Sump Water Discharge Problem

[jjmcrae]

We have a *very* active sump pump. In the three years we have lived in this house, the pump has run 10-20+ times each day, every day, without exception. Rain or shine, hot or cold, the sump basin fills, and water is pumped up and discharged through a long black tube into our side yard. Here are my questions:

1. We suspect an underground spring located on our property could be causing the water problem. Is there any way to know for sure, other than digging up our entire acre lot? (And would finding the source be useful in some way?)

1. Regardless of where the water might be coming from, how do we get rid of it? We live outside the city limits (thus, no storm drains), and are part of a small housing development (built in the late 1970s). Our lot contains what seems to be the lowest point in the development, so the water discharged from the sump pools up in our yard with nowhere else to go. We have standing water year-round.

Please offer up any ideas you might have, no matter how crazy they might seem. We're ready to try just about anything to get rid of the swamp in our side yard.

Thanks!

~ jjmcrae Too much water! Marion, Iowa

[Bumpy]

Are you on municipal water or private well? Had a friend with the same problem.

He had the water tested, and found out that the water in his sump contained chlorine!

The water main out in the street was leaking, causing his basement to collect water. The water company found the leak, and all was fine>

[ransley]

How much is discharged every time, float switch can be adjusted to lengthen run time, as bumpy said get the water tested to see if its city water if you have city supply.

[jjmcrae]

We have our own well. There was no city water access within a mile of us until this past summer, and the water problem existed long before they began installing city utilities. Good thought, though.

If we adjust the float we'll still end up with the same amount of water in the yard, won't we? It will just be more discharged at once, less often? I don't know how much is discharged at once the way it's currently set, but we do know that it can be more than 400 gallons in a 12-hour period on a dry day. Thanks for your help. Keep the ideas coming!

[EXT]

In the area where I live, sump pumps are discharged to the street ditch as mine is. Talking to the city people, when they install storm drains some time in the future, the sump discharge will be connected to the storm drain for removal.

You don't have storm drains, but where does the water from the street go, most areas without storm drains use some form of ditches to remove the water, possibly you could route your discharge pipe to whatever your community uses to remove the water from the street. Better than creating your own mosquito breeding swamp.

[hallerb]

my driveway is the low spot of the area, home a little below street level.

so I installed a grate collector fed the water indoors to a sump and pump it up to a 4 inch exterior line thats flows by gravity to the street.

[ransley]

Startup is the hardest on a pump, and electric surge, longer cycles give longer life, Is it possible the anti drainback valve is bad adding to the issue. Knowing a gpm per day output would be good, is it draining far enough away to not re-enter your spring.

[robson]

Live with it. Get a back up pump. I have a similar situation and the dig up is not worth the cost. Mine is pumped directly into my septic feild via the clothes washer outlet. In your situation the water you pump into your yard could very well be coming back in.

[Steve Barker LT]

bury some 4" perf pipe and route it away from where you don't want it. done.

s

[jjmcrae]

The ditch backs up into our yard as well. When we get a heavy rain, our front yard floods as well as our side yard. I called the county engineer about it, He said he'd come take a look and call me back, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Old_Boat]

I had a similar situation. My pump was running every 2 minutes 24/7 for a year and a half after I bought the house. The discharge was about 30 feet downhill from the house. It was making a swamp in the yard. I dug a trench and re-routed the discharge about 100 feet from the house and within about 6 hours the pump began to run less. Within a day the pond the discharge had created was drying. Now my pump runs very little. I am sure now, that it was just recycling the discharge water. It is hard to believe that the water was making its way back into the perimeter French drain tile, but it was. I would try moving the discharge further away from your house first. It is a cheap way to figure out if that is the problem.

LJ

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[trader4]

Putting the sump pump water into the septic system has to be the dumbest place to send the water that I've ever heard of to date.