Vic Smith wrote:

On Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:25:46 -0600, "Pete C."
wrote:

Pump went out. Only lasted 47 years.
But it cost me $2100 to get pump/motot assembly replaced.

~$45/yr, that seems an acceptable maintenance cost.

No choice anyway, since putting that in was major sewer line work, and
it would be the same to restore it back to original gravity.
Must have cost an arm and a leg to get it installed.
Personally I'd rather not have it. Just something else to go wrong.
And electricity costs too.
Rather clean up some **** every 30 or 40 years.
But that's easy for me to say since I never had to.
The original owners did, and it was their call.
Something about pumping out every drain in the house when there's
gravity for that just rubs me the wrong way.
Sanitary lines here are deep.
Only way for sewer water to get in the house on the rare occasions of
back up is the basement floor drain.
I would have just addressed that.
I really think there was a good salesman at work to get the thing
installed.
But every plumber I've talked to thinks it a great system and say
don't even think of getting it removed.
hehe.

--Vic

4" PVC ball valves aren't very expensive, it would seem that providing
some shutoff valves to provide the ability to isolate your house from
the city sewer would be prudent. Quite easy to close the valves when
going away like you would with the water supply, and if you're home and
a backup starts it gives you the ability to stop it and limit the
damage. If you forget the valve is closed, the worst case is your sink
or toilet backs up, most likely backing up into a lot point tub where
it's easy to clean, so you just open the valve and wash the tub.