Home Page link

Sump pump on every 2-3 minutes. No water outside?

Home| Search | About
Login Password
Register Now! Lost Password?

Home Repair - - If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Otherwise look here. 

Page 1 of 3       1 2 3 > last >> Bookmark this page:  YahooMyWeb Yahoo!  Google Google  Windows Live Favorites Windows Live  del.icio.us del.icio.us  digg digg  Add to Netscape Netscape
Subject Author Date
Sump pump on every 2-3 minutes. No water outside? chrisc 04-17-2008
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Posted by chrisc on April 17, 2008, 1:56 pm
It keeps kicking on every few minutes. This has been going on for weeks. I
know their is a spring thaw. But, there can't be that much water in the
ground can there? The water is coming in through one of the cast iron pipes
in the pit . There are 2 of the pipes in the pit opposite to each other. The
one pipe that the water is coming in from is on the one side of the house
where the ground is sort of unlevel. There is no visible water and the
ground is not even moist there. That side also is where the gutters drain
out to. But the water is coming in pretty fast from the pipe in the pit. I
would say about 1 GALLON per 40 seconds. My friend said we need to dig and
put some pvc pipe in for drainage. It hasn't rained that much either. I'm
scared that if the pump stops working the basement will flood. What can I
do? Could there possibly be a broken water main near there? Thanks a lot for
any help.



Posted by ransley on April 17, 2008, 2:43 pm
> It keeps kicking on every few minutes. This has been going on for weeks. I=

> know their is a spring thaw. But, there can't be that much water in the
> ground can there? The water is coming in through one of the cast iron pipe=
s
> in the pit . There are 2 of the pipes in the pit opposite to each other. T=
he
> one pipe that the water is coming in from is on the one side of the house
> where the ground is sort of unlevel. There is no visible water and the
> ground is not even moist there. That side also is where the gutters drain
> out to. But the water is coming in pretty fast from the pipe in the pit. I=

> would say about 1 GALLON per 40 seconds. My friend said we need to dig and=

> put some pvc pipe in for drainage. It hasn't rained that much either. I'm
> scared that if the pump stops working the basement will flood. What can I
> do? Could there possibly be a broken water main near there? Thanks a lot f=
or
> any help.

If gutters are clogged and overflow wets the ground, or the downspouts
are not maybe 10ft out it could be rainwater, what about the other
sides gutters. Does the sewer main drain on the side that is filling
the sump, could be a cracked sewer or one that needs to be rodded. My
sump wasnt draining once, the sump kept trying to put water into it
and it backed up, I looked in the outside pit and found we had to get
the sewer rodded to the street. Water can fill all winter even at -20
if the drain system is below freezing as probably is. But only one
side going into the pit might mean a problem, or the other drain is
just clogged from age. Is it city sewer, we have a manhole covering a
pit, look in that to see whats up and move downspouts farther away.

Posted by Pete C. on April 17, 2008, 2:49 pm

chrisc wrote:
>
> It keeps kicking on every few minutes. This has been going on for weeks. I
> know their is a spring thaw. But, there can't be that much water in the
> ground can there? The water is coming in through one of the cast iron pipes
> in the pit . There are 2 of the pipes in the pit opposite to each other. The
> one pipe that the water is coming in from is on the one side of the house
> where the ground is sort of unlevel. There is no visible water and the
> ground is not even moist there. That side also is where the gutters drain
> out to. But the water is coming in pretty fast from the pipe in the pit. I
> would say about 1 GALLON per 40 seconds. My friend said we need to dig and
> put some pvc pipe in for drainage. It hasn't rained that much either. I'm
> scared that if the pump stops working the basement will flood. What can I
> do? Could there possibly be a broken water main near there? Thanks a lot for
> any help.

Without knowing the layout of the house, land and streets it's
impossible to say, but if there is a significant flow of water coming
from one of the pipes and none from the other it's certainly suspect and
should be investigated by a professional. The savings from stopping the
pump running so often ought to cover the cost of the call to
investigate.

