would have given me, and certainly better than what I originally had. So, I pulled the old sink and pump out, installed a new sink/faucet and rigged up the new pump as per the design diagram. Guess what? It works. I don't know how it works, or how long it's going to work, but the pump functions. I did at least a dozen full sink-loads of water, two laundry cycles, and numerous on-off cycles of water going down the drain. On the shorter cycles, the waste pipe shutters after the pump shuts off, but I think this is the water flowing back to my check valve, which is mounted about 3ft up the vertical pipe.
BTW: I am using a standard mechanical vent temporarily until I can find the proper studor valve. The sink drains very fast. I don't hear the mechnical vent, but after a big laundry load, I get some gurgling and the valve makes a little "hiss" for about 3 seconds after the pump shuts off. I assume this is how the box is equalizing the pressure. I would appreciate it if someone can explain the studor diagram to me on how this thing works and comment on why studor believes an AAV can work with an ejector pump, while the general consensus is against this practice. Thanks to all for reading.
-A
So, I hired a plumber to come out to fix the problem and he suggested a zoeller pump in the box with a sure-vent. Going to the roof would be a major expense.
Anyway, the plumber cancelled on me, so I went and bought the supplies myself. First thing I see in the pump manual is that the pump can't be used with an AAV. I searched the forum here and the internet, and the definitive consensus is that a pump in the box won't work with an AAV.
As an aside, I live in NJ, and in this state, it is impossible to get a master plumber to come to your house. What you get are the retards that work under the master plumbers licence, hence the bad advice. This is a very frustrating situation, and I've already twice had to get the board of master plumbers involved to penalize master plumbers for allowing idiots to screw up my plumbing jobs. The system is broken and this corrupt practice serves nothing more than to enrich unscrupulous master plumbers while depriving the public of having a licenced professional do the job. Hence, why I am here and asking for your help.
So I have this pump and an AAV, and according to STUDOR, it is indeed possible to use an ejector pump with an AAV. The spec sheets for their valves state: THE VALVE MAY BE INSTALLED ON SEWER EJECTORS, IF INSTALLED ACCORDING TO ENGINEER DESIGN..
Take a look at this diagram on page 14 of the Studor design manual:
http://www.studor.com/DesignCriteria.pdf
They basically have the vent coming out of the box, and then a loop back from the waste discharge to the vent again. In any case, I figured I can do no worse than what the so-called "plumber" would have given me, and certainly better than what I originally had. So, I pulled the old sink and pump out, installed a new sink/faucet and rigged up the new pump as per the design diagram. Guess what? It works. I don't know how it works, or how long it's going to work, but the pump functions. I did at least a dozen full sink-loads of water, two laundry cycles, and numerous on-off cycles of water going down the drain. On the shorter cycles, the waste pipe shutters after the pump shuts off, but I think this is the water flowing back to my check valve, which is mounted about 3ft up the vertical pipe.
BTW: I am using a standard mechanical vent temporarily until I can find the proper studor valve. The sink drains very fast. I don't hear the mechnical vent, but after a big laundry load, I get some gurgling and the valve makes a little "hiss" for about 3 seconds after the pump shuts off. I assume this is how the box is equalizing the pressure. I would appreciate it if someone can explain the studor diagram to me on how this thing works and comment on why studor believes an AAV can work with an ejector pump, while the general consensus is against this practice. Thanks to all for reading.
-A