1952 house with dry well at the bottom of outside stairwell to (below grade)basement entrance. Stairwell is level with basement floor. Dry well has failed, rain water from gutters backs up into basement. Old sink basement drains to dry well. Sewer line runs across basement ceiling, not below grade. Plumber suggested installing sump pump in basement floor, connecting dry well pipe to sump pump - dry well water and sink water into sewer. I've read local code and doesn't allow ground water to be pumped into sewer. Plumber says it's ok since ground water is coming into basement. (currently most comes under basement door, which I want to stop).
Suggestions?

On May 8, 9:06*pm, kokopele53 wrote:
1952 house with dry well at the bottom of outside stairwell to (below
grade)basement entrance. Stairwell is level with basement floor. Dry
well has failed, rain water from gutters backs up into basement. Old
sink basement drains to dry well. Sewer line runs across basement
ceiling, not below grade. Plumber suggested installing sump pump in
basement floor, connecting dry well pipe to sump pump - dry well water
and sink water into sewer. I've read local code and doesn't allow ground
water to be pumped into sewer. Plumber says it's ok since ground water
is coming into basement. (currently most comes under basement door,
which I want to stop).
Suggestions?

--
kokopele53

if theres a lower area in yard, say near street, than the level of the
basement entrance, you could dig a ditch and install a drain line to
daylight. allow 1/4 inch drop per foot of line.

the rule of not draining storm water to a sanitary sewer is for a
excellent reason.

in a heavy rain the sewer plant can get flooded

On 5/8/2012 8:06 PM, kokopele53 wrote:
1952 house with dry well at the bottom of outside stairwell to (below
grade)basement entrance. Stairwell is level with basement floor. Dry
well has failed, rain water from gutters backs up into basement. Old
sink basement drains to dry well. Sewer line runs across basement
ceiling, not below grade. Plumber suggested installing sump pump in
basement floor, connecting dry well pipe to sump pump - dry well water
and sink water into sewer. I've read local code and doesn't allow ground
water to be pumped into sewer. Plumber says it's ok since ground water
is coming into basement. (currently most comes under basement door,
which I want to stop).
Suggestions?






The sink use would/could be considered "gray" water and, as such,
wouldn't be bad for the yard though against code in many places. I
would still be more inclined to pipe the sump to curb or other downhill
area dumping the rain water and the sink.

--


___________________________________

Keep the whole world singing . . .
Dan G
remove the seven

On May 8, 8:06*pm, kokopele53 wrote:
1952 house with dry well at the bottom of outside stairwell to (below
grade)basement entrance. Stairwell is level with basement floor. Dry
well has failed, rain water from gutters backs up into basement. Old
sink basement drains to dry well. Sewer line runs across basement
ceiling, not below grade. Plumber suggested installing sump pump in
basement floor, connecting dry well pipe to sump pump - dry well water
and sink water into sewer. I've read local code and doesn't allow ground
water to be pumped into sewer. Plumber says it's ok since ground water
is coming into basement. (currently most comes under basement door,
which I want to stop).
Suggestions?

--
kokopele53

Is the failure something new, or has it been this way forever, or at
least a couple of years? If it is something new, you should be able
to dig down in the dry well and find out what has suddenly gone
wrong. Is there a gravel pit that has gradually become clogged, or is
there a line from the dry well to somewhere else on the property?
Fixing the problem rahther than just pumping the water out to the
storm sewer or regular sewer would be the better solution.

kokopele53 wrote:
1952 house with dry well at the bottom of outside stairwell to (below
grade)basement entrance. Stairwell is level with basement floor. Dry
well has failed, rain water from gutters backs up into basement. Old
sink basement drains to dry well. Sewer line runs across basement
ceiling, not below grade. Plumber suggested installing sump pump in
basement floor, connecting dry well pipe to sump pump - dry well water
and sink water into sewer. I've read local code and doesn't allow
ground water to be pumped into sewer. Plumber says it's ok since
ground water is coming into basement. (currently most comes under
basement door, which I want to stop).
Suggestions?

For the basement sink, you could consider installing a pump that is made for
that purpose and have the basement sink drain water pump into the existing
sewer line. Here's one example:
http://www.saniflo.com/homeowners/sf...ine/sanivite-®

For the drywell, the sump pump idea seems okay except that I always thought
the sump pumps are not supposed to pump water run-off or basement flooding
water into a sewer drain. Maybe you could have that pump the water from the
drywell out onto the ground away from your house like most sump pumps do.

Maybe you're plumber is thinking that it's okay to fudge things a little and
just claim that the water from your basement sink drains into the drywell
and then is being pumped into the sewer line. Maybe that in itself is okay
to do and the fact that some ground water also goes into the same place
where the basement sink water goes is the "fudge things a little" factor.