Sump pump for window well

[Percival P. Cassidy]

The only window well our house has is the one that was constructed when an existing lower-level window was enlarged so that it could function as a basement egress window.

A couple of times the window well has filled with water, which has then flowed into the house. Once it was when the gutter became blocked, but the most recent time it was during a hundred-year downpour when the water simply flowed over the top edge of the window well.

In Lowe's a few days ago I saw a display showing the various uses to which pumps can be put, and one picture showed one in a window well.

I can easily add a power outlet for a 120V pump in a convenient location, but I am wondering whether this would be wise: do I want someone possibly stepping out into water in which a 120V pump is located? Any Code issues here? What about a pedestal pump instead of a submersible? Plastic body rather than metal?

Suggestions?

Perce

[RBM]

why not get a pre made small pit with a grate over it. Install the pump in the pit, wired to a GFCI outlet, outside the pit.

[trader4]

q1$ [e-mail]...

As long as you have a GFCI protected circuit, should be fine. But first thing I'd look at is solving it via grading, if that is feasible. Even in an extreme downpour, water should be flowing away from the house and not pooling up around it.

[ransley]

A pump outside could and probably will be ruined by freezing. Is this just a window you dont exit, then cover it with plexiglass to keep out the water

[trader4]

Good point!

[RickH]

That is a band-aid solution, the window well should be draining properly in the first place. The drain at the bottom of it might be clogged, that drain runs into the french drain on the outside perimeter then to wherever your storm water is sent. Try rodding out that drain.

Also get a plexiglass cover for the whole window well.

[aemeijers]

A pump outside of house, exposed to weather, will be an upkeep PITA.

Sounds like egress window pit (precast, probably) was not installed correctly. Exposed dirt on bottom, or did they use precast basement stairs? If dirt, dig a hole straight down, and put in a drywell filled with gravel, with an overflow tube tied into the footer drains along foundation on the outside. If no footer drains, put a tube pointing away from house, to daylight if possible. Otherwise use a long perforated pipe surrounded by gravel in the trench. I assume you have already looked at yard slope and roof runoff?

Hillbilly workaround would be to put a breakaway greenhouse with a clear sloped lid over the window well. Lay up brick on the sides to make a slope, top with pressure-treated wood or metal, and find some way to put a thick plexiglas panel on top to shed rain. Needs to be hinged or fastened in some way a person escaping through window can easily bang it open from the bottom, but wind won't blow it away. The good-quality velcro tape would probably do it, if you don't like the look of strap hinges and a big slide bolt. Just trim it out in some fashion so sunlight and heat doesn't kill the adhesive on the tape in a year. (Or if you can have a wood to wood joint, just staple the velcro to the wood.)

Hard to say without seeing it- lotsa ways to address the problem. Just raising the edges of the window well the height of a couple of bricks may be enough to mostly solve the problem, as long as you keep the gutters clean.

-- aem sends...

[Percival P. Cassidy]

There is a French drain system, but I suspect that they clogged it up at this point (just about the end of this particular section -- the end away from where the drainage pipes run under the basement floor to the sump). Water does drain out, but sometimes too slowly for the heavy rain.

I thought about that, but bear in mind that this is an *egress window*: any cover must not obstruct egress. The best I can think of is a sheet of Lexan (more robust than Plexiglas) hinged at one side that could be flipped out of the way if somebody needs to exit the room through that window.

Perce

[ransley]

I have bars on my basement windows, I dont want anybody ingressing, why do you need exit capibilities, for security the basement is the easiest to break in, just lay Plexiglass down you dont need expensive Lexan.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Our home was built when the Code did not require bedrooms to have two means of egress, but we chose to have ours modified to comply with the current Code in the interest of our son's safety in the event of fire: one exit via the door and the rest of the house, the other through this enlarged window.

Perce

[trader4]

Why can't you use one of the standard plastic bubbles. Just very lightly fasten it in a couple spots. Could even use velcro. Certainly no more difficult to remove in an emergency than a window screen.

[aemeijers]

Never seen a bubble big enough for an egress window pit. Usually the pits are about a yard square. They may exist, but I think OP would have to fabricate something, as I described in my previous post.

-- aem sends...

[Tony]

I pictured the Lexan or plexiglass cover with a hinge attached to the house up far enough that the water runs down and away from the house. The hinge can be mounted on the inside of the well so it's not too noticeable. Leave the sides open for ventilation. You may have to have some type of flashing if rain hits the wall and runs down the hinged end and into the well. Or since it's only used in emergency, I suppose the hinged end could be covered with clear silicone? (that is starting to sound sloppy looking) One way of drilling plexiglass without cracking it is a high speed drill in reverse. It melts its way through. Lexan is much softer and doesn't crack as easy, but I'd still drill in reverse. Lexan does scratch much easier, although I doubt scratches would be a problem in this use.