On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 09:52:06 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
wrote:

"LenS" wrote in message
.. .


There's a sump in the basement laundry room that receives water from
the drain tile surrounding the house.

If true, this is a bad error in construction. The drain tile ought
to lead water away from the house (not into the basement.)

Dunno what to tell you on this. Our house, like the many others built
at the same time in the same development have drain tile that empties
into the sump. Also the basement window wells drain into the drain
tile.
The laundry sinks and the washing machine drain into a basin under the
basement floor. That basin drains into the sump. When the sump fills
to a certain level the pump automatically pumps the sump's contents up
to the sewer lateral.

This seems also non-standard. Sumps do not (in this part of
the world) pump into the sewer: they have their own exits (to
the exterior and away from the house.)

Well, in this part of the world the sumps don't pump into the sewer
any more, either. When our house was built, however, emptying into the
sewer was standard. Code on that has been changed, however, and new
sumps now must pump out onto the lawn or some other part of the
property. We have a second sump (added later) kitty-cormer from the
one with the problem that empties onto the front lawn.

Thanks for the comments.

-Len