OT: More on Sump Pump

Well, I got my hole dug in the basement....man was it pure B&#$ch. I literally had to dig a little, then pale the water out. But I got about 24" by 30" pit dug, and a 18"x 24" sump basin installed. Pump is in, with a temp. discharge hose(ran out of time on the permanent one, should have it finished in a day or two). At 5ft head, this thing is runnin' for about 10 seconds every 5 minutes. At 10ft head it's rated for over 1600 gallons a hour. The way I figure, this thing is pumpin' at least 50 gallons an hour...and it's been dry here for a week, I plowed yesterday and the ground was perfect. Wonder how long the pump will last if it keeps this up???

20 YEARS PLUS if it is a decent pump.

It doesn't mater how long it last's
because it will only die either in the
middle of the night, or when your away
from home.
So if you never go to sleep or never
leave home, It will last FOREVER!

You're getting maybe 50 gal per hour?
Assuming it's coming out of the rock strata part of the house is built on, where's most of it been going, by itself, since you first noticed it?? 50 gal/hr would put a lot of water in a bsmt if it didn't have some drain or outlet taking most of it away...to where??.
You mentioned drainpipes under the bsmt floor; is that the usual const there, or were they put in because the builder knew there was water in that spot in wet years? Assuming the house is built on sloping ground, and the drainpipes drain to the lower side, was there any evidence on the ground they'd drained water in the past?
Just idle curiosity on my part; no need to reply if you're sick of talking about it!! Good luck with the pump.
50 gal/hr...got enough slope to add a little siphon, to cut wear on the pump?

You may have a spring in that area is the reason why it stays wet. Hal

Suggestions:

1. install a check valve clost to the sump pump so the water in the hose will not run back into the pump. You need to have the hose that is on the outside sloped enough so that the water in it drains out naturally so it wont freeze in the winter. I think proper diameter of hose is 2 inches.

2. install 2 sumps so you will have a back up.

KEH

You"re right, NEIA.I have a submersible, oil filled pump that"s over 30 years old. Got tired of the pedestal pumps that, if lucky would make it 3 years.

Thanks for the replys. I do have a check valve connected between the pump and discharge line. I did the math and at 10 second run time, every 5 minutes, at a 5 foot head(which is about where its at right now, will be about 10 ft head when I get the permanent discharge line in) the pump is rated for 1740 gallons per hour, so if I figured right that's about 58 gallons per hour. Thats a lot of water.

The house was built on slope and I have neighbors on both sides of me(up hill and down hill). Apparently whoever built the basement was an idiot as the lowest corner(where I had water standing) is also one of the uphill corners of the basement. The neighboe below me has dug out into the hill(right next to my property line) and actually tore into the drain pipe coming from underneath my foundation. It's always had a small streamof water, but I'm assuming the slope of the drain wasn't right. I've fished/augered it out, got a lot of mud and gunk, but still nowhere near 50 gallons an hour of water. Pretty standard around here to have drain tile under basements, if you'r lucky enough to have somewhere for it to drain to.

What's wierd is before I started digging, I had an inch of water in the corner where I put my pit. I stared digging Saturday evening,got almost finish with the pit and called it a night. Sunday morning, the pit was full of water, up to just about the top of the concrete floor, but not overflowing...that's what has me puzzled. Man I'm long winded this morning...

Using two pumps is a good idea but you will have to manually trip the one that doesn't normally run every so often to keep things exercised. It looks like you will be raising your electric bill with that much running. With that much water flow, I have found out that if you have a smaller pump with maybe a 1/2" water line, after the pumps shuts off, that small line will continue to syphon water on its own until it runs out of water and then has to wait until the level gets up until the pump starts again. The water line has to be draining lower than the water level in the basement though. Your best bet is to get it to drain out through the drain tile and not have to normally use the pump.

Casey - could you have a water line leaking? Sounds like a lot of water. Is this a new problem?

Paul

If it is a water line leaking, then it has to be the neighbors. My water entrance into the house is down hill from where the pump basin is. If the neighbor does have a water leak, then I'd hate to see his water bill...still pumping about 58 gallons an hour as of this morning.

Let's see if I understand this so far:
Bsmt was dry until wet year; 1" or so then accumulated in corner.
I assume you tried sopping it up, but that the water returned to the 1" or so level, but no more, while you were doing everything else you mentioned to stop the water intrusion.
Nothing you did, as per the first post, helped, so you went for the sump.
When you dug the sump, you got so much flow you had to bail as you dug; but sitting overnight, the water level was just AT or just BELOW the floor, but NOT the 1" ABOVE that you'd originally had??
If so, sounds like your digging INCREASED the existing (before you dug) natural drainage away.
What's the formation you dug out for the sump: sandy, gravelly, porous, or something generally watertight, like heavy clay??
Any evidence of any structural settling on the inside or outside of house, either old or new?? Is it old enough to've been there in wet/wetter years?
As before. this's just idle curiosity, so if you're thoroughly sick of this, no need to reply. Good luck with the pump.

Yep, BTDT, kiss vacations goodbye. 3:00 a.m. is typical also. Got a sump pump under the bedroom. During a heavy rain it keeps us up all night while it is running. About the time you get used to the noise and fall asleep, and then it quits, the noise of the water running into the sump and the silence of the pump when it quits wakes you up.

But actually, hearing it running every so often takes away some of the worry.