Ejector Pit - Pump Runs when it rains

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Katchat6

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We have two pits in our house. One for storm water and one that services a bar sink, basement bathroom and Air Conditioner condensate line at opposite ends of the home. The storm water one is serviced by a Zoeller 1/2 HP pump along with a Zoeller pedestal back-up pump that is hooked up to two gel marine batteries. That is not problem. I check the back-up pump monthly and all seems to be running fine on that front. It runs when there is snow melt or rain as one would expect.

The issue is with the Ejector Pit, which is serviced with a Zoeller Ejector Pump. We do NOT use the bathroom in the basement nor the bar sink (have not since we moved in). The water is off to the toilet. What we have noticed is that when it rains or there is significant snow melt, that the ejector pump will run (worst case twice an hour), but more likely once every couple of hours. This only happens when there is rain or snow melt, other than that it does not run unless it is summer time from the A/C. Our thought is that ground water must be seeping in that pit, causing it to run. The house was built in 1977. What should our next steps be? Is a liner for an ejector pit an option to seal any potential points of water entry?

Thank you.
 

Terry

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We have two pits in our house. One for storm water and one that services a bar sink, basement bathroom and Air Conditioner condensate line at opposite ends of the home. The storm water one is serviced by a Zoeller 1/2 HP pump along with a Zoeller pedestal back-up pump that is hooked up to two gel marine batteries. That is not problem. I check the back-up pump monthly and all seems to be running fine on that front. It runs when there is snow melt or rain as one would expect.

The issue is with the Ejector Pit, which is serviced with a Zoeller Ejector Pump. We do NOT use the bathroom in the basement nor the bar sink (have not since we moved in). The water is off to the toilet. What we have noticed is that when it rains or there is significant snow melt, that the ejector pump will run (worst case twice an hour), but more likely once every couple of hours. This only happens when there is rain or snow melt, other than that it does not run unless it is summer time from the A/C. Our thought is that ground water must be seeping in that pit, causing it to run. The house was built in 1977. What should our next steps be? Is a liner for an ejector pit an option to seal any potential points of water entry?

Thank you.

1977? Perhaps you have a rusted pit there. I have not worked on a situation like that yet, maybe there is a repair for those? Removal of the lid and a wet vac to remove the contents would help diagnose what is happening there.
 

John Gayewski

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The next step is to open and inspect the pit. It could be working as designed asana your not aware someone tied other piping into it. I've seen this before. When people tie their dragon (edit: for Terry; DRAIN TILE) tile into their sewage. It's not legal, but people do it anyway.
 
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Katchat6

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Thank you for the replies thus far.

I have someone coming out to take a look in the next few days before heavy Spring rains start. One thing that was mentioned when I called up to make the schedule is that it was not necessarily the end of the world if rainwater was coming in if it was not a crazy amount, however what they did say is that we may consider installing a back-up pump, so if power ever did go out we do not flood. I will have to say that this pit is VERY tightly located. Just to the right of the brand new hot water heater and across from our brand new furnace we just hand installed in August of 2021. Suffice it to say, we do not want water in the room.

Honestly, I did not even know that you could install a back-up for an ejector pit. Obviously, I'm well aware of one for a sump pump. What would a back-up even look like for this?
 

Reach4

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You normally want to flush the seldom-used toilet and run water into the bar sink maybe once per month to keep those traps from drying out. The expected symptom of drying out, other than visual, is a smell as septic gases can get in.

Now if somebody in your household is keeping the traps from drying out, that could result in some water going to the septic pit. Cleaning person maybe?
 
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