Sewer Backup Prevention

I am not sure of the correct terminology. But, every property that I have ever seen or owned (in and near New Jersey) has had a sewer line vent at or near the curb. Taking off the vent cover shows a vertical sewer stack that goes down to the lateral sewer line that runs into the town's sewer system. There is usually (or always?) a trap in the lateral sewer line between the vertical vent pipe and the town's sewer line.

Here's one link that I was able to find that references the trap/vent at the top of the second page of the document.

Reply to
TomR
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Oops, duh, I forgot to add the link:

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Reply to
TomR

Thanks for the info.

If you do decide to use the upflush/pump approach, you could also have the laundry sink drain into the system -- as long as you order one of the models that can handle the laundry sink plus the new basement bathroom fixtures. The system could pump up to a level in the vertical sewer stack that is about the level of the curb sewer vent outside.

And, in case it helps, here's an image link that doesn't exactly show what I was referring to about a higher up vent/overflow line that goes out through the wall to the outside in case there is a backup (so the backed up sewage goes outside before it goes up into the first floor fixtures):

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But, if you do decide to do what you were thinking by plugging the drain, capping the low cleanout, and doing Option 2 of installing a backflow preventer, you may not need to do the upflush/pump system with the new basement bathroom. You could just cut a hole in the floor and connect the bathroom drain lines to the existing vertical or lateral sewer lines. You would need to cut a hole in the floor anyway to do the Option 2 backflow preventer. And, since the lateral sewer line going outside is under the basement floor, there would be no need to pump anything UP to the sewer line -- it could all just flow downhill into the existing sewer line. The upflush/pump suggestion that I was making was only to prevent a backup if you were not going to do the backflow preventer idea.

Good luck.

P.S. In my situation, the lateral sewer line is above my basement floor, so that is why I need to use an upflush/pump system. But, I am also facing the potential situation that you have about wanting to prevent backed up sewage from coming into the basement. That's why I am looking at options like the ones that I was originally describing for you -- to cause the backed up sewage to overflow outside rather than inside.

Reply to
TomR

My old house has manhole cover over sewer line. It did have a hole in the middle. It was in the neighbors yard across street. My line came into that pit about two feet down, then sewer line several feet below. If pressure built up to shoot out hole, then it would enter basement. I had drains plugged, except for shower which needed to go over about six inches of barrier. Pressure was high that day, enough to shoot over barrier, even though my basement floor was below the manhole cover. It took me three hours to get home that horrible night. Traffic was bad, everything flooded. I even left work early. Had bad feeling when home phone would not ring. That's called suburbia not city.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

I don't understand the ejector pump and pit solutions.

We've had excellent results with these:

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Reply to
DanG

Nice idea, however, as I said in my previous post, simple check valve don't work when the water rises slowly. At 1st, there is no pressure on either side of the flap. Then as the water from the sewer rises just a little, there is always a little leakage, so it seeps through, evening the pressure on each side. This continues until the water apparently backs up, slowly. Maybe others have had success, however, my experience is that you need a rapid rise in order to close the flap tight and fast. As I posted above, there are others that use a float to close the flap. As to the ejector, in my case, it was there only if you continued to flush or run water down the drains, while the sewers were in a backup condition and the flap is sealed closed. Drain water from the house would push through another valve as pressure built up from the house side, and this sewage would then go into the ejector pit and eventually get pushed into the sewers by the ejector pump.

Reply to
Art Todesco

That backflow preventer will stop the city sewer from flowing back into the house system and coming out the floor drain in the basement floor or the laundry sink, etc. That solves the worst part of the problem, which is unlimited sewage flowing into the basement. But it doesn't solve it all. Now, ask yourself what happens if the city sewer is backing up, the backflow valve is activated and you fush a toilet upstairs or take a shower?

Reply to
trader4

" snipped-for-privacy@optonline.net" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@e25g2000vbm.googlegroups.com:

I have no idea whether these thoughts might help you, but anyway ... My backing up problems were because of an obstructed sewer line to the street, plus the street sewer had backed up as well. A neighbor across the street had backups as well, even after his lateral had been fixed. So I asked the guy who did my lateral to take a look into the street sewer. He also does work for the town, so it was easy for him to convince the town that the street sewer needed fixing.

Once those were fixed several years ago, no more backups.

Reply to
Han

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