18 Feb
Plumbing Basics: The Sewage Pump
Although the thought of dealing with sewage does not ever conjure up happy daydreams, it is something that must be considered with any home especially if it is undergoing a remodeling job or is a new construction. Some times the geographic or topographic choices we make about where we choose to live require adaptations to normal installations and removing sewage from the home can often be one of those things that must be adapted.
The force of gravity is used by the average sewer system to move liquids and solids down the sewer line. There are situations however where it is impossible to place the plumbing infrastructure needed to access a city sewage system or a septic tank. For example if the location of the sewage is far below the sewage system then a sewage pump must be used to move the sewage. Sewage pumps are an essential part of any total sewage system solution whenever there is a difficult or extraordinary situation regarding location.
The sewage pump’s primary function is to move liquids and solids from one location to another. Typically a sewage pump will reside in the lowest area of the location being drained. The pump itself is designed to be submerged because it is more than likely going to be under water for most it’s life cycle. Because the goal of the pump is to drain as much of the liquids and solids out of the receptacle as possible the pump’s intake is located as close to the floor as possible. Total drainage of the receptacle will not be possible because there is always going to be a space between the floor and the unit. Therefore to totally drain the receptacle it would take human intervention.
Most sewage pumps employ the same method of operation. They work the same way as household toilets: the sewage pump has a bulb attached to it which kicks on a switch when it reaches a certain height starting the pump. The pump turns off when the height of the bulb lowers because of less liquid in the receptacle. There are different sizes of pumps available and choosing a pump will be determined by the amount of sewage that needs to be transported. In general the typical household pump can move up to 30,000 litres (8,000 gallons) of sewage per hour and costs between $150 to $400 US dollars.
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Posted by Shaun Mark on 18.02.10 at 8:52 am
Very informative post about seweage pumps.
A sewage pump has one job and one job only — to move solids and liquids between locations. A typical sewage pump will sit in a sewage basin, which must naturally be in the lowest area of the location needing drained. The pump is capable of being submerged and will likely have to deal with some fluids at nearly all times.
While a sewage pump will mainly handle liquids, there will be times when solids will also need disposed of though a system. Most pumps are capable of handling solids up to 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. Commercial pumps may be capable of handling even larger solids.