sump pump discharge question

[tkappeler]

Some of you may remember our home build that we finished almost a year ago. We have had the sump discharge out and to the back yard near the dry stream bed by a 2" discharge hose. We really want to have a more permanent solution before winter as any standing water in the line can freeze. The problem is that the ground falls away from the house for about 50' then it's flat about 100' more to the stream bed. Short of bringing in tons of fill to continue the grade away toward the stream bed, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the water back there and still deal with freezing temps?

All suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

 

[mbohuntr]

Do you NEED to bring the water all the way to the streambed? Are you going to be on the lawn at that time of year?

 

[Gary Fowler]

Is it truly flat or just barely sloped. It is almost always sloped all the way to a stream if natural lay of land. It only takes a small slope of even 1mm per foot for water to drain slowly. Your pump will push most of it out and then slope will take the rest even if it is slow. I would put in some hard pipe (PVC) and just make sure there is no belly left in it. You can punch thru the basement wall at an elevation that will allow you to gently slope the line all the way to the creek. If you have enough high ground from house to where it levels out, then you can use some of that slope to finish it out in the nearly level area. Remember a raw sewage line only uses 1/8" per foot and it flows out solids as well as liquids. You only need about 18" of total drop in the 150 feet. Bury the line deep enough so the water doesn't freeze before it reaches the creek. It is going to be at least 60F when pumped so it should drain quickly enough that it wont freeze in the line.

 

[oosik]

Terminate the discharge line in a properly sized & located dry well. Nothing will be subject to freezing.

 

[JDgreen227]

Terminate the discharge line in a properly sized & located dry well. Nothing will be subject to freezing.

I agree with this solution...built an addition back in 2003 that extended the foundation of the house an additonal 45 feet to the east...although the existing basement (7' deep) had no sump pit the addition part was 8' deep and there was a natural spring to the east that never affected the older basement. We had planned to install a sump pit in the newer part and when we realized the spring was there we situated the pit in the corner closest to the spring. After enduring a season with the pump pushing out water in the backyard I dug a shallow trench with my tractor and ran 200' of 1.5" pvc pipe to a hand dug 4'X6' drywell. Given the flat surface of my property the dry well could not be very deep so it is subject to freezing, so I installed a T in the sump discharge line that lets the pump discharge water close to the house in the winter and early spring...and when spring finally rolls around the long line thaws and