Sewage pump station servicing and repairs

What a pump station is

A domestic sewage pump station is a chamber, often called a wet well, with one or two pumps, float switches and a high level alarm. It collects waste water from a property and pumps it uphill or over a distance to a sewer, septic tank, treatment plant or drainage field. You find them on barn conversions, basements, homes below the level of the road sewer and sites where the drainage field sits higher than the house.

What a service covers

A typical service checks the pumps lift and switch off correctly, tests the floats and the alarm, cleans the floats and the chamber walls, checks the non return valves, the electrics and the control panel, and removes fat, rags and silt that build up in the wet well. Some contractors also empty the chamber while they are there. Ask for a written report and keep it with your property records.

Warning signs

Call for help if the alarm sounds, the pump runs all the time or not at all, you hear grinding or humming without water moving, drains in the house are slow, or there is a smell near the chamber. Do not open the control panel yourself: it is mains electricity in a wet place.

Things that damage pumps

Wet wipes, sanitary products, cotton buds, fat and cooking oil wrap around impellers and jam floats. A pump station needs the same care as a septic tank, and often more, because one blockage can stop the whole system.

Repair or replace

Pumps wear out, and a station that has run for ten years without a service is living on borrowed time. A contractor can often replace a single pump or float switch rather than the whole station. If the station is undersized for the property, or keeps failing, ask about an upgrade, such as a twin pump unit so one can take over if the other fails.

Who is responsible

If the pump station serves only your property, it is yours to maintain, along with the pipe that carries the pumped water. Where a station serves several homes, check your deeds or management company agreement: costs are often shared, and one owner may hold the service contract for everyone. If a shared station fails, agree quickly who calls the contractor so the alarm is not ignored.

Power cuts and alarms

A pump station stops when the power goes. Most wet wells hold some reserve, but heavy water use during a long cut can fill it. Keep water use low until the power returns, and check the alarm has reset. Ask your contractor whether a battery backed alarm is fitted, so you are warned even when the mains is off.

Questions to ask

Do you service my make of pump? Will you test the alarm and check the non return valve? Can you empty the wet well on the same visit? Do you carry spare floats and pumps? What does an annual service contract cost?

Related services

Most pump stations sit alongside a treatment plant or a septic tank. For a new system that needs pumping, see treatment plant installation.

Businesses advertising this service

10 listed contractors say on their own websites that they do this work. Check that each covers your postcode.

Common questions

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Sources

• GOV.UK: general binding rules for small sewage discharges
• GOV.UK: permits you need for septic tanks
• Environment Agency: public register of waste carriers