Plumbing/sewer question on a fourplex regarding ejector pump/pit.

[Navid A.]

Hi

I bought a fourplex a month ago. Two weeks in, I had a complaint of raw sewage in the garage of one of the units. They did snake the pipe and baby wipes came out.  The problem solved for the time.

A few days later, another unit started having sewage in the garage. Plumber mentioned there is a ejector/grinder pump in one of the units that handles all sewage from all 4 units.

They replaced the ejector pump and in 2 weeks, same issue happened with the sewage leaking in the garage. The plumber came back saying the either the pump was burned/failed because of too many wipes being flushed down or when "an outside vendor" did snaking the pipe, it damaged the pump.

He also mentions the "pit" where all the sewage from the fourplex comes to is too large, corroded and needs to be fixed:

"using gravel to fill in the existing voids present around
the pit, then install a new pit with the extension lid
needed. Once the new pit is installed we’d install a
proper vent to restrict the sewer gases from getting into
the home. We’d complete repairs by re-concreting
around the lid of the pit in that garage floor. Estimate of
$5,250 to complete this."

My question is, is that really necessary to "upgrade" the pit? My concern is that I do not want to keep replacing the "ejector pump". Not sure why the ejector pump failed after two weeks. 

I had the property manager to issue notice to tenants to stop flushing down baby wipes! Below is a pic of the "pit" which the plumber says its too large.

Any feedback is appreciated!

Thank you.

[Account Closed]

Sounds like oyu are getting b.s. from the plumber. Most plumbers don't know a lot about sewage ejector pumps because there is not a high percent of them around compared to the millions of properties. I run a fairly large plumbing company with 20 employees and even my company gets only a few calls every year for sewage ejector pumps and since the pumps and pits are so nasty we turn the calls away.

It is impossible for a plumber's snake to ruin a sewage ejector pump and they are made to handle Tampons and baby wipes. Although, it is a good idea to ask your tenants to refrain from putting anything in the toilets with the exception of human waste and toilet paper because it is possible some tenant overloads their toilet with the wrong items. You may want to send your tenants frequent letters and note to remind them and include dental floss in your list.

It does not take a rocket scientist to replace a sewage ejector pump and any decent (not the idiots) handyman should be able to replace one. Check with local plumbing wholesalers and ask for a price. Don't know about your area, but in California a high percent of plumbing wholesalers sell to the general public. Then, there are many other companies that sell every plumbing product for more-retail prices.

A sewage ejector pump does not cost more than $300 to $450 at the very max and they take about 15 minutes to install after the tank is opened and the crap is removed. We use a Home Depot wet-dry vacuum to remove the crap and we put the crap in a few plastic trash cans. Always remove the paper filter from the vacuum.

It is a super stinky and nasty-smelling job and that is probably why your plumber(s) want so much money, but anything more than $1500 is far too much money. Don't call the large plumbing companies with the pretty trucks. 

It looks like the pump is connected to an ABS (plastic) drain pipe going into the ground and that like should not be clogging, at all, if the pump is working properly.

Every plumbing system with a pump needs a high number of clean-outs to access the pipe so you can clean the pipes with the proper equipment. You may need to look for a good company that does hydro-jetting and the same company backs of their work by putting a camera in the sewer. 

Unfortunately, plumbers are notorious for being very ignorant and notorious for ripping off their customers. This makes it almost impossible to tell whether or not you are getting truthful advice because it is every plumber's duty to their boss to generate sales. So, if you call multiple plumbing companies it is possible you will get the same untruthful advice from every company. This is the reason you need to ask enough questions so you understand the problems so clearly you should be able to change the pump yourself and then find the best company to hydro-jet the sewer system.

One serious problem you may be having is; since your pump was probably not working properly your sewer pipes may be filled with sludge. No plumber's snake can remove the sludge. So, this is why you may need a hydro-jetter.