Sewer line angles

[Eigenvector]

What is done when a house's sewer line is below the level of the main sewer line? I didn't think those lines were pressurized, so how does a house's sewage system work in those conditions?

For instance in my neighborhood half the houses are about 20 feet below my street. In this instace would the city install a pumping unit for those houses or would they route the sewer line towards those houses and out? I guess it depends on the situation, but still, if the waste treatment plant is above your house (vertically that is) does that mean your sewage is pumped to that plant or is sewage all gravity fed?

Always wondered about that, I never hear pumps running under the street and I didn't think lines were pressurized anyway.

[Howard]

[hallerb]

occasionally a single home, or a few homes on a street get trash or grinder pumps that pulverize the waste and raise it so gravity can do the rest.

my father in law has oine in his basement, since the sewer line is above the basement floor

[EXT]

Cities often have to pump sewage from a low lying area to a higher trunk line. Where houses are below the street sewer line, I would imagine that the responsibility is on the owner (builder) to install a residential sewage pump to provide the lift to reach the street sewer. Practice may vary in different regions, states and countries.

[DanG]

It is referred to as a "force(d) main". You may or may not see, hear, or smell the pump house, but it will be there.

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[Eigenvector]

Hmm, thanks, I'll have to take a closer look next time I'm walking around the neighborhood. Seems like a pretty tenuous solution given the consequences if it fails but what else can you do?

[Howard]

messagenews: [e-mail]...

walking around

[Jeff]

Are you sure they use your street for the main sewer, is there a street behind their backyard at a lower grade?

[DK]

In Austin, many of the pump stations are located 70 feet under ground.

[Goedjn]

Restrict all bathrooms to the second floor or higher?

[Eigenvector]

It was more of a rhetorical question than anything. My street happens to be a little higher than the actual main, but like I said other houses in my neighborhood are well below that level. I'd just never realized that sewer systems worked on pumps and the like.

[Don Young]

Another thing you may not be aware of is that the sewer lines are usually very deep in most places. Layout of the entire system is done by an engineer so that it works properly.

Don Young