Sewage pump systems and maintenance

When your wastewater has to be pumped away, a stopped pump leaves it with nowhere to go. It might be a blocked pump, a float switch that is no longer moving freely, or a fault in the line carrying the waste out. Replacing the pump is sometimes the answer, but it is worth finding out what stopped it first, because a new pump fitted into the same problem does not last either.

We work on pump-out systems, Envirocycle and other aerated treatment systems across the Upper Mountains: the pump itself, the floats and alarm, the control panel and the pipework between the well and wherever it discharges.

What we handle

• Replacing failed sewage pumps
• Blocked pumps cleared, and a look at why they blocked
• Seized pumps and pumps that run but shift nothing
• Float switch faults
• High-level alarms that are sounding, or that should be and are not
• Checking pump operation at the control panel
• Rising-main faults, unions and fittings
• Envirocycle and other AWTS irrigation pumps and their plumbing
• Scheduled pump-station servicing
• Pumped sewer connections on blocks that sit below the main

Pump-out wells

A pump-out system holds sewage in a sealed well rather than treating it on the block. The pump, the float switches, the control panel and the high-level alarm all have a job, and the rising main is the pipe that carries it away. Those parts only make sense checked together, because a pump that runs is only part of the picture. We work on the installed equipment. If the well itself needs emptying by tanker, that is a collection arrangement worth confirming with council.

Envirocycle and aerated systems

Envirocycle is a brand of aerated wastewater treatment system, usually shortened to AWTS. It treats wastewater on site using an aerator, an irrigation pump and an alarm, and it is one of the on-site wastewater systems common on unsewered blocks up here. Aidan works on these, including the pump, plumbing and drainage carrying treated water out to the irrigation area. Some units also carry a manufacturer servicing agreement covering the mechanical and electrical side, and we will tell you where that applies rather than charging you to find out.

What a service covers

Checking that the pump starts and stops where it should, that the floats move freely, and that the high-level alarm works. Then looking for the blockages that build up at the pump, and checking the rising main, unions and fittings. We watch it through a pumping cycle rather than stopping at whether the motor turns. The point of a scheduled check is that a developing fault gets dealt with before the alarm is the first you hear about it.

Why it's different up here

Plenty of Upper Mountains blocks are not on the sewer and never will be. Others have a sewer available but sit below the street, so the waste has to be pumped uphill to reach it. Steep ground, shallow sandstone and high rainfall all limit what a block can be asked to do with its wastewater. That is why the well, the pump and where the line actually goes are worth looking at together rather than one at a time.