Basement drains in older house - where do they go?

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Might be a good idea to check it out before you add more plumbing. I just ran across an interesting site that you might find informative-

Jim

[theedudenator]

There "used" to be a pump. There is copper water line that was also running from this "dry well" That is why I do not think it is a dry well.

[Stormin Mormon]

Same as ball point pens, and one missing sock?

[Harry K]

Then you have a weird system. If installed correctly, the inlent pipe in the tank ends in an elbow witht he outlet below the "stuff" surface. I could see hearing water running down the pipe _to_ the tank though although I have never had one that I could do it.

Harry K

[Harry K]

Finding one can be a problem. Most systems have the cover completely buried down a foot or so.

Can you contact the previous owner? That would be the simplest.

If not, then the tank _should_ be in a direct line with the pipe you can see exiting the basement. A thin metal prob inserted repeatedly every few feet on that line should trace out the pipe until you come to the tank itself. Works best if the ground is damp.

Harry K

[Chris]

Do not know where you live, but around here (N.E. North Carolina) the old septic tanks are very close to the surface. Not much digging. I know right where my cover sits. I do not know why you think you need to pump it first to test. My Line going in sits 6 inches below top of tank. My outgoing lines sit just below that. When I pop the cover to have it pumped the water level is always below the inlet pipe. I do not have a distribution box that feeds the field lines. None of us in my neighborhood have that, unless they have replaced their whole systems recently.

Chris

[Chris]

Excuse my above post. I totally missed the basement part. Been one of those days. Could not find my glasses either and I own more then one pair. Been lots of fun today.

Chris

[Chris]

If there is a pump or was a pump, it would not be considered a dry well. Dry wells do not pump water out. The way you described it, it sounds like a dry well, and someone put a pump in it. Which would suggest it was not draining well. Are there any outgoing pipes or hose? If so where do these go?

My dry well is also about five feet from the house. If we have heavy rains it does not drain very well and I have hooked up a pump to it at those times.

One thing that we will be doing next year and you may want to consider is hooking up a gray water filter system and use your water for the garden and lawn.

Chris

[Michael B]

Okay, the line goes out four feet from the basement floor, so the tank "cap" is likely a little above that line. But the floor drain is obviously below that point, going into a dry well. And your perimeter drains may well go into it, too, if you don't have a good spot for them to deliver to the surface away from the house. If you really want to put in the 1/2 bath, and decide after due consideration to put in a macerator pump, it would only add about $500 to the project, and the floor drain could be left alone to catch an "overflow" onto the floor. But if you go the macerator route, make sure the unit is NSF approved and is installed in a rather inconspicuous way. And I suggest an audible warning if the unit gets too full. After all, it's sorta like a sump well, but more difficult if it stops working without you knowing it. No need to consider a "dye test" with indocyanine green.

[Jim Elbrecht]

Maybe 4 'weird systems' in a row? Maybe how it is/was done in NY. I've owned 5 houses over the last 40 years and none had an elbow. [well maybe one but I never had occasion to dig it up] I know I could hear the water run into 3.

I suspect the one I have now is the most 'modern' install. Wild guess would say sometime in the early 60's. I've talked with the guy who pumps it every 5 yrs or so & he's never mentioned an elbow- though we've talked about some other design oddities in this old concrete tank.

Jim

[RickH]

If you are fortunate enough to have your street drains deeper than your basement then they go directly to your house drain then off to the street sanitary sewer (NOT the street storm sewer). If your basement is below your street drain then they go to an ejector pit where a pump lifts the water to the main house drain then to the sanitaion sewer. Same relative-depth theory applies if you have a septic field.

On a newer home it is against code to drain them to a sump then out onto topsoil, (storm sumps can only eject to topsoil or the municipal storm sewer), NOT the sanitary sewer. On an old house a basement drain just might be going to the "wrong" place if your municipality grandfathered the rules.

Any drains inside a home, (with the exception of your french drain (drain tile to storm sump)), must go to the sanitation sewer, not the storm sewer.

[aemeijers]

In the case of my house, they don't appear to go anywhere, anymore at least. DAMHIKT. :^(

-- aem sends...

[ktos]

Basement water drains into your drinking water. LOL

[Ashton Crusher]

When I was a kid we had a septic tank and we never had to have it pumped while we lived there, which was at least 7 years, maybe 10 years. I believe it had a cesspool as well as a septic tank, at least that was what everyone said. The water flowed first into the cesspool where the crap settled out but the water overflowed into the septic tank where it filtered down into the ground. The septic tank was about 4 times as big as the cesspool as I recall. Cesspool probably 2 or 3 feet in diameter, not sure how deep. I never heard any noises come from it.