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I will preface by saying that I have a list of phone calls that I will be making in the morning. I just am hoping for some general answers to possibly help me sleep tonight.
My house is slightly downhill from the road. 2 years ago, I had to have the sewage ejector pump replaced. Well, it has stopped working again- I have raw sewage in my yard
This is NOT normal, correct? I am single, live alone, and work about 65-70 hours a week. I cannot imagine how this thing could be broken again!
Any ideas as to why this may have happened again so soon?
Also, what are the chances of this being under warranty by the manufacturer? I really don't have $1400 (or more) to spend on this. Again.
I have the bill from the company who replaced it last time, and I will be calling them in the morning.
being so new... the plumbing (piping) aspect is probably NOT the issue.
It's far more likely to be something electrical related to the pump not running.
That could be something as simple as a tripped circuit breaker or a faulty control or adjustment...
right up through the motor itself having failed.
I've never worked on one of these so I'm reluctant to say more.
Good luck.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I am familiar with sewage pumps and lift stations. I'd doubt that you are still under warranty but should not have trouble with a unit for at least 4-5 years,
most residential last 8-10. I agree it may be electrical, most likely a jam caused an overload and opened the breaker. You should be able to reset that yourself, if it's not cleared it will blow again though. Chances are your service call will involve taking apart lines and clearing debris, or perhaps replacement of a stuck backflow valve. Sleep well, but I suppose it really could be a burned out pump.
There are a lot of possibilities as to what went wrong. I've had to deal with similar but larger pumps in theatres, and my experience has not been good. You may be limited by code in what you can do in a replacement repair. We had to put an overflow (high water) alarm on one system because it was having problems every few months.
After the experiences I had, I would not pay for any of the higher-priced pumps. They simply do not last any longer than the cheap ones. The pump that worked the best for us was one where the motor was stuck on a shaft and in the air above the pit, but you will likely be stuck with submersibles.
Hopefully your pump doesn't have to work against a pressurized sewer. That burns out motors.
if you don't already have an alarm on the system, you need one.
also, if your pump plugs in to an outdoor recep, have them verify the pump is plugged in to the back of the float switch cord cap; if not, your pump could be running 24/7; i've more than once seen someone plug each end into the recep separately.
Sadly I agree that, while not normal for the yard to fill with sewage, more than a few homes are built in such a way that the path to the sewer is uphill. This is not easily changed AND will continue to burn out pump(s).
The manufacturers try to build pumps as cheaply as possible -- thus the warranty rarely lasts longer than a couple of years. Even if you get a rare 5+ year warranty odds are that a pump working against gravity AND towards an uphill sewer won't last...
There are engineers, both from the municipal side and the residential side, that can suggest ways to "cascade" pumps so that you are not shoving all your waste exclusively uphill, but given the financial distress of most towns I suspect that any "solution" would come with a BIG special assessment that probably is worse than just getting the "frequent buyer's card" with the plumber from your side...
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