Posted by on April 17, 2008, 3:14 pm
> It keeps kicking on every few minutes. This has been going on for weeks. I=

> know their is a spring thaw. But, there can't be that much water in the
> ground can there? The water is coming in through one of the cast iron pipe=
s
> in the pit . There are 2 of the pipes in the pit opposite to each other. T=
he
> one pipe that the water is coming in from is on the one side of the house
> where the ground is sort of unlevel. There is no visible water and the
> ground is not even moist there. That side also is where the gutters drain
> out to. But the water is coming in pretty fast from the pipe in the pit. I=

> would say about 1 GALLON per 40 seconds. My friend said we need to dig and=

> put some pvc pipe in for drainage. It hasn't rained that much either. I'm
> scared that if the pump stops working the basement will flood. What can I
> do? Could there possibly be a broken water main near there? Thanks a lot f=
or
> any help.

Hard to determine much from a few weeks experience. How much rain
have you had in the last few weeks? What has the rest of the history
been like? Does it run frequently during periods of heavy rain, then
stop during hot/dry summer months? If so, I wouldn't get too
worried. You mention a spring thaw, but don't indicate how much snow
fall you may have had that melted not too long ago. The fact that
the soil outside isn't wet, doesn't mean much, as there can still be
plenty of water that you will never see.

Regarding the gutters, I hope the water is taken a reasonable distance
away from the house, like 6+fft, 10 would be better. And the grading
should be checked. Also, go out there in the next heavy rain and
make sure all the water is going where it should.

Regarding the possible water leak, the most likely place for a leak
would be the pipe serving your home as the water mains are usually
located quite a distance from the house. Where is your meter
located? If it's at the curb, you could call the water company and
have it read again. If it's the size of leak that would cause this,
it should be apparent.

With a pump that runs this much, I'd definitely have a backup sump
pumo in the pit, set to come on at a slightly higher level and also
battery backup or alternate system for the secondary pump.

Posted by John Grabowski on April 17, 2008, 7:03 pm

> It keeps kicking on every few minutes. This has been going on for weeks. I
> know their is a spring thaw. But, there can't be that much water in the
> ground can there? The water is coming in through one of the cast iron
> pipes in the pit . There are 2 of the pipes in the pit opposite to each
> other. The one pipe that the water is coming in from is on the one side of
> the house where the ground is sort of unlevel. There is no visible water
> and the ground is not even moist there. That side also is where the
> gutters drain out to. But the water is coming in pretty fast from the pipe
> in the pit. I would say about 1 GALLON per 40 seconds. My friend said we
> need to dig and put some pvc pipe in for drainage. It hasn't rained that
> much either. I'm scared that if the pump stops working the basement will
> flood. What can I do? Could there possibly be a broken water main near
> there? Thanks a lot for any help.


A few years ago my brother found water pooling in his front yard and his
sump pump was running more frequently. When I saw it I said that it had to
be a broken water main. He called the water company and they sent someone
out who was able to listen to the ground and found the location of the
broken main in the street. It was fixed a day later. Water pipes tend to
break in late fall/early winter and in the spring as the ground shifts from
temperature change.


Page 1 of 3       1 2 3 > last >>
Similar ThreadsPosted
Sump pump running every two minutes April 20, 2007, 8:33 pm
Standing Water Despite Sump Pump April 18, 2007, 6:17 pm
water powered sump pump July 19, 2007, 5:33 pm
valve for water powered sump pump? February 12, 2005, 8:47 pm
Water pressure backup sump pump October 29, 2006, 9:36 pm
sump pump failure and water away from gravity April 24, 2007, 11:23 am
Sump pump float switch: separate from pump? January 15, 2006, 12:25 pm
Sump Pump Clunk After Backup Pump Install April 18, 2007, 9:42 am
What to do with my sump pump?? February 18, 2006, 3:15 pm
Sump Pump 538$ March 26, 2006, 10:31 am

Contact Us | Privacy Policy

XML SitemapXML Sitemap