Sump Pump Plumbing Question

[griffinmatt]

Hi guys. I have a few sump pump pipe questions. My current sump pump setup is a submersible Zoeller 1/2 or 1/3 hp (don't know the exact specs on it but I know its low hp) pump. The pipe currently is basically vertical about 10ft. where it exits the house. It is 1" pipe. The problem is it exits the house on the wrong side and causes the ground to be always saturated and wet at the surface. I suspect the water just seeps back down to my sump, which runs quite a lot. My neighbor and I am not happy with this situation, since the area from my sump pump to where it runs to the back of our lots, it is muddy and wet all the time along the border of our lots.

The other side of my house goes downhill to a creek, and would be a much better place to send the sump pump water. My question is would it be possible to just run pipe to the other side of the house (about

45-50 ft) and have the sump pump exit there, connect that pipe to the sump pump and be done with it? There is no additional vertical height that the pump has to move water, but there is the 50ft of additional horizontal pipe the pump would have to move water through.

An additional part I should mention is that to run pipe over, there is only enough room between the floor joists and the top of the foundation that I have to run the pipe horizontally, since there is not enough room to have a declining angle of the pipe (it would have to go perpendicular to the main floor joists). Where it exits the house at the end of the horizontal section, the pipe will have to go up another inch or 2 to get above the foundation.

To be clear, from the sump pump, the pipe goes horizontal along the floor to the wall (this is how the builder installed it), vertical about 10ft. to where it currently exits the house. I would connect the new pipe here, along the basement ceiling (floor joists of main floor), and run horizontal about 50' to the other side of the house, then up again another inch to get to the outside of the house. I was going to install a check valve at the pump since the builder did not install one with the pump, so that if I were to set this up, the water in the horizontal section along the floor would always be full of water. Is that ok?

Everything I have read about pumps is that they are rated based on how much they have to pump water vertically, and make no mention of pumping water horizontally. Would my low hp pump be enough, or would I need a larger pump?

Any suggestions? Would this horizontal section of pipe pass code? I can link some pictures to clarify my situation if it's needed.

[Speedy Jim]

Make the horizontal run 1 1/2" pipe minimum, maybe 2". Avoid 90 deg EL's. Use 45's or long sweep EL's.

I don't see any problem having zero pitch under pumped conditions.

Yes, install a check valve.

[John Gilmer]

You might just want to "plumb" from where the pipe now exits your house. The run should end up near the lowest part of your lot boundary.

With a little luck when the pump starts the water will syphon out once the line is primed. If the lower end of the pipe is below your sump, you don't need or want a check valve. A check valve might trap water outside where it could freeze.

** Posted from **

[trader4]

You can do it as you have proposed. But before going to all that work, why can't you just extend the pipe outside at the existing location? If you can get it 15+ ft away from the foundation, with properly graded soil, that should be sufficient.

[ransley]

contact zoeller, they also might have online specs

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Before you do any plumbing. . . Is the creek lower than the floor in your basement? Do you own the property? Is there any reason you can't trench from your sump hole to the creek?

I fought with sump pumps for years. [they were in when I bought the house] About 5 yrs ago I realized that three days of digging, $50 in pipe, and I never have to run a sump pump again. Works without electricity, needs no maintenance.

Jim