My sump pump was coming on, shutting off, and then coming back on immediately. I watched it do this for about 10 minutes. I could see water pouring in from the tile pipe. We had a rain the previous day, but it was not raining this day. The discharge from the pipe runs up about 7 feet and goes outside, where it runs down into 4" black corrugated drain pipe. I am fairly certain that the drain pipe terminates at the back of my property, about 70 feet away. When I unplugged the sump, water stopped rushing in from the tile pipe. I thought there may be a leak in the drain pipe right next to the house, but it is like it is immediately pouring back into the sump pit, without any delay, too quickly for it to simply be from a leak, I think. Anyone have any ideas? Im not completely certain how this system works. Thanks for the help.

 

You should be able to trace the discharge from the sump pump to verify it's not getting back into the pit. If your line is 70' away.... I would doubt the water is returning.

You may get water into the pit for several days after a rain.
Unplugging the pump should have no effect on water entering the pit.

There is or should be a check valve in the discharge line that keeps water from returning to the pit after the pump shuts off. That may be defective.

 

You need to prove, not just claim, that the water pumped out by the sump pump is not comiing back.

When you unplugged the sump pump, how long did it take for the water in the pit to rise almost to the surface?

When the water runs into the black corrugated drain pipe, where does it ultimately go? Do you see the water coming out at the far end 70 feet away?

If the black corrugated drain pipe is perforated or developed holes in it (not good) then water could be coming out close to the house which you do not want.

 

As PJ says. Do you have a check valve installed? If so then either its defective or you then need to search for where the water is coming from. BTW... I don't use a check valve and yes the pits fills almost 3/4 up from the remaining water in discharge pipe. However it does not effect the pump from draining the tiles when it rains. A check valve is a convenience not a necessity.

 

I have a sump and a backup sump that Y into each other. Both lines have a check and I just replaced the primary check. As I said, the water is immediately coming in from the TILE PIPE, meaning the black pipe that terminates into the sump pit. It is not falling back down the PVC discharge. Turning the sump on now is like turning on a faucet, and the faucet head is the tile pipe discharge. As soon as I plug in the sump, water begins running into the sump pit from the tile pipe discharge. I unplug it, and the water almost immediately stops coming in. I see where the sump discharges in the back of my yard and no water is coming out. Im almost certain that the water is just circulating in a perpetual loop. I just can't understand how there could be such a catastrophic failure, so quickly, allowing water that is draining into the sump discharge pipe immediate access back into the sump pit.

 

If you can follow your discharge piping as I visualize it based on your description..... it is impossible for the discharge water to be directly re-entering the pit.

Maybe a picture or two would help..... otherwise I'm out of ideas. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...rt-images.html

 

Try this to prove your point. At the discharge of your sump pump attach a long flex hose and have it discharge about 15 to 20 feet away from the house. Does the pit still fill immediately? If not then yes you have a badly broken tile at the location on the outside of house or an actual hole on your foundation. Seems like an outside excavation would be in order. You could possibly rent a backhoe or maybe a ditch-witch to do it yourself. As suugested, send pics of both inside and outside.

 

2 pumps ? that's a very large amount of water - what brand & horsepower are they ? nevertheless the pump only runs when wtr level causes it to switch ON,,, just because there's no rain, there's still wtr coming out of the collection pipe due to underground wtr,,, your discharge line should be @ least 1 1/2" pvc w/glued jnts,,, it should also terminate w/i 5' of the house,,, after that, God's gravity takes over

how these systems work: water runs downhill thru exterior soils & collect @ the bottom of your very fine home's foundation,,, a drainage system collects that wtr & directs it to a sump,,, in the sump is a pump to discharge the same - fairly simple to understand if you think of your very fine home's bsmt as a ship's hull below the wtrline,,, ships always run bilge pumps !

 

The ship analogy is not quite correct.

Unlike a ship's hull immersed in water, the purpose of the drainage system around the foundation is to create an air pocket all the way around where the ground water is collected.

"A badly broken drain tile" is also not the correct thing to say. The drainage system is supposed to accept any amount of water that may enter, either all at one place on the drainage system or small quantities taken in at many different spots. The sump pump (or watertight almost horizontal gravity drain) is supposed to get rid of any and all of that water before the drainage system fills up and the air pocket is lost. The sump pump outlet pipe is (should be) separate from the foundation drainage system and may need its own repair to not leak anywhere near the house.

Yet another thing to try: Disconnect the sump pump from its outlet pipe and connect up a hose that run out to your driveway so all the water runs down to the street and off your property that way. Let this run for several hours. Does the unusually large inflow from the drainage system to the sump pump diminish?

 

Is there also a downspout near the sump discharge? If so, I wonder if the downspout used to run directly into the drain tile (stupid thing to do, but not unheard of) and then at some point someone directed the sump discharge into it, not knowing any better. if the water flow is as immediate as you say it is -- like turning a faucet on & off -- thats about the only thing I can think of. that, or you must have a big gaping hole in the ground directly beneath a big gaping hole the sump drain pipe and directly above a big gaping hole in the drain tile below.

in any case -- you have some relatively simple things to do first:
1. as others have said - direct the sump discharge into a temporary above ground pipe/hose and dump it 10 to 20ft away from the house. the water coming into the sump should stop immediately (although it will likely slowly return, depending on the grade around your house).
2. abandon the old black corrugated drain pipe. that stuff is junk.
3. trench in a new PVC drain pipe and run it to daylight 20-30ft away from house. make sure you maintain slope away from house. you can do this yourself with a bit of digging in an afternoon, depending on how far you have to go. get a good shovel and a pick axe.
4. keep an eye your drain tile in the sump pit -- if it opens up with even moderate rain you have other issues that may require excavation. but the immediate goal is to get the sump water away from the house.