Sump drain line - Spring under house?

[Mike W.]

Hello.

I am going to run a sump line out to the back of my property. It will run about 250 ft. I need some advice on what to do. Details follow.

The details: I had a new home built. I moved in about 6 months ago. It seems there is a spring or something under my house because my sump pump kicks in about every

10 to 15 minutes... even during weeks of dry weather. Also, I have a few crawldad holes in my yard (interesting to say the least since the nearest creek is a mile away). The builder had run the sump line out of the basement about 2.5 ft underground to about 20 feet away from the side of the house. Since it runs so much, and due to the grade of the property, the water was spitting out and running to a low spot in my back yard. It caused a swampy effect to where I couldn't mow in and area about 100 sqft. I bought 3 - 100 ft lengths of corrugated pipe which helped me get it to the rear of the lot, but the couplings leak (even with duct tape trying to seal them) and the ground stays too wet to mow along the pipe and still pools up in a big way in a few areas. Also, because of the pooling, the curtain drain is constantly draining in a different spot in the yard causing issues there too.

I am tired of the water issue so Im gonna permanently (hopefully) take care of it. I'm going to rent a trencher and trench all the way to the back of the lot at about 12" - 18" at a constant downgrade. I will then cover the trench back up exposing only the last few feet of the pipe at the back of the lot. I have enough corrugate pipe to use, but I'm afraid to use it since I live in the midwest and the winters get cold. I'm afraid that the ridges in the pipe will allow water to freeze up and eventually fill the pipe clogging it or cracking it. I also thought of getting some PVC pipe to match the pipe coming out of the house and have it run all the way in the trench... but will it crack too? Im not sure what to do.

Any advice would be helpful. Should I just pay a professional to come out and do it? Or am I on the right track.

Thanks, Mike W.

[Speedy Jim]

The PVC won't crack unless the water freezes inside. I think you're going to have to trench below frost line. What will happen where the water exits the pipe though? If that can freeze, you're dead.

Jim

[B]

The corrugated pipe itself is reasonably indestructible, and there's nothing better for your purpose, so go for it. If the water freezes in the pipe you put below the frost line, then I guess the surface water won't be flowing that day either and your sump pump will not be running. If you really have a warm spring under your house when it's 0 degrees outside and the far end of your pipe is frozen, then you'll just have to have a backup pump and blow it out the window. The key phrase in my reply is "nothing better".

[Mike W.]

Im using duct tape because there is NO trench right now so the grade isnt a perfect downhill run. There are spots where it runs a little up hill... and where the couplings are (And I am using the barbed fittings) the water seeps out and makes it absolutely pointless to use the pipe in the first place. I put the duct tape on to try to minimize this leakage. Im doing the temp thing with the pipe to try to dry the land up so I can get a trencher in there to do the job right.

The pipe will come out of the ground at the back of the lot and into a small ditch that hooks into a larger drainage ditch a little further down. Sounds like Im screwed since it will freeze there? What can I do? There has to be something. Would the warm water that comes out keep melting the ice at the end??

Who should I call for help? Plumber? Septic System guys?

Thanks for the advice,

Mike

[Mike W.]

A crawldad is a crayfish. It's the Ohio term for it I guess. I've been calling them that my whole life... but I'd only seen them in streams, not climbing out of a hole in my yard carrying a pebble that I had thrown in it earlier that day. And relatively big... 4-5 inches long.

Mike

[CBHvac]

Yup..that really sounds like a Greensboro Burrowing Crayfish...

[Gary Slusser]

"Mike W." wrote

So get the roll of PE tubing used for well water systems now and use it on top the ground until you bury it. That will stop the leaks that prevent the area from drying out.

I have mine sloping down to the bottom of a 4' deep ditch about 125' from the house. The ditch is between two properties and fills with moving water after heavy rains and snow melt. The water is from both my sump pump needs and clothes washing machine and it doesn't freeze but, I always wonder why it doesn't. Possibly it's due to the ground being very sandy. I have a setup where the water is allowed to drain out of the line int othe ditch after every pump run. It allows air into the line when the pump shuts off. My pump doesn't run much though, so I don't have a lot of water to freeze.

I think you may need a larger pit so the pump runs longer but less frequently; or you need a different type pump that allows a longer run.

Plumbers will be prohibitively expensive and they normally don't do digging. You're looking for someone that does the digging for well or city water line or irrigation system installations. So call excavators with mini excavators or ditch witch type equipment for quotes on the ditch. The trench only has to be 2-4" wide and you can lay the line as they do it and they can cover it up before they leave.

Gary Quality Water Associates

[Mike W.]

Well...

The house was built in the winter... and here in southern Ohio we had a pretty wet winter. There was water in the basement almost the entire construction period, but my builder kept assuring me that it would get better once the grading was done... It did get better, but its still not 'good'. I have a feeling that if I would have pressed, he could have said 'fine, dont buy the house' since he footed the construction bill and we bought it outright. And this is our house... designed just for us on the lot we wanted in the area we wanted. I probably let that cloud my judgement for not pressing the issue.

You said 'engineer'. What kind of engineer would I call? County?

Thanks for the advice. Mike W.

['nuther Bob]

In my area, the guys who are most knowledgeable about ground water and drainage systems are the septic systems engineers. I'm not talking about "Larry with an excavator", but the _engineer_ who works at the Septic System installation company. Usually you can get them to come out and give you their "before we dig" opinion for free. They will probably have a good idea if a drywell would work, what kind of soil layers you have, etc. Call someone local - if they do systems in your area the right guy will know the soil conditions before be gets there.

Bob

[Mike W.]

Are you talking about the corrugated black pipe or the other smooth black pipe mentioned earlier in the post?

Thanks, Mike

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