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wrote:
About three weeks ago we noticed our sump pump in the basement started
running every three minutes. We ignored it for two weeks (not very
handy or pretty much clueless about home ownership). Then we notived
water in our foundation wall in the sump pump room and finally called
rofessionals (water proofing company, plumbers). They found that the
drainage pipe (plastic 1.5 inch) that comes out of the house and the
sump pump was broken right near the foundation and there was standing
water. By putting a 5 inch 20 foot hose we diverted the water away
from the house. The pipe goes underground after it comes out of the
house but we cannot tell how far it goes underground and if it is
connected to anything else. There was an area further down in our
backyard that was soaking wet 5 days ago but it seems to have dried
now. We had the city engineer and the water department to come over
and look at it and pretty much everybody agrees that the sump pump was
just draining into the yard underground without connecting to the storm
sewer (which runs through our backyard as well).
Even though it has been almost a week since we diverted the sump pump
water away from the house our pump still runs every 10 minutes. It has
rained once in the past week and we are at a lower level than our
neighbors. We have lived in this house for four years now and never
noticed the sump pump woorking this frequently. I have talke dto
several plumbers and they are telling me to wait for the ground to thaw
(we live in Chicago) and dig the back yard and install 6 inch pipes 3
feet underground as far away from the house as possible. What I am
worrided about i sthe sump pump just dying due to the frequency it is
working at in the meantime. Does anyone have good advice on how to get
the water further away from the house (other than digging the
backyard). We have gone through our options at Menards and Home Depot
and could not find anything that works.

My sump runs about every 3 minutes. The pump itself has never burned
out, but what does happen is it gets coated with sediment and needs to
be cleaned. The pump unfortunately was not made for such cleaning, and
thus this killed the pump. My current pump handles the cleaning much
better. Also has to snake out and clean the pipes. but your water may
be cleaner.

My pump exists my house about 2 foot above the soil level. So we can
see what its doing. Then it drops into a vented verticle pipe and goes
back underground and down toward the end of the back yard.

I wouldnt be concerned about the high pump rate. Its not expensive and
not dangerous, IMHO. Give it 3 months to a year. You dont know how
long it took to build up. I would be concerned if too much dirt has
eroded from the side of the house though.

--
Thank you,

CL Gilbert
"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16