Devil's in the Details.

MommyLiberty5013 · March 2016

The nitty gritty details. Crap!

We bought our current home in 2012. At inspection before we took possession of the house, the inspector noted that we had a sewage ejector in the finished basement (not a sump pump). I just reread the report and he noted a sewage ejector.

Now that our house is currently for sale, DH, upon filling out the Seller's Disclosure forms, checked that we have a sewage ejector.

In a passing remark to my FIL, I mentioned that the prospective buyers (likely putting in an offer) have a question about the sewage ejector. Both our selling REA and the buyer's REA think it's a sump pump. FIL thinks it's a sump pump. We disclosed sewage ejector because that's what the inspector said in 2012. The official blue prints of the house say "sump."

The thing, whatever it is, is in fine shape, but it never runs. Our neighbors next door, are at the same grade as us also with a walk-out basement and they said it's a sump pump because the homes' sewer lines were low enough that the basement bathrooms didn't need ejectors to push the waste up into the external sewer lines.

I'm so worried we goofed this up. And, I'm mad that the inspector from 4 years ago may have said we had something that we didn't really have. And I'm mad that we just wrote that all down based on the inspection report.

So if you are my buyer would you be alarmed if we told you it was a sewage ejector, as stated by our inspector in 2012, and then came back the same day or next day and said we think it's a sump, noting that the blue prints say it is. AND, that we'd call in a plumber to verify what it is. We are willing to do this - because now DH and I and FIL think we need to.

I'm annoyed at us.

And, in the off chance it is a sewage ejector, would that turn you off from the house?

MommyLiberty5013 · March 2016

Also, if I posted pics here, do any of you have plumbing knowledge (or your DH's) who could confirm what we have?

smerka · March 2016

We have both a sump pump and an ejector pump. Is it possible you have both? Our sump is at the corner of our basement closest to the lowest part of our yard (we have a lookout basement). Our ejector pump is closer to our hot water heater. I would not be upset about it as a buyer. I would be asking my inspector about it though.

smerka · March 2016

All the sumps I have seen are a pit of water with a float. When the water gets high enough in the pit, the float raises an arm on the pump and it activates. So you could try dumping some water in the pit and see if the pump activates.

MommyLiberty5013 · March 2016

smerka said:

We have both a sump pump and an ejector pump. Is it possible you have both? Our sump is at the corner of our basement closest to the lowest part of our yard (we have a lookout basement). Our ejector pump is closer to our hot water heater. I would not be upset about it as a buyer. I would be asking my inspector about it though.

We have a single thing in the floor with a round heavy duty lid on it that is tightly screwed on. There is a single PVC pipe coming out of this lid, up to a high spot on the exterior wall of the basement. I cannot remove the lid without tools. By comparison, the sump pump at our previous house, was just a lid I could pop off with my bare hands and it had normal water in it. The lid on this one is very tight, which makes me wonder if it IS a sewage ejector and it's tightly closed to keep out stink. This pump is also in a corner, but it's not at the lowest corner, it's nearest the front of the house, away from the attached garage.

smerka · March 2016

That sounds like our ejector pump.

MommyLiberty5013 · March 2016

Here are pics of what we have...FYI, the shelf is not on top of the unit, the shelf rests on its owbn legs and is elevated about 4 inches above it.

bmo88 · March 2016

Hmm..sorry, no plumbing knowledge, but it looks exactly like our sump pump. I honestly don't know what an ejector pump is.

As a buyer though, I don't think I would be turned off as long as the information was verified by a reliable source (i.e., in writing from a licensed plumber).

short+sassy · March 2016

As a buyer, I wouldn't be turned off by this either. In fact, I would appreciate that the seller was hiring a plumber to find out for sure, in order to give exact information to me.

brij2006 · March 2016

Looks to be a sump pump, to me.

An injector would be installed under that round cap, but there are usually 2 separate ones if your home has a sump pump and an injector pump. So you would have 2 basins built into the floor of your basement for these pumps. 1 for the sump pump to pump out water from the tile system around the home and the injector pump to pump out any "used" water like from a basement bathroom, laundry room, or floor drain.

kmurphy2131 · March 2016

So if you are my buyer would you be alarmed if we told you it was a sewage ejector, as stated by our inspector in 2012, and then came back the same day or next day and said we think it's a sump, noting that the blue prints say it is. AND, that we'd call in a plumber to verify what it is. We are willing to do this - because now DH and I and FIL think we need to.

I would question it if I asked about the sewage ejector and the answer was "oh its actually a sump pump" and nothing else. I would at that point think, what are they hiding? But if the answer was "we are looking at it more and now we are questioning if it's a sump pump. we are going to have a plumber come" i would think thats perfectly fine/normal/acceptable whatever

brij2006 · March 2016

I wouldn't be surprised by it or mad about it. If there's an injector pump then there's a need for it. The only thing it would make me think is that then we need to plan for replacing it since they don't usually last as long as sump pumps. But I would just have our inspector verify what it is.

julieanne912 · March 2016

brij2006 said:

I wouldn't be surprised by it or mad about it. If there's an injector pump then there's a need for it. The only thing it would make me think is that then we need to plan for replacing it since they don't usually last as long as sump pumps. But I would just have our inspector verify what it is.

Same here... I wouldn't be alarmed by it. That's what a home inspection is for anyway.

As for your disclosure, at least here, it's a "to the best of your knowledge" situation... so if you answered it was an ejector pump since that's what it is to the best of your knowledge, then you were fine to answer that way. It's only if you knew it was something else but still put ejector pump that it would be a problem, legally speaking.

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