When we first bought the property we discovered a curious 2′ metal disk on the basement floor of the main house. Brad guessed, and was correct, that it is an ejector pit. An ejector pit is used when household waste has to go uphill. Its the collection center before an ejector or lift pump sends the sewage on its way. Learning that, I steered clear of that curious 2′ metal lid, the thought of what lay beneath was – just gross.

To clarify, the vast majority of the household sewage goes straight out the house to the septic. For some unknown reason the kitchen sink drains into the pit, and so does the drain line from the LP furnace – oh and the dehumidifier we added to the basement does too. So all that goes into the pit is liquid even though the pump is designed for – um – you know – poop. So, knowing it just handles water is comforting since its is right there in the basement, but still a bit gross.

For the last few months Brad would see a bit water pooling on the floor, so he would go jiggle the cord on the pump because it had stopped working. Somehow that would magically make it work again. Plans are that it will be removed – eventually.

One evening, Brad peeks down the steps as we are leaving the house, sees the water on the floor, and jiggles the cord – nothing. He jiggles again – still nothing. Ugh! Something is wrong with the ejector pump. Brad informs me that we need to drain the pit and figure out what is going on. Ugh and ick!

Thankfully we were able to borrow a sump pump and garden hoses from our friend Frank to drain the thing. Brad lifts the lid (which is designed to be bolted down, but is just sitting loose on the pit) and suspends the sump pump into the murky stinky water. While it is just water, it is grey water with bacteria in it. Stagnant bacteria filled water smells oh so lovely – not.

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It wasn’t as bad as we feared once Brad had the water drained. The pump came off the pipe that lead to the septic. It appears that it was never glued. (PVC connections are glued with special PVC glue so that they stay together) So with lots of paper towel and rubber gloves (and a kneeling mat to protect his healing knee) Brad cleaned the parts and glued the pump to the pipe that goes to the septic.

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We ran water in the kitchen sink to fill the pit again to test the new connection after the glue had sat the proper amount of time. Yay! It worked again. We flushed clean water through the sump pump and garden hoses, and closed up the pit. Eventually we will be taking it out, re-routing the kitchen sink directly to the septic, and changing over to a much simpler sump pump pit for the furnace and dehumidifier.

The rationale behind an ejector pit has been a conundrum for us. By the non-yellow state of the PVC Brad estimates it was installed sometime in the 90’s (at least not earlier). Best guess, it was installed when they changed from a wringer washer to a modern washer. The water hook-ups for the washer are just out of sight in the pictures, so it was in the basement. A wringer washer drains by gravity, so it could be controlled and where a modern washer mechanically pumps the water out with force. This is just a guess, and we may never know the actual why. We’re just glad the pump working again and we didn’t have to invest in a new one.