If your home use an ejector pump to remove wastewater from the house to reach the municipal sewer system (or a septic tank), it’s vital that this appliance continues to work at all times. If the ejector pump fails, it will mean sewage backup into your home, creating an unhygienic environment and possibly leading to damage to your basement or home foundation.

Clogging is one of the main problems that can cause an ejector pump to fail. Below we’ve listed a number of items that you should never flush down either your toilet or place down any of the drains if you have an ejector pump.

• Cotton swabs: This is perhaps the leading cause of trouble for ejector pumps. Cotton isn’t very biodegradable material, which makes it more likely to cause clogs. But worse is the entire swab getting trapped in the pump and causing it to burn out.
• Chemical drain cleaners: We warn against using these as a shortcut to eliminating drain clogs. Among the many problems they cause is corrosion to sewage ejector pumps. Use a plunger to deal with a clog or else call on professional plumbers.
• Clothes dryer sheets: There is an enormous quantity of chemicals in these sheets that you put in the dryer to soften clothes. Their synthetic fibers also don’t break down easily, and they’ll very easily clog up an ejector pump.
• Cigarette butts: Another major source of damage to ejector pumps because they aren’t biodegradable.
• Dental floss: This is liable to becoming entangled in the mechanical parts of a pump.
• Disposable wipes: This material clumps together and can create a thick clog that will seriously damage the ejector pump and close off drains.

We should point out that none of these things in general should go down toilets and drains. But with an ejector pump, the damage can be immediate and extremely problematic. Make sure everyone in your household knows about what should and shouldn’t go into the sewer system!

If you do need repair service for your ejector pump, call Lifeline Plumbing, Heating & Cooling in East Dundee, IL.