Current project calls for basement bathroom and laundry, but the septic setup will not allow for a gravity feed setup.
So we’re installing a Gould wastewater pump package under the slab in the basement. Anyone got any experience with these things? It looks to me like a glorified sump pump. No grinder in it (engineer specified this model).
I’ll be hooking up the plumbing to within a few days and burying everything beneath the slab, and am nervous about making some fatal error…
Steve
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If it's just a laundry with a single washing machine a grinder wouldn't be needed.
I do recomend an electronic pump switch verses the old ball float mecury switch of old like this one from Sumpwatcher.
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Hi Bill,It's laundry and a bathroom. Toilet, shower, lav. Washing machine will actually not use the ejector pump. The package says it's good for solids up to 2". Not pushing it far, only about ten feet total to the sewer line, only about 6 feet of vertical lift.This is the specified unit:http://www.goulds.com/GP-Product-ID-263.aspCan the electronic switches be added to this particular unit, do you happen to know? Is an alarm important? This bathroom will probably very rarely be used.Steve
good for solids up to 2"?
I can do that without squeezing.
It's not a classic "grinder", but it will grind #### to fit into the pipe no problem.
Yes that sumpwatcher¯ will work with any plug in model lift station.
Alarms can be overkill, but everyone that has water damage wishes they had an alarm.
Don't forget to plan a vent hook up.
>>I'll be hooking up the plumbing to within a few days and burying everything beneath the slab, and am nervous about making some fatal error...
Looks like a pretty standard crock for the pump, so hooking everything up shouldn't be a concern. As a worst case you could replace everything in the crock with a grinder if needed.
You need to be able to service the unit over it's life. I did one in my new house. I had a larger tank to minimize the cycling of the pump. I constructed a 2 x2 ft box out of PT plywood, set the unit on the ground/hole that I dug for it below the slab. I set the box over it and backfilled against it. The box was actually two layers of 3/4" plywood. The inner layer left a lip for a 'lid' I put on afterwards. This gives me a section of plywood for the finished floor/cover over the pump unit. Easy access to the unit whenever I need. The cover is actually split to go around the piping coming up through (the ejector pipe and the vent). If necessary, I could pull the hole container out ... but more likely, I'd have to simply pull the cover off to service/replace the pump itself. I don't think you'd want to bury the whole thing in concrete ... and codes probably require service access.
Goulds is not a bad pump at all. I do have a few suggestions, though.
The first is to have some way to prevent stringy stuff, like tampons, from getting to the pumps. Even a simple screen of 1/4" hardware cloth around the base of the pump.
The second is that all piping in the pit, including the pipe supporting the floats, be of PVC. The inside of a pit is a very corrosive place to be.