Would this work?

[Jack]

Can I route Sump Pump Discharge into basement wash sink?

I know it is probably against code, but I am considering it for a temporary solution.

The Problem: I put a pipe underground to route my sump pump discharge away from my house, it was a great idea, running it out about 20 feet away from the house, then letting it spill out over the driveway. In my real moment of genious, I forgot to consider the water freezing over the winter, turning my driveway and pedestrian sidewalk into a literal skating rink. Dooop. Anyway, I now need to dig a longer trench and get it all the way out to the street, but ground is already frozen so that won't happen until next spring/summer. Mean time I need to find a way to keep the ice off the driveway & sidewalk, simply for safety sake.

My sump pump has a 2" PVC pipe running up the basement wall and outside. I am considering putting a T in that pipe, with a couple of valves. I would run a line out sideways, about 20 feet, then into the wash sink. I would open the valve to the wash sink, and close to valve to outside, and have the water drain into the wash sink when conditions outside are cold enough to make ice.

Aside from the problem of adding water to the sewer system(which is not great, but considering the icy alternatives, and that it is temporary, I am just planning to go ahead and do it) are there any other problems that I would be creating?

[m Ransley]

Your drain wont handle the pump flow, Here its illegal to dump a sump to the sewer, but if no meter reader comes in, sink is big enough and volume is low it will work

Here its a 1000$ a day fine.

[Goedjn]

Yeah, I'd check with the local municipality about what's legal. Dumping the water into the street to keep the ice off your sidewalk doesn't sound right, somehow.

[mm]

Not contradicting anything anyone else has said.

Two comments that I see, Jack, which may not apply to you. I live near a stream and a main sewer which parallels it. When the rain is enough, about once every 2 or 3 years, maybe more often, the stream overflows the manholes and floods the sewer which then backs up into the basement sink. I keep my sink plugged so it won't overflow. If the sewer even fills to the bottom of your sink or less, the added water from the sump will cause your sink to overflow, and the sump pump will just run endlessly until the water goes down, pumping it out of the sump and into the sink, where it overflows and damages things or makes its way to the sump again.

When I was at a neighbor, I noticed that he had the sump connected to the corrugated black tubing that the downspout drains into. It's about a foot away. I looked further and found that the 25 adjoining neighbors all or almost all had the same thing. The tubing goes underground and through the middled of the sidewalk and comes out in the street, actually where the cars park perpendicular to the street.

I don't know if the builder did this or everyone later. Does anyone think this could be illegal or improper, because I see Goedjn's point, and yet the water in these cases ends up in the street too. Of course, when it's rain, it's not that likely to freeze, when it's freezing, it's usually snow. And there is quite a slope in the parking lot so I don't believe this arrangement has ever caused an accident or even a safety issue. Well, I take that back. We're on the downside of the slope so our water doesn't have to cross the road, but there is ice on the road from water across the street running downhill to the drain. And some teenager who shoudln't have been driving once skid on the ice and rammed my trunk and I had to get a new car. I never tied this together with the drains across the street before, but still, is anyone saying they're not entitled to connect their sumppump to their downspout drain.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[Don]

"m Ransley"> wrote

Curious, if the sump is not allowed to drain into the sewer, where is it supposed to drain to? We don't have many basements down here in Florida. ;-)

[DanG]

Most modern municipalities have two sewer systems. One is sanitary, the other is storm. Sanitary systems go to a treatment plant where they are cleaned. No one wants to pay to treat the rain water/ storm runoff.

Florida is one of the most pro active states about this. As you drive down any new area you will see huge dry "lakes". You will see these at shopping centers, housing divisions, and the sides of the highways. These are detention ponds designed to hold huge quantities of storm runoff and meter them into the ground and/or storm system. All that sand and porous stone you have can suck up huge quantities of rain if it is controlled.

(top posted for your convenience) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) [e-mail]

[Don]

"DanG"> wrote

Yeah, I'm very aware of the storm runoff systems, and the percentages of non-permeable surface allowed per site. I just didn't realize that sump water was in the same category as rainwater runoff. Those *lakes* are retention areas not detention areas. The water wasn't bad, you know. ;-) Here in the Cape, in some areas, they also have dual water. That is potable and unpotable water in 2 different lines. The unpotable is for the lawns. They just ran the lines at my brothers house last year and assessed him $18k. He had been on a well and septic and had no choice in the matter, it was mandatory to hook up. They're very consiencous of water usage here in Cape Coral. Where are you at?