Thoughts on a whole house ejector pump?


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Old 01-24-18, 01:27 PM
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Thoughts on a whole house ejector pump?

Hey folks,

I'd like to finish my basement, but right as you get to the bottom of the stairs, there is a giant cast iron sewer pipe for my main sewer line, around 6' off the ground running across most of the room. Without derailing the question, there is little that I can do to either relocate it or raise it higher or reroute it. I've had every plumber look at it that's come over for other reasons and talked with basement contractors. There is little that can be done to move it or raise it or reroute it.

The only idea that has come up is to have it instead just go straight down and into an ejector pump, that then goes up and over into the main sewer entrance.

My concern is...are those whole ejector pumps reliable? As much as I want to finish my basement, I don't want to be dealing with clogged or backing up or overflowing sewers, nor do I want emergency plumbing calls. This wouldn't be just a bathroom in the basement...it would be the whole house. Granted, currently there's only 1.5 bathrooms and 1 kitchen but still.

Am I asking for a world of trouble, or are these things just really good and I wouldn't even know it's there? If not, but you know of another solution, please feel free to chime in with that as well.

Thanks
 
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Old 01-24-18, 04:22 PM
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I would NEVER install a whole house ejector pump if I had the choice. Gravity is extremely reliable. With a whole house ejector system you are relying on a pump and switches to always work. If they don't all that shower and poo water from upstairs will erupt out somewhere. If you've just gotta do it I would over engineer it with a backup pump and high level alarms.
 
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Old 01-24-18, 07:52 PM
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Thanks. Kind of confirming what i was assuming. Bugger.
 
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Old 01-24-18, 08:03 PM
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It runs across the room or around the room ?
You could build it into the wall and just allow for cleanouts.
 
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Old 01-25-18, 09:18 AM
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Across the room unfortunately. Like you walk right into it. I can divert it to the wall, but once it gets there, it can only go in 1 direction around the whole room due to a tight stair case. And the direction it has to go would make it run right in front of the bulk head door and future egress. My only solution I can think of, short of the ejector pump, is to either just leave it and paint it, or build a chase around it, although the chase I'm sure wouldn't meet code with how low it would be (not to mention just silly looking). Perhaps I could also tear up the second floor bathroom floor and bedroom floor and change it to go down the back wall, but that's not very enticing for obvious reasons.
 
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Old 01-25-18, 09:52 AM
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Can the pipe be shifted up to the ceiling? You'll still need to box it in, and it will still hang down a bit, but most times you can get it right up against the joists on one end, and have your 1/4" per foot drop, so it's still pretty high.
 
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Old 01-25-18, 10:38 AM
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Can you move or relocate the stairs? Build the pipe into a wall? A sketch would be helpful to understand the problem and might lead to other suggestions.
 
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Old 01-25-18, 12:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Zorfdt
Can the pipe be shifted up to the ceiling?
Unfortunately not. Comes right at the stairs and next to main house beam. I'll take a pic and post when I get home. It was estimated we can get 3-4" higher, but wasn't enough to resolve the issue.

Originally Posted by 2john02458
Can you move or relocate the stairs? Build the pipe into a wall? A sketch would be helpful to understand the problem and might lead to other suggestions.
No feasible place for stairs to go unfortunately. I'll send sketch and pic tonight.

Thanks!
 
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Old 01-26-18, 07:19 AM
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Here's some pics of where it comes in and how it goes across the room.
 
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Old 01-29-18, 09:30 AM
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How high off the floor is the pipe when it goes through the outside wall? If it is low enough you could consider dropping the pipe at the top into a slope along the stair and run under the landing near the bottom of the stair and follow the wall to the outside. You may have to expand the landing, and/or make it a 180 degree turn (instead of the 90 degree there now) and probably raise it up a step or two to allow the pipe to have the correct slope. Install clean outs at every 90 degree pipe turn.

What is the big square in the middle--chimney?
 
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Old 01-29-18, 09:55 AM
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You could potentially route it all outside. Drop down to below ground level at the 'bottom' of your pic, go outside, then around to connect to the sewer/septic line. It's not necessarily easy, but it would give you a free basement.
 
 

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