Many houses in Atlanta have sewer ejector pumps installed in the basement to pump the sewage up and out to the sewer. You may find out too late that it has failed when your carpet gets ruined from the back ups they can cause
Typical Ejector Pump Installation
Your best plan of action is of course preventing that type of situation by looking at the tag on your sewer ejection pump that is attached to the cord. All sewer ejector pumps have a date tag that should have been marked with the date that it was installed if the plumber did his job properly. Typically you will find that the pump will be cheap and undersized because many remodelers install these pumps when they do basement finish outs and do not even know how to properly size a pump.
Being cheap has its advantages in the beginning but in the long run it will bite you in the butt when it comes to your plumbing. If your going to finish the basement hire a good plumber and you will at the very least have some recourse if something goes wrong. Plumbers are regulated handymen are not.
Proper sizing of a pump requires the measurement from the bottom of the pump pit, and the amount of bends that are in that measurement have an effect on the amount of solids the pump will be able to keep up with without failing prematurely. The best way to do this is by using pump charts provided from the manufacturer. The two brands that I like are Zoeller and Liberty very reliable pumps that last.
The installation of the pumps will vary depending on the type you may have. Typically a pump from Home Depot will have an integrated float switch with a plastic impeller, they are pretty much worthless pumps and if they have been installed improperly will fail rather quickly. Cast iron pumps are heavier and the impellers should be made of metal not composite plastics. Basement plumbing in a house with small kids takes a good pounding and many things make it into that pump pit that could easily break a plastic impeller.
A good sewer ejector pump installed improperly will fail prematurely as well. It’s good practice to drill a small hole above the threaded adapter about 1/8″ to ease the amount of solids pushing back down on an impeller faulure to do so will decrease the life of the pump too. The manufacturers suggest this and it’s good practice to follow. A one way check valve must be installed above a pressure ball valve as well to allow for maintenance in the pump pit. Pressure fittings should be used not DWV (drain waste and vent)because your pushing raw sewage at a high rate in short bursts. The lid on the pit must be sealed to ensure sewer gases are not released and the vent must be continuous and connected to a stack vent (not back pitched) which may cause improper drainage. Studor vents are bad practice and not recommended.
A good plumber knows these things and will ensure that it has been installed properly the first time. So the two most likely reasons of early sewer ejector pump failure are undersized pumps and improper installation. Call a plumber.