ᐅ Plot 1.5 meters below street level – is a sewage lifting system required?

Hello everyone,

we are currently looking for a plot of land and have one in mind. However, the house’s location on the plot would be about 1.5 m (5 feet) below street level and would require the installation of a professional sewage lifting system. At least for the ground floor, as no basement is planned. On the ground floor, there will be a toilet, washing machine, and kitchen. The system would need to handle that. The bathroom with shower and bathtub would be on the first floor, more than one meter above street level.

Question: Do these systems generally cause problems? What about blockages? Odor issues? Noise? Is a budget of 1500–2000 € sufficient for a good system? How complex is the maintenance or similar? What are the approximate electricity costs for a household of two people?

Thanks in advance for your answers. Good luck Erin

What about rainwater?

Unfortunately, I do not understand the question. Do you mean the drainage of rainwater on the property? Or using rainwater as non-potable water?

We built our house last year with a sewage lifting station for the entire house (bathroom, toilet, kitchen, washing machine) excluding stormwater. The lift station is installed about 1.5–2 m (5–6.5 ft) high, and the distance to the main sewer line is around 30 m (98 ft). The whole setup cost nearly 7,000 euros. We used a Jung Pump Multicut with a prefabricated shaft. Wastewater collects in the shaft up to a certain fill level, then the material is macerated and pumped out. There are several important aspects to consider. It’s not rocket science, I believe, but as a layperson it’s quite difficult to get a clear understanding.

Choosing whether or not to include stormwater is an important decision because it significantly affects the pump size. You also need to check whether you are even allowed to pump stormwater into the sewer system.

Additionally, a power connection is needed to operate the lift station control. We buried the unit under the driveway, so we installed the control panel in the garage.

There is also a ventilation pipe. In our case, it is an aluminum pipe that runs out sideways from the unit along the house.

So far, the system is working as intended with no problems. The first maintenance is scheduled for next month. There is no odor. You can hear the unit running—macerating and pumping—when standing on the driveway or in the adjacent room with a tilted window (in our case, the bathroom). So I would recommend positioning it where noise is not disturbing.

Otherwise, I believe there are systems available with dual pumps as backup in case one fails. These are probably more expensive, and you might still have the upstairs bathroom as a fallback anyway.

Hi,
are you sure that you actually need one?
Depending on the situation, the channel might be deep enough to allow direct drainage.

Osnabruecker schrieb:

What about rainwater?

Well, that is quite high enough.