Hi folks,
the drain pipe for our sump pump is buried but the end pokes out of a hills
ide into open air. every year, it gets an ice plug in it, so the sump pump
can't pump....

The water levels start rising before the ground thaws, so the basement
always gets water in it i nthe spring. As son as the pump pipe thaws, it can
pump out the water, so everything is OK..
any ideas on how to keep the drain pipe from freezing?

thanks

In article , jd says...

Hi folks,
the drain pipe for our sump pump is buried but the end pokes out of a hills
ide into open air. every year, it gets an ice plug in it, so the sump pump
can't pump....

The water levels start rising before the ground thaws, so the basement
always gets water in it i nthe spring. As son as the pump pipe thaws, it can
pump out the water, so everything is OK..
any ideas on how to keep the drain pipe from freezing?

Sounds like it's not pitched correctly. Water shouldn't gather there to form an
ice plug. Fix that.

Banty

On Mar 14, 7:05 am, "jd" wrote:
Hi folks,
the drain pipe for our sump pump is buried but the end pokes out of a hills
ide into open air. every year, it gets an ice plug in it, so the sump pump
can't pump....

The water levels start rising before the ground thaws, so the basement
always gets water in it i nthe spring. As son as the pump pipe thaws, it can
pump out the water, so everything is OK..
any ideas on how to keep the drain pipe from freezing?

thanks


The difficulty depends on how your discharge is set up.

I had a house that had an under slab discharge, didn't know where it
to...still don't. Every year in the late winter it would freeze up
and it seemed to get worse after my neighbor replaced his driveway
with a new one 6" lower than the original.

Fortunately when they plumbed the sump system, they added a discharge
to the exterior of the house going through the sill. When everything
is working right, it's plugged and not used. When the "normal"
discharge freezes, uncap and put 2-10 foot pieces of rigid plastic
1-1/4 pipe on it and wait for the ground to thaw. The system worked
well for years.

Banty is right with his suggestion to fix...but sometimes it isn't
worth the gain.

DAC

On Mar 14, 7:32�am, "DAC" wrote:
On Mar 14, 7:05 am, "jd" wrote:

Hi folks,
the drain pipe for our sump pump is buried *but the end pokes out of a hills
ide into open air. every year, it gets an ice plug in it, so the sump pump
can't pump....

The water levels start rising before the ground thaws, so the basement
always gets water in it i nthe spring. As son as the pump pipe thaws, it can
pump out the water, so everything is OK..
any ideas on how to keep the drain pipe from freezing?

thanks

The difficulty depends on how your discharge is set up.

I had a house that had an under slab discharge, didn't know where it
to...still don't. *Every year in the late winter it would freeze up
and it seemed to get worse after my neighbor replaced his driveway
with a new one 6" lower than the original.

Fortunately when they plumbed the sump system, they added a discharge
to the exterior of the house going through the sill. *When everything
is working right, it's plugged and not used. *When the "normal"
discharge freezes, uncap and put *2-10 foot pieces of rigid plastic
1-1/4 pipe on it and wait for the ground to thaw. *The system worked
well for years.

Banty is right with his suggestion to fix...but sometimes it isn't
worth the gain.

DAC

T the output line, run a new line well above elevation of existing
line say out wall.

when primary line freezes backup line will still provide a outlet for
water.

On 14 Mar 2007 05:32:56 -0700, "DAC" wrote:

On Mar 14, 7:05 am, "jd" wrote:
Hi folks,
the drain pipe for our sump pump is buried but the end pokes out of a hills

All of my neighbors who front on the street have sump pump outlets
that come out of the curb, I think. That would make them very close to
the surface at least near the curb and I don't know if any have ever
frozen.

My house is different. I don't know if it was a design feature in my
case or not, or conceivably a short cut designed to save the builder
money??

But my drain pokes out the side of a hill like yours, about 20 feet
from the basement. Inside the pipe goes up to the ceiling, then
horizontally to the wall and comes out about a foot or 18 inches abve
the ground, with a hard plastic pipe that comes out of the house and
ends after about 3 or 4 inches. Then there's a 4" black corrugated
pipe that comes out of the ground, goes up about a foot, bends and is
pretty much stuck on the 3 or 4 inch pipe. (can't come off, without my
bending it. Wind and water can't do it.)

So it's not that cold in Baltimore, but if it ever did freeze or get
clogged or crushed, the water would bypass the pipe and pour on the
ground. I guess it would soon find it's way back to the sump in that
case, but I could also clamp a temporary hose on the thing at that
point.

The difficulty depends on how your discharge is set up.
I had a house that had an under slab discharge, didn't know where it
to...still don't. Every year in the late winter it would freeze up
and it seemed to get worse after my neighbor replaced his driveway
with a new one 6" lower than the original.

I would think that would make your situation a bit better as the water
poured out of your dirt into his driveway. Unless it made the cold
air closer to the pipe in your ground. ???

Fortunately when they plumbed the sump system, they added a discharge
to the exterior of the house going through the sill. When everything
is working right, it's plugged and not used. When the "normal"
discharge freezes, uncap and put 2-10 foot pieces of rigid plastic
1-1/4 pipe on it and wait for the ground to thaw. The system worked
well for years.

Banty is right with his suggestion to fix...but sometimes it isn't
worth the gain.

