"Mark" wrote in message
...
Hi group,

I've been looking (but not extremely hard!) for a switch I can use to
trigger the pump I'm using to drain water from a low spot in my yard. On
heavy rains I get several inches in an area next to my garage, and on very
heavy rains it actually gets deep enough to roll into the garage. I don't
want to dig and put in a dry well, I don't know that I have enough space
for this without tearing out a lot of driveway and yard.

The problem is my yard is lower than neighbors on each side, and general
drainage, downspouts from our garages, etc is the source of the water, and
there isn't much I can do with it at the source.

I have the pump I'm going to build into a decorative planter to place at
the lowest spot. It can handle a garden hose or a 1" pipe on the
discharge, and I can run either inconspicuously out to the alley behind
the garage where it can drain away to the storm drains. Problem is most
of the switches to I've seen are for pumps in a sump-pit, and aren't
designed to turn on and off in a couple inches of water. Does anyone know
of such a switch?

Thanks!

Mark
If you find a suitable switch I feel fairly certain that your system may not
be totally satisfactory. It seems likely that once the pump starts the water
level will rapidly drop down until the pump stops and it will cycle fairly
rapidly that way. Preventing that is basically why deep sumps are normally
used. It may be possible to make it work but that would require a pump that
pumps water out slower than it comes in. That in turn would cause the water
to get deeper and deeper while the pump is running which might be okay if
the runoff only lasts a short time and can be pumped away later. If you want
to prevent flooding into the garage it seems you need to pump the water out
at least as fast as it comes in. Just something to consider before you
invest too much.

Don Young