Septic pump systems for Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair homesWhen the good soil is uphill, the pump does the climbing.

The shape of a lake lot works against gravity septic. The house is pushed toward the view, often down a slope, and the deep, well-drained soil the county will permit is frequently on the ridge near the road. On Lake Sinclair lease lots, Georgia Power requires new houses to sit at least 75 feet from the shoreline and the septic system and repair area to stay off its land (Georgia Power), which pushes fields further up the lot. A pump tank and a force main up the hill is the everyday answer.

Getting that right starts with sizing. The pump has to beat the total dynamic head, which is the vertical climb plus the friction in the pipe, at the flow rate the field design calls for. DPH sets minimum pipe sizes so solids keep moving at about two feet per second: 1½-inch pipe at 12 gallons per minute, 2-inch at 21, 2½-inch at 30 and 3-inch at 46 (DPH Manual). A pump that is too small runs constantly and burns out; one that is too big can hammer the lines and flood the first trench.

Reserve space is what protects you during a storm. Georgia requires the volume between the alarm float and the inlet pipe to hold at least a day's flow, 150 gallons per bedroom for a house, so a power outage or a dead pump gives you time before anything backs up. When guests are in the house and the power's out after a summer storm, that reserve is all that stands between you and a backup. Cut water use until the power returns.

The trench for the force main is site work: it may cross a driveway, wind around trees, and climb a slope steep enough to wash out if it isn't stabilized. Because we also do trenching and backfill and erosion control, the pipe run is planned with the grading instead of being an afterthought. Pressure lines should be schedule 40 PVC with pressure fittings and solvent-welded joints.

A note on grinder pumps. Parts of the Lake Oconee shore, including Reynolds Lake Oconee, Great Waters and Cuscowilla, are on Piedmont Water's sewer, and most of its systems are low-pressure sewers where every building has a grinder pump (Piedmont Water). Piedmont says the grinder pump is the homeowner's property and responsibility, and warns that installing a different pump than the model its system was built around may cause sewage back-ups (Piedmont Water). If your home is on one of those systems, check with Piedmont before anyone swaps a pump.