I have an outdoor drain set in the concrete outside the entrance to my
basement. The water table around here seems to be rising, so when we
get an extremely heavy rain water backs up from the drain (it's not
coming from the rain falling down, it's coming up from the ground).

I see he http://www.plumbingsupply.com/floodguard.html

that someone makes a one-way valve that I could probably install if I
tore up the concrete and then poured concrete to finish the
installation. But it's a lot of work so I wanted to ask others before
I started...

Anybody ever use these? Do they work okay or might they leak under
pressure?

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:02:08 -0700 (PDT), Shaun Eli
wrote:

I have an outdoor drain set in the concrete outside the entrance to my
basement. The water table around here seems to be rising, so when we
get an extremely heavy rain water backs up from the drain (it's not
coming from the rain falling down, it's coming up from the ground).

Anybody ever use these? Do they work okay or might they leak under
pressure?
This is what worked for me:
I got the expandable rubber test plug that plumbers use when they have
to test things like drains in tiled showers, etc. At H.D it's called
test plug, wing nut, and comes in various sizes. Find the right size,
remove the drain cover, insert plug, tighten wing nut. Since my drain
is only used to drain the Water heater, an/or boiler periodically, it
works great for me, as I leave it permanently installed.
http://www.newmantools.com/cob/alum.htm
HTH
starrin

"Shaun Eli" wrote in message
...
I have an outdoor drain set in the concrete outside the entrance to my
basement. The water table around here seems to be rising, so when we
get an extremely heavy rain water backs up from the drain (it's not
coming from the rain falling down, it's coming up from the ground).

I see he http://www.plumbingsupply.com/floodguard.html

that someone makes a one-way valve that I could probably install if I
tore up the concrete and then poured concrete to finish the
installation. But it's a lot of work so I wanted to ask others before
I started...

Anybody ever use these? Do they work okay or might they leak under
pressure?

I had an anti backflow valve similar to the "float model" in the basement
drain of my previous house for 20 years that worked fine. Mine was a ball
that floated up to the underside of the drain and sealed it when a back flow
occurred. I needed to occasionally reach in the drain and clean off the
gasket this ball sealed up to on the underside of the assembly but other
than that no maintenance. In my case this plastic ball that was assembled
from two halves that had separated and was non functional when I moved
in....I learned that the hard was after the first heavy rain. After I
replaced the entire assembly it worked fine for the next 20 years and I
assume still does. Never leaked and I could tell when there was a backup
cause I'd see evidence of it when it would backup, but never over, in the
basement washtubs.

Starrin, I don't understand. Is that something to close the drain? I
can't just seal the drain entirely because some rain water needs to go
DOWN the drain. Otherwise I'd just cement over it.

The hard part will be ripping up the concrete around the drain without
totally destroying everything nearby...

On Aug 27, 8:02*am, Shaun Eli wrote:
I have an outdoor drain set in the concrete outside the entrance to my
basement. *The water table around here seems to be rising, so when we
get an extremely heavy rain water backs up from the drain (it's not
coming from the rain falling down, it's coming up from the ground).

I see he *http://www.plumbingsupply.com/floodguard.html

that someone makes a one-way valve that I could probably install if I
tore up the concrete and then poured concrete to finish the
installation. *But it's a lot of work so I wanted to ask others before
I started...

Anybody ever use these? *Do they work okay or might they leak under
pressure?

Have you tried rodding it, maybe the pipe is cracked, if it was the
water table then your basement must now be leaking in water in all
cracks. Do basement floor drains back up? Are they at same level? Do
you have a drain tile sump system? Your city sewer-water dept should
have better ideas and not charge you for advise, or be profit
motivated. Several times I have had blockages near the street that we
rodded. I use rubber expanding plugs inside, before we had "Deep
Tunnel project" we flooded. Maybe a 50$ rodding could fix it instead
of spending thousands. The only time I saw a valve like that necessary
is when sewer water backed up and flooded you out, but im no plumber.

On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:36:24 -0700 (PDT), Shaun Eli
wrote:

Starrin, I don't understand. Is that something to close the drain? I
can't just seal the drain entirely because some rain water needs to go
DOWN the drain. Otherwise I'd just cement over it.

The hard part will be ripping up the concrete around the drain without
totally destroying everything nearby...
The floodguard fits inside the existing drain and it DOES work. it is
a one-way valve that shuts off when water comes up the drain - float
closes the valve.

Just to clarify, it's a drain at the bottom of the outside steps to
the basement, not a sewer drain (the water just goes into the ground,
or comes from the ground).

I know it's a water-table issue since other things at the same level,
such as neighbors' yards, flood in extreme rainstorms.

I'll try installing the one-way valve. Thanks,

Shaun Eli wrote in news:d831bad1-f05e-
:

Just to clarify, it's a drain at the bottom of the outside steps to
the basement, not a sewer drain (the water just goes into the ground,
or comes from the ground).

I know it's a water-table issue since other things at the same level,
such as neighbors' yards, flood in extreme rainstorms.

I'll try installing the one-way valve. Thanks,


The valve should be fine for your application but if it is closed due to a
backflow then no water can get in either. Do you ever get a situation where
the valve is closed but it is still raining? Where would your runoff go
then? Can you tolerate a puddle for a while that would drain away when the
groundwater receded? Note that if it is truly groundwater rising then the
time frames are much longer than rises in sewers - measured in many hours
or even days.

Do you think you should be considering a sump pump? It would require some
digging and concreting but you say you may need that anyway?