Thread: Combined sump (dewatering) and (sewerage) ejector pump?

Saw something the other day about which I can't find much information and which I'm not sure how to inspect or report.

In a basement was what appeared to be a standard sewerage ejector pump serving a bathroom in the basement, vented off the house plumbing and discharging to an overhead sewer.

This is been reported by another home inspector as a sump pump (no mention of an ejector pump), and I assumed this report had been in error.

However when i asked a third inspector with a great deal of experience in my area, he suggested this was quite likely a combination sump and sewerage ejector pump system, with the inlet for the drain tiles discharging into the sump a few inches higher than the sewerage inlet - that while this is not an ideal arrangement he sees it frequently, that this arrangement is commonly passed by municipal inspectors, and that in Chicago (for example) since the 1990s it is common for a pump to serve both functions.

This seems unwise to me: when the pump fails and/or the sewer lateral clogs you are going to be backing sewerage contaminated water into the drain tile system, and I'm a loss as to how code could allow that.

1) Has anyone else here had experience of such systems?

2) Are they permitted by code?

3) Short of opening the covers of what are often sealed units, how would one determine if in fact the foundation drainage system was sharing the sump the sewerage ejection system (using the same pump).

4) If others here are encountering these, how do you inspect and report them?

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Interesting... I've never seen one. Around here (Oregon) there's a constant push to separate out the storm water and sewage to keep the rivers from ending up as a big poop collector when it rains hard.