A sewage ejector pump lifts wastewater from below grade fixtures up to the main sewer lateral. Code requires one for any plumbing fixture that sits below the City sewer service line. In Vancouver that means basement suites, finished basements with a full bathroom, and basement laundry rooms in older homes.

It is not a sump pump. A sump pump moves groundwater out of a sump pit. A sewage ejector moves actual wastewater, gray water plus black water from toilets, out of a sealed pit and into the sanitary sewer. Different pump design, different pit sealing, different code requirements. Swapping one for the other is a mistake we get called out to undo.

Basement suite. Full bathroom, toilet, sink and shower, plus kitchen plumbing below the main sewer line. The ejector pump in a sealed pit handles all of the suite’s wastewater. Permit and inspection required.

Finished basement with a full bath. The standard upgrade in 1960s to 1980s Vancouver homes that started life with an unfinished basement. Adding the bathroom means either a gravity drain, if the elevation allows it, or an ejector pump.

Below grade laundry. Basement laundry rooms with the washer drain sitting below sewer level. Ejector pump or a sewage basin tied into the laundry standpipe.

Commercial below grade fixtures. Restaurant basement washrooms, retail basement service sinks, parkade attendant washrooms.

What actually fails. Four things, and they show up in the same order every time. The pit fills but the pump never activates, which is a failed float switch far more often than a failed motor, and occasionally a check valve stuck shut. The pump runs and never stops, which is the float jammed in the up position or a blocked discharge the pump cannot push through. The pit empties back into the basement after the pump shuts off, which is the check valve gone. And a sewer gas smell in the basement, which is the pit cover seal, not the pump at all.

What replacement looks like. If the basin, the cover and the discharge line are still sound, we drop a new sewage rated cast iron pump into the existing pit and change the float switch and the check valve while the cover is off. That is the standard residential 1/2 HP swap and it does not need excavation. If the basin itself is cracked, or there is no pit at all because a below grade bathroom is being added, then the job is pit construction and the permit comes with it.

We install Zoeller M267 and M53 at 1/2 HP for residential, the Liberty LE51 series, and the Wayne SPV500. All sewage rated cast iron with float switches and sealed sewage pit covers. Whether the pit has to be built or already exists is the thing that changes the scope of the job.

Alarm and backup. Most of our ejector installs go in with a high water alarm, which tells you the pit is filling while the pump is not running, before the water finds the floor. Battery backup pumps are the other half of that on any property where a power cut during use would mean sewage over the basement floor immediately. Basement suites with a full bathroom, and anywhere that has already had one overflow, get both recommended every time. Neither is expensive next to what a single overflow into a finished basement costs to put right.