Hello,

I'm not sure if I'm being paranoid or not, but I am concerned about how my sump pump discharge is plumbed and hoping someone can give me some suggestions on the best method.

Currently my sump pump discharge consists of PVC (1 1/4 or 1 1/2) that goes out through the wall and then elbows down and goes into the ground and then is ran out to the front ditch. I'm assuming it goes to the front ditch based on the middle of the ditch usually being kind of wet and swampy when nothing else is (could be wrong on that though). I just bought the house in July and I'm really not sure on the specifics of how the discharge is routed (depth below surface, size of pipe underground...).

In any case, here in MI last night it got down to single digits and I happen to notice that my softener was recharging (it dumps into my sump pump pit). It got me thinking that if any part of discharge line for the sump pump freezes my basement is getting flooded by a softener recharge unless I happen to notice and bypass it.

I started looking into the backups for the sump pump and a water sensor, but I'm wondering what the best method is to plumb the discharge. I haven't had much luck with searching for that though. Obviously, the backup would also need a separate discharge to keep me safe from freeze ups.

I'm wondering if I should have it discharge out of the house using 1 1/2 and then have an air gap and then have 2" pipe lower that goes down into the ground. This way if the pipe in the ground froze it could at least spill out next to the house. I was also thinking of maybe just cutting the elbow off where the discharge goes down into the ground and putting a tee in there with say a 6" piece of PVC that goes up then maybe a couple elbows to point it down. Then if the lower pipe freezes it could flow out that route.

If I change the setup to something like this are there other problems that I'm not thinking about?

After this winter I'll probably know if it's necessary or not, but I hate to wait around and just see if I flood!

Or, doe these pipes typically not freeze? This is my first house with a softener so I'm used to the sump pump not really being necessary in freezing conditions because nothing is going into the pit.

Thanks.

 

You have a valid concern. The discharge line can freeze if not buried deep enough. I'm not sure if salt water would help keeping it from freezing.

Your line could freeze where it discharges if that area covers over the end of the pipe.
Running a larger line and discharging the smaller into the larger would be a good idea.

 

yea, that was something else I was thinking was that the "pond" by the final outlet could also freeze. To many ways for problems.

Something else I was thinking is have you ever heard of electronic water valves that you could wire up to a water alarm? I'm thinking something that you could at least shut down the water from the house in case of an flood. May not prevent some problems (overflow from excess rain or power outage), but it could at least stop a softener from flooding everything if the pipes freeze.

 

The Water Cop is one company's answer to your question. There are other companies that offer similar products.

Watercop automatic water shut-off system

 

Why not just run it into the sewage line?

 

Most municipal sewer systems expressly prohibit discharging ground water to the sanitary sewer.

 

He needs a connection for the water softener for regeneration. That isn't prohibited from the sanitary sewer.

 

I have a septic though not a city sewer and I think all that salt would cause all sorts of havoc on my septic system. I had thought about maybe having the backup pump go to the septic. Normally, it wouldn't be used and if my pipe is froze the salt from one or regens going into the septic probably wouldn't be the end of the world. That would at least give me time to get things fixed better so they don't freeze.

That would only maybe be an option once I get a backup though and that's probably not going to happen right now since I'm in the middle of another project that is already sucking money out of my pocket.

Thanks for the link to the Watercop Furd. That thing is exactly what I was kind of thinking of. It's definitely pricey, which I was kind of figuring something like that would be but it would sure be nice to have as a backup. I'll have to think about that one more for the long term plan.

 

i wouldn't be discharging into a septic system either,,, municipal waste plants are fine altho discharging ground wtr from sump pumps is a no-no BUT check w/your local facility ( reason being digester tanks can be overloaded w/sump pump discharges if everyone does it ) - how big can 1 build tanks to accommodate load volumes ?

to ease your mind, we laid 4" ads pipe on top of the ground during winter & temporarily piped the pump discharge line into it - never froze in nj however we didn't have sustained low temps as you may experience

 

That is good to hear at least. NJ isn't that much different than MI (at least where I'm at in MI).