Pumping a lot of water from basement sump what to do with it? Irrigation?

[Diggin It]

Most consumer/homeowner level pumps aren't intended to be running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I can't imagine what the money meter ... err... electric meter is doing.

 

[aczlan]

Most consumer/homeowner level pumps aren't intended to be running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I can't imagine what the money meter ... err... electric meter is doing.

As long as its running continuously (ie: not short cycling), it shouldn't overheat as the water will help keep it cool...

Aaron Z

 

[BoylermanCT]

You should go into business filling up swimming pools! We have a company in our area that does that full time. 18 wheeler with a 8000 gallon tank trailer.

 

[Argonne]

We had a similar situation at our house up in Kendall county IL. The field tile we discharged into never plugged up, so no problem there. One thing that made the situation manageable is that the house had a cistern in the basement that held a couple of hundred gallons. That made the pump duty cycle stretch out pretty good, and we seldom had pump troubles. The cistern also had the effect of providing a settling tank for washing machine effluent, also protecting the pump.

Anyway, thinking about your project, it dawned on me that plastic septic tanks are really cheap these days, about a buck a gallon, and might be something for you to consider as a freeze proof water storage cistern. The plastic tanks are really light. If you have the means to dig the hole, you will have little trouble getting it in the hole. They do need to be carefully bedded though.

 

[DerbyRunner]

25,000 gals/day needing to be pumped from your basement? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I would work on rerouting the source of water so the amount of water in your basement is zero.

 

[MechE1]

1. I believe it to be ground water not supplied from an old tile “near” the house. Dig a hole anywhere on the property 3-4 ft deep and you start to see it fill
2. If I did find a tile that was the culprit, I’d still have to get rid of the water. Only places to do that are a front roadside ditch or irrigation. If irrigation then the ditch would also be needed in times of excess, which basically is all the time except during quite dry times.

 

[MossRoad]

1. I believe it to be ground water not supplied from an old tile “near” the house. Dig a hole anywhere on the property 3-4 ft deep and you start to see it fill
2. If I did find a tile that was the culprit, I’d still have to get rid of the water. Only places to do that are a front roadside ditch or irrigation. If irrigation then the ditch would also be needed in times of excess, which basically is all the time except during quite dry times.

Sounds like constant vigilance is needed. I have a sister that bought her first home after she got divorced. It had three sump pumps, two running near constantly pumping out into her front yard, which flooded often anyway. We started looking at the lay of the neighborhood, and determined that the entire neighborhood is sloped toward her front yard. When she pumps into the front yard, it's just running back towards her house, back under the wall, back into the same sump system, and repeat. So we re-routed the sump outputs to the backyard, and now the water continues downhill behind her house, into the neighborhood swales between houses, and on to the creek a few blocks away, as the rest of the houses go. Within a week, her sump pump started resting for a couple hours between cycles, her front yard dried up, and the ducks left! :laughing:

You have a large amount of water to say the least. Good luck. Try and pump that water as far downhill (and downstream if possible) from your house as you can.

 

[Fuddy1952]

That much water, I'm wondering if you have an underground spring there? My concern would be how it's getting in, then I'd wonder about humidity in the house must be high which would cause mold and mildew.
My neighbor has a large (but inexpensive) above ground pool. He's always inviting us over for a swim...but I was here the day a tank truck filled it...it was "Bob's Septic Service".
I asked him about it. He said "I've known Bob for years, he hoses his tank truck out every evening".
We've never gone for a swim.

 

[ruffdog]

That much water, I'm wondering if you have an underground spring there?

or....neighbors pumping their water to the op's property.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

or....neighbors pumping their water to the op's property.

Thats what happened to a friend yrs ago. The neighbor had a water problem, and ran their sump discharge to the line, so the water ran over. Dont remember how it was resolved, he eventually moved.