WhatsApp Us
Before we discuss how a lift station pump works, let us first establish what it is. This way, we can be sure we’re on the same page and discussing the same thing.
What Is a Lift Station Pump?
A lift station pump is a pump used in a wastewater lift station. What is a lifting station? It is a pumping facility that moves wastewater from a low to a high place.
A wastewater lift station is usually part of the soil and waste pipe system found in basements, cellars, and other low-elevation sites. It collects wastewater from one or multiple sources — e.g., the washer, washbasins, the bath, the bathroom floor, and toilets — and is equipped with one or two electricity-powered sewerage pumps that accelerate and pressurise wastewater. This propels the wastewater from its low-lying location and into the gravity pipeline.
The gravity pipeline is the house’s or building’s network of pipes in a direct drainage system. It’s called a gravity pipeline because gravity (with or without the aid of more pumps) makes the wastewater in it move and flow.
Note: Wastewater may be black or grey. Grey water is wastewater without sewage and comes mainly from washers, showers, and kitchen sinks. Black water is wastewater with sewage — i.e., contaminated with faecal content — as it comes from toilets and urinals.
Why Use a Lifting Station?
A lift station pump is the practical and cost-efficient way to ensure wastewater drainage in low-elevation areas.
The alternative is to dig trenches for sewer pipes. These will need to be deep – at the level of your basement or even lower. Next, you must lay out more pipes — again, deep underground — to connect your below-street-level wastewater sewer pipes to municipal sewer lines. This means extensive engineering design and expensive excavation work because you must maintain a consistent downward slope so gravity can move wastewater out. Otherwise, the wastewater will stagnate or flood your pipes.
In contrast, a sewer lift station will lift your wastewater from its low-elevation source and up to the ground level and into your regular wastewater pipeline. You may need to dig the concrete floor slab to make room for the lifting station tank, pump, inlet pipes, and outlet pressure hose, but that — plus connecting the station to your wastewater sources and the gravity pipeline — is the extent of the work you must do.
Exposed or Floor Slab Installation?
A quick look at our range of Kessel products will show that domestic lift stations can be installed in or above the concrete floor slab. Which one should you choose?
Concrete Floor Slab Installation
Concrete floor slab installation requires digging the floor to accommodate the lifting station. In-floor stations typically don’t require much space. You may just need to cut the size of a 60 cm x 60 cm square tile and dig up to 46 cm deep to install the lift station pump, the vertically adjustable container or upper section, the inlet pipes, the outlet hose, and other components.
You must also dig up the floor to create a path for the station’s inlet pipes and outlet hose. The former connects the wastewater sources to the unit, while the latter takes the pressurised waste and conveys it to the gravity pipeline.
Advantage
Concrete slab installed stations are barely visible. The station cover is all you’ll see in your basement toilet, laundry room, bathroom, or kitchen. Your guests may not even realise it’s there since, from the top, an in-floor station can look like an ordinary floor drain, designed so it blends as seamlessly as possible with the rest of the surface.
The in-floor location also maximises wastewater movement from its sources to the lift station. Since the station is located at a level lower than the wastewater sources, it’s easy to maintain the inlet pipe slope required to ensure a good flow.
Disadvantage
In-floor units are not easy to install in existing buildings. Digging through the concrete floor slab is not advisable unless you know exactly what’s underneath and are certain doing so won’t damage anything that sits below.
Exposed Installation
An exposed wastewater lift station sits on the floor instead of being set in the concrete slab. The lift station pump housing, the container and all connected pipes are visible.
Advantage
The exposed sewer lift station requires minimal preparation before installation, as no digging is required. This makes it ideal as a retrofitting solution or installation in places where you cannot be sure you can dig up the floor.
Exposed installations also facilitate sewage water pump repair and maintenance. It’s easier to remove and replace the pipes, hose and pump as needed.
Disadvantage
However, exposed lifting stations occupy more space. They are also visible, which may make them a less attractive option compared to floor-installed stations. They are also likely to be noisier than in-floor units.
Community Lift Stations
The lift stations discussed above are for household or building use. They’re installed inside houses and shops.
They are not to be confused with community lift stations. These are lift stations for entire neighbourhoods or blocks of flats. They are stand-alone pumping stations contained in a separate housing.
Community lift stations have underground pits (i.e., wells) that collect wastewater from all the households, shops, establishments, and flats in the area. Once the wastewater in the well reaches a certain level, the pump in the well (or in a separate dry compartment) will turn on to pressurise the wastewater and lift it to the correct elevation for gravity-aided drainage.
How Does a Sewer Lift Station Pump Work?
At this point, we know a sewer lift station takes in wastewater from toilets, showers, baths, washbasins, washers, and other sources in basements, cellars and other low-elevation areas. Depending on the source, you may need to pre-treat the wastewater before allowing it into the lift station. Pre-treatment strategies include grease traps, sludge traps and oil separators.
The wastewater flows through drainage pipes into the station’s inlet valve (which may be screened to filter out coarse material) and into the tank. Inside, rotating blades may decimate any solid waste.
When the wastewater level breaches a set threshold, the pump (or one of the pumps) inside the tank turns on. This ejects the wastewater through the outlet valve, into a pressure pipe and, ultimately, into the gravity pipeline.
Lift stations typically use submersible centrifugal pumps. The lifting station sewage pump takes wastewater in through a foot valve. Inside the pump is a rotating impeller that creates a whirlpool (vortex impeller) or is equipped with vanes that channel wastewater movement inside the impeller assembly (channel impeller). Ultimately, the impeller speeds up wastewater flow, pressurises it, and ultimately discharges it out the outlet valve.
Lift stations can have one pump (mono system) or two pumps that operate alternately (duo system). Duo systems are better in environments where lift stations must work nonstop. If one pump ceases working, the other will keep the wastewater moving.
Lifting station sewage pumps operate intermittently. The frequency of operation depends on the station’s configuration. The pumps in smaller-capacity lift stations turn on more often than those in bigger-capacity stations. Hybrid lifting stations — those that utilise natural slopes to maximise direct drainage — only turn on as needed and, thus, operate less frequently.
Wastewater Lift Station: The Cost-Efficient Solution
A wastewater lift station is a cost-efficient strategy for discharging wastewater from toilets, kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms in basements, cellars and other low-elevation environments. A lift station pump pushes and moves wastewater to ground level and into the house’s or building’s regular gravity pipeline.
Moosa-Daly is a trusted provider of water pumps, drainage systems, pipes and fittings, and specialised water solutions, like the reverse osmosis water system, in the United Arab Emirates. We have a wide selection of lifting stations for homes, commercial establishments and buildings.
Contact us to learn which lifting solution fits your needs.
