50 FEATURES
All about pumps
By
Rory Macnamara
Septic pumps, sewage pumps, and sewage ejector pumps are designed to remove sewage from a building where plumbing fixtures and their drains are lower than the building sewer line and / or septic tank.
Septic pumps must move solids, either by being able to pass large solid objects through the pump without clogging, or by grinding the solids into fine debris.
A sewage pump may be designed to pass solids up to a certain size, or it may be a sewage grinder pump designed to macerate solid waste so that it can be pumped through a sewer line— perhaps a smaller diameter‘ force main’ sewer line to a public sewer or septic tank.
Sewage grinder / ejector pumps are available in various horsepower models, typically from. 5 to 1hp for residential applications, and are sold to operate at various voltages, including 110 – 120V, 220 – 240V, 440 – 480V, and even 600V models using either singlephase( most common) or three-phase motors.
Typically, the piping connection from the ejector pump to the building sewer line is 2 " and incorporates a check valve.
What is a septic effluent pump? Septic effluent pumps are used to move clarified septic effluent from a pumping chamber to a drain field. Septic effluent pumps do not have to move solids, but are built to standards of durability and duty cycles more demanding than a typical sump pump used to remove ground water from a building.
Typical examples of applications where septic effluent pumps are used include raised bed, mound, or sand-bed filtration septic systems in which the absorption bed is located higher than the septic tank.
In these installations, septic effluent is pumped from a final chamber in the septic tank or from a second effluent chamber up to the absorption system.
Pump manufacturers may show that the same pump models can serve as a sump pump, effluent pump, and dewatering pump. But that is not universally the case: some sump pumps work just fine as effluent pumps, but other sump pump models( such as low-cost sump pumps using a vertical float and rod switch and intended for indoor dewatering in basements) may not be suitable for septic effluent pumping. It also may not be designed to be used in a septic effluent tank or drywell.
Be sure to select the proper septic- or sump pump type. The distinction among sewage pumps or septic pump types is important when installing or repairing a septic
Hawk Pumps
Typical pumps used for drain and sewer cleaning.
Xylem. com
An example of a sewage pump
July 2017 Volume 23 I Number 5 www. plumbingafrica. co. za