Sump pump outlet leaking just outside house.
#1
02-17-16, 12:50 PM
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Sump pump outlet leaking just outside house.
I purchased my home this past October. The house came with french drains funneling to 2 sumps in my basement due to the high water in the area of the house. My issue is that the pumps are piped with PVC out the house and down along the foundation outside they come together (guessing here) each have 2" pipes and they join up and then empty into a larger PVC pipe (4"?) and only when we have a lot of water this junction will overflow and spit a lot of water right against my house. Where I am confused the most is that when i walk to the outlet from this 4" PVC i see that water is also coming out of the outlet pipe. I will be attacking photos to my following post shortly.
#2
02-17-16, 12:56 PM
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img1 how it is set up outside the house (red arrow is the problem). As a note the 2 left pipes are the sump and I am unsure what the 3rd is with the expanding foam. I am the one who put the foam as it was just wide open and I did not want critters getting in there.
img2 photo of water coming out of the trouble area
img3 the area where it drains just off my property as a note the cap keeps popping off as it is pressure fit in and its just loose. plan to screw it on.
img2 photo of water coming out of the trouble area
img3 the area where it drains just off my property as a note the cap keeps popping off as it is pressure fit in and its just loose. plan to screw it on.
#3
02-17-16, 01:02 PM
Super Moderator
Welcome to the forums...
It would seem your adding too much water to a pipe that is not pitched a whole lot..
Basically it would make sense that the inlet by the house and the outlet are at similar heights..
Can you move the outlet to a lower part of your yard?
It would seem your adding too much water to a pipe that is not pitched a whole lot..
Basically it would make sense that the inlet by the house and the outlet are at similar heights..
Can you move the outlet to a lower part of your yard?
#4
02-17-16, 01:53 PM
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well, the outlet is off property. this is the way it came. and the yard slopes which if im correct means that the drain is pitched down away from the house, and your pitch idea wouldn't explain why it overflows only part of the time but also only when the pumps are active a lot, like right now after a lot of snow melting and rainfall to boot. like, if i stand outside and just watch and listen. i can hear the water being pumped out, and its not overflowing near the house. my theory is that only one of the pumps is causing this overflow and maybe its due to the entry angle of the water from that pump or something? like maybe it catches a lip can as a result the water overflows? And is it normal that its just open piping like that? those pipes don't FIT together i can see around the downpipe into the lower portion where the water comes from.
#5
02-17-16, 02:06 PM
Group Moderator
Those pipes are open like that to allow the lines to drain out when they aren't in use. There is always a freeze issue with shallow run drain lines like that.
If the lines are not pitched enough..... the more water you put into them....the easier it is for it to overflow at the top end.
You can increase the size of the underground drain line to stop that from happening.
If the lines are not pitched enough..... the more water you put into them....the easier it is for it to overflow at the top end.
You can increase the size of the underground drain line to stop that from happening.
#6
02-17-16, 03:24 PM
Super Moderator
Or when the water comes out the outlet the ground is frozen so the water sits there like a lake and refills the pipe when the pump stops.. If you have a lot of pitch and pipes are at very different elevations you can try raining the outlet pipe.
#7
02-17-16, 06:58 PM
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@pjmax but why would the overflow only happen maybe 1/2 the time? at least one of my pumps run every ...i dunno 10-15 mins right now and its not overflowing every time i hear the water runnig. if it was every time i could say its because of blockage or not big enough pipes. i just cannot understand why its not every time.
