Wondering, how deep are sump pits? Reason i ask is that right now I do not have an official sump pit, but I have made an ad hoc one in a basement-floor-level enclosure coming out of the back of my raised ranch. Would always see water rising up here in heavy heavy rain, so it was the spot I tackled with a plastic bucket and an auto on/off pump.

Well, this weekend, after 9 days of rain and then torrential for a day, the pit was filling seemingly just as fast as my pump could pump! I think it saved us from a major disaster but we did still get some water down there...coming in from the foundation on all sides.

So back to the question, is this an effective substitute for a real groundwater sump pit? I dug the hole down about a foot from the level of the basement floor, just outside the perimeter of the wall. Are real sump pits deeper than that? And if I have a groundwater sump pit in this general vicinity, would this stop water from all areas of house perimeter or would drainage tiles be needed for that?

 

keniz138,

This should help you on what sizes are available.

http://www.conservtech.com/Products/sump.html

Hope this helps!