sump pump/ejector pump

[hziegenbein]

I did an inspection today that had added overhead sewers a few years back. The sewer is about 3 feet above the basement floor, so all of the upstairs fixtures drain by gravity, but the washing machine and slop sink drain into the sump pump and it acts as an ejector to pump the water in to the drain system. I'm assuming this is not allowed for a variety or reasons, there's no check vavle, the pump isn't sealed or vented and there is no gate valve. I've never seen this done before, I'm I correct in my assumption? Thanks.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

There's also no P-trap to stop gases from entering. Write it up.

I've seen this done a number of times. If the buyers want to live with it, that's their decision.

The most bizarre one I saw was in the "for sale" house of a project manager for a new hospital- just about exactly what you saw. PS- I would like to check the hospital out if that's what's in his house.

In addition, in this house I found a new high quality, high volume range hood that ran but did nothing. It wasn't vented to outdoors and was supposedly in the recirculation mode but wasn't blowing much air. Found out that the installer-the project manager- had put it in himself and had not changed the orientation of the dual fan discharges to actually work as a recirc fan!! His wife who was home during the inspection was incredulous about my findings.

The really bizarre item about this house and the gent, in particular, was he had written one of the first books on healthy buildings the year before (1987-8 or so)!!!!!!!!! So he gave me his copy of the book when he found out I was already working in the healthy housing field back then

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by hziegenbein

I did an inspection today that had added overhead sewers a few years back. The sewer is about 3 feet above the basement floor, so all of the upstairs fixtures drain by gravity, but the washing machine and slop sink drain into the sump pump and it acts as an ejector to pump the water in to the drain system. I'm assuming this is not allowed for a variety or reasons, there's no check vavle, the pump isn't sealed or vented and there is no gate valve. I've never seen this done before, I'm I correct in my assumption? Thanks.

Not allowed in any area I know of .
They should drain to a sealed tank and it should have a solid waste pump to take the waste to the city sewer system.
Laundry tubs should also not drain to a sump hole as this can give a great place for Bacteria to breed and give off a strong odor .
Sewage pumps need to have the check valve mounted on a horizontal pipe .
If mounted on a vertical pipe it can cause a very loud hammer in the system when the sewage pump shuts off.
Too many plumbers try too save two 90 degree bends and have no idea why there is a hammer when pump shuts off.

Many areas do not allow sumps to be drained into the sanitary as it can overload the system.

Roy Cooke

[Brian A. MacNeish]

A properly vented sewage lift station is the proper solution for this situation.