A sewage pump station collects waste from a group of buildings at a low point and pumps it up a rising main to the municipal sewer or a treatment plant. Estates, lodges, schools, malls, farms and municipalities rely on them where gravity cannot reach. A good station has two pumps, a panel with alarms and a way to lift pumps out without anyone going into the chamber. A neglected one overflows. Whether you need a new station or someone to service yours, we pass your request to independent pump suppliers and contractors who work in your area, and they quote you directly.
Package or concrete
A package station is a prefabricated plastic or fibreglass chamber delivered with the pumps, pipework and valves fitted, then set in a hole and backfilled. It suits estates, lodges and schools and is often quicker to install. A concrete station is built on site and is common for larger flows and municipal work. Either way the chamber is sized for the incoming flow and for storage if the pumps stop. Smaller single dwellings usually need only a sewage pump in a chamber.
Duty, standby and guide rails
Two pumps work as duty and standby: the panel alternates them so both wear evenly, and the standby starts if the duty pump fails or cannot keep up. Each pump sits on a guide rail system with a coupling at the bottom, so it can be pulled up on a chain and lowered back in, and the coupling seals itself. Nobody needs to enter the chamber, which matters, because sewage chambers can hold dangerous gas.
- Residential and security estates
- Lodges, game farms and resorts
- Schools, hospitals and malls
- Municipal lift stations
Panel, alarms and backup power
The control panel starts and stops the pumps from floats or a level sensor, protects the motors and raises alarms for high level and pump faults, often by SMS to the manager. A non-return valve on each pump stops the rising main draining back. Load-shedding is a real risk: a station that stops keeps filling, so many have a generator connection, a generator or battery backup. The wiring should be done by a qualified electrician. Our control box page explains the protection parts.
Servicing contracts
Rags, wet wipes and fat are the usual cause of blockages. Most estates and lodges sign a service contract: the pumps are lifted and checked, impellers cleared, floats and alarms tested, valves checked and the chamber cleaned on a schedule. Ask what a call-out costs outside the contract and how soon they come. Worn pumps can go to a repair workshop while the standby carries the load.
What to put in your request
- New station or an existing one to service
- How many units, rooms or people it serves
- Height and distance to the sewer connection
- Power supply and any generator or backup
- Faults you are seeing, and alarm history
Sewage Pump Stations for homes, farms and businesses
- Homeowners: a small shared station for a few houses on a low street below the sewer
- Smallholdings and plots: a guest cottage cluster pumped to a septic system or a municipal line
- Farms: staff housing and a farm stall pumped to treatment with a small package station
- Complexes, estates and body corporates: a station at the low corner of the estate lifting all waste to the municipal sewer
- Offices, shops, hotels and lodges: lodges, schools, hospitals and malls with duty and standby stations on contract
- Factories, plants and depots: factory ablutions and canteens pumped to the sewer from a package station
- Mines and quarries: mine villages and shaft change houses served by stations to a treatment works
- Municipalities, schools and clinics: lift stations in low lying suburbs feeding the gravity sewer network
- Contractors and drillers: package stations supplied, set and commissioned on new developments
Frequently asked questions
How often should a sewage pump station be serviced?
What happens if both pumps fail?
Can an old station be upgraded instead of replaced?
Do you build or service sewage pump stations?
Sewage Pump Stations by province and city
- Johannesburg
- Pretoria
- Centurion
- Midrand
- Sandton
- Randburg
- Roodepoort
- Krugersdorp
- Randfontein
- Germiston
- Boksburg
- Benoni
- Kempton Park
- Alberton
- Vanderbijlpark
- Vereeniging
- Durban
- Pinetown
- Pietermaritzburg
- Richards Bay
- Newcastle
- Ladysmith
- Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
- East London
- Kariega (Uitenhage)
- Mthatha
- Cape Town
- Bellville
- Paarl
- Stellenbosch
- George
- Worcester
- eMalahleni (Witbank)
- Middelburg
- Secunda
- Mbombela (Nelspruit)
- Rustenburg
- Brits
- Klerksdorp
- Potchefstroom
- Mahikeng
- Polokwane
- Tzaneen
- Kimberley
- Upington
- Bloemfontein
- Welkom
- Sasolburg