DAC

The sump pump is i nthe basment, about 5 fett below grade. The drain pipe
comes straight up out of hte sump hole, and goes out a hole inthe foundation
wall, still about 3 feet below grade. It runs more or less staright for
about 20 feet to open air, with the last 6"or so of pipe exposed. It almsot
cetainly has the wrong pitch (as in it pitches back towards the pump instead
of towards the open air end), but I cannot tear up the yard to fix it.....
It freezes pretty close to the point where it comes out of the ground. As
soon as the ground thaws, it works fine... the problem only lasts for a few
weeks when the water tabgle rises before the ground thaws....

I've rigged a temporary flex hose that runs out a window, but I;d prefer to
see if there is some other permanent way to deal with it (without tearing up
the yard)

--JD

"jd" wrote in message
. ..
Hi folks,
the drain pipe for our sump pump is buried but the end pokes out of a
hills ide into open air. every year, it gets an ice plug in it, so the
sump pump can't pump....

The water levels start rising before the ground thaws, so the basement
always gets water in it i nthe spring. As son as the pump pipe thaws, it
can pump out the water, so everything is OK..
any ideas on how to keep the drain pipe from freezing?

thanks

On Mar 15, 6:02 am, "jd" wrote:
The sump pump is i nthe basment, about 5 fett below grade. The drain pipe
comes straight up out of hte sump hole, and goes out a hole inthe foundation
wall, still about 3 feet below grade. It runs more or less staright for
about 20 feet to open air, with the last 6"or so of pipe exposed. It almsot
cetainly has the wrong pitch (as in it pitches back towards the pump instead
of towards the open air end), but I cannot tear up the yard to fix it.....
It freezes pretty close to the point where it comes out of the ground. As
soon as the ground thaws, it works fine... the problem only lasts for a few
weeks when the water tabgle rises before the ground thaws....

I've rigged a temporary flex hose that runs out a window, but I;d prefer to
see if there is some other permanent way to deal with it (without tearing up
the yard)

--JD

"jd" wrote in message

. ..



Hi folks,
the drain pipe for our sump pump is buried but the end pokes out of a
hills ide into open air. every year, it gets an ice plug in it, so the
sump pump can't pump....

The water levels start rising before the ground thaws, so the basement
always gets water in it i nthe spring. As son as the pump pipe thaws, it
can pump out the water, so everything is OK..
any ideas on how to keep the drain pipe from freezing?

thanks- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Poor installation but you don't have to dig up the entire lenght.
Only a few feet at the end back to where it is deep enough not to
freeze. Slope the last few feet so it does drain out. Of course if
you can't lower the end you are pretty much SOL.

Harry K

On Mar 15, 6:02 am, "jd" wrote:
The sump pump is i nthe basment, about 5 fett below grade. The drain pipe
comes straight up out of hte sump hole, and goes out a hole inthe foundation
wall, still about 3 feet below grade. It runs more or less staright for
about 20 feet to open air, with the last 6"or so of pipe exposed. It almsot
cetainly has the wrong pitch (as in it pitches back towards the pump instead
of towards the open air end), but I cannot tear up the yard to fix it.....
It freezes pretty close to the point where it comes out of the ground. As
soon as the ground thaws, it works fine... the problem only lasts for a few
weeks when the water tabgle rises before the ground thaws....

I've rigged a temporary flex hose that runs out a window, but I;d prefer to
see if there is some other permanent way to deal with it (without tearing up
the yard)

--JD

"jd" wrote in message

. ..



Hi folks,
the drain pipe for our sump pump is buried but the end pokes out of a
hills ide into open air. every year, it gets an ice plug in it, so the
sump pump can't pump....

The water levels start rising before the ground thaws, so the basement
always gets water in it i nthe spring. As son as the pump pipe thaws, it
can pump out the water, so everything is OK..
any ideas on how to keep the drain pipe from freezing?

thanks- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Ooops. Just had a brain flash. Just abandon the current hose, relay
one much closer to the surface being sure it slopes down. As long as
it will drain out reasonably fast it doesn't have to be below frost
line.

Harry K

In article .com, "Harry K" wrote:

Poor installation but you don't have to dig up the entire lenght.
Only a few feet at the end back to where it is deep enough not to
freeze. Slope the last few feet so it does drain out. Of course if
you can't lower the end you are pretty much SOL.

Not at all.

Even if he can't lower the discharge end at all, he can still *raise* some
other part of the run. Of course, that might require digging up and
reinstalling the entire run, but at least it would get him a proper downward
slope to the discharge.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 09:02:57 -0400, "jd" wrote:

The sump pump is i nthe basment, about 5 fett below grade. The drain pipe
comes straight up out of hte sump hole, and goes out a hole inthe foundation
wall, still about 3 feet below grade. It runs more or less staright for
about 20 feet to open air, with the last 6"or so of pipe exposed. It almsot
cetainly has the wrong pitch (as in it pitches back towards the pump instead
of towards the open air end), but I cannot tear up the yard to fix it.....
It freezes pretty close to the point where it comes out of the ground.

Guys, can't he clamp a hose on to the pipe**, and run the hose down to
below the level of the sump pump, the start of the hose, so that it
will siphon the water out after the pump stops running. I think a
siphon works better the lower the outlet is.

There's probably a known relationship between the amount of water and
the maximum diameter for which a siphon will work, but I don't know
what that is.

**Make sure no air gets in where the hose is connected to the pipe, or
the siphone won't work at all

I"m not sure this will work, but it's easy to try, and find out.

Perhaps a little freezes each time the pump runs, and eventually layer
over layer fills and clogs the pipe??

soon as the ground thaws, it works fine... the problem only lasts for a few
weeks when the water tabgle rises before the ground thaws....

I've rigged a temporary flex hose that runs out a window, but I;d prefer to
see if there is some other permanent way to deal with it (without tearing up
the yard)