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Sump Pump Question lagman 08-03-2007
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Posted by lagman on August 3, 2007, 8:22 am
All,

I just moved to the midwest from Texas, into a house with a basement.
The sump pump runs every 15-20 minutes when dry, and every few minutes
when raining (The previous owner installed a drain tile in the front
yard that empties into the sump, and the area I live in has a high
water table). The previous owner claimed that the pump ran even more
frequently before the tile was installed. The pump empties into a
city owned french drain. It has a backup battery powered pump that I
have tested and works fine. Since basements are new to me, I have a
few questions:

With the amount of use this pump is getting, what is its life
expectancy? Are there any warning signs I can look for that will tell
me its time to get a new pump (other than a flooded basement)?

How much electricity do these things use? Would it be worth looking
for a more energy efficient solution?

Do you think it will run this often during the winter (I am in Iowa)?
Will the pump be able to keep up when the snow melts in the spring?

If the worst were to happen and the pump and backup pump were to fail,
there is a drain in the basement located about 6 feet from the pump.
I checked to see if it empties into the sump crock and it does not, so
I assume it empties into the sewer. Would all the water just go down
the drain?

Thanks,
Dan


Posted by Don Phillipson on August 3, 2007, 8:47 am

> I just moved to the midwest from Texas, into a house with a basement.
> The sump pump runs every 15-20 minutes when dry, and every few minutes
> when raining (The previous owner installed a drain tile in the front
> yard that empties into the sump, and the area I live in has a high
> water table). The previous owner claimed that the pump ran even more
> frequently before the tile was installed.

Your sump pump should not run on days when there has
been no rain. Your description suggests either (a) the
water table has risen (since the house was completed)
so the sump pumps runs every day, pumping water drawn
from the water table, or (b) underground drains are collecting
water from elsewhere and channeling it into your basement.
You need expert advice to remedy this. The cost of
electricity is less important than finding out whether your
bad drainage is likely to get worse.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)



Posted by dpb on August 3, 2007, 9:26 am
Don Phillipson wrote:
>
>> I just moved to the midwest from Texas, into a house with a basement.
>> The sump pump runs every 15-20 minutes when dry, and every few minutes
>> when raining (The previous owner installed a drain tile in the front
>> yard that empties into the sump, and the area I live in has a high
>> water table). The previous owner claimed that the pump ran even more
>> frequently before the tile was installed.
>
> Your sump pump should not run on days when there has
> been no rain. Your description suggests either (a) the
> water table has risen (since the house was completed)
> so the sump pumps runs every day, pumping water drawn
> from the water table, or (b) underground drains are collecting
> water from elsewhere and channeling it into your basement.
> You need expert advice to remedy this. The cost of
> electricity is less important than finding out whether your
> bad drainage is likely to get worse.

Well, if OP's post is to be believed (and I see no reason not to),
unless the former owner misrepresented the situation (which would be a
violation of the real estate disclosure laws undoubtedly so would have
recourse against him), the frequency of the pump cycling is now less
than it was before the drain was installed.

It's certainly not unheard of for water tables to be high enough in
portions of IA for there to be high enough water tables to cause the
need for sump pumps. In that case (and it sounds like it is from the
description), it wouldn't be expected for the water to stop immediately
just because it didn't rain for a day or two (or a week or a month,
even). I wouldn't be for buying a house w/ a basement w/ these kinds of
problems, but many are coping.

For OP, sounds like the former owner did a reasonable thing. In such a
serious area you may want to check into the possibility of investing in
one of the water-driven emergency pumps for the event of longterm power
loss/outage.

It's unusual for a jurisdiction to allow for drains into the sanitary
sewer system so unless the drain is going into a storm sewer not the
sanitary sewer system it may not be kosher.

--



Posted by The Reverend Natural Light on August 3, 2007, 12:00 pm
>
> It's certainly not unheard of for water tables to be high enough in
> portions of IA for there to be high enough water tables to cause the
> need for sump pumps.
>

I lived out there for a while in a house with a basement. Even in dry
weather the sump pump would run probably 50% of the time. The whole
neighborhood was like that. During snow melt or rain, the pump could
barely keep up.



Posted by EXT on August 3, 2007, 10:45 am
How can a drain tile that empties into the sump, which means it is draining
water into the sump, reduce the frequency of the pump activity -- not
possible? Where in the front yard is this drain tile, it should be
surrounding the house at the footing level of the basement to remove water
from that area. Tile in any other area should be removed as it is increasing
the water in the basement.

I have lived in two houses in high ground water areas, usually this means
that somewhere around or under the basement there is a small seeping spring
that the pump is constantly draining. If this is true, always keep a backup
pump on hand, plus a generator in case the power goes out, if you are on
city water get a quality water powered pump such as the Base Pump as a final
back up.

In the two houses with high ground water, both were dry and habitable, but
we took action to prevent and accidents and the keep the equipment
operational at all times.

> All,
>
> I just moved to the midwest from Texas, into a house with a basement.
> The sump pump runs every 15-20 minutes when dry, and every few minutes
> when raining (The previous owner installed a drain tile in the front
> yard that empties into the sump, and the area I live in has a high
> water table). The previous owner claimed that the pump ran even more
> frequently before the tile was installed. The pump empties into a
> city owned french drain. It has a backup battery powered pump that I
> have tested and works fine. Since basements are new to me, I have a
> few questions:
>
> With the amount of use this pump is getting, what is its life
> expectancy? Are there any warning signs I can look for that will tell
> me its time to get a new pump (other than a flooded basement)?
>
> How much electricity do these things use? Would it be worth looking
> for a more energy efficient solution?
>
> Do you think it will run this often during the winter (I am in Iowa)?
> Will the pump be able to keep up when the snow melts in the spring?
>
> If the worst were to happen and the pump and backup pump were to fail,
> there is a drain in the basement located about 6 feet from the pump.
> I checked to see if it empties into the sump crock and it does not, so
> I assume it empties into the sewer. Would all the water just go down
> the drain?
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
>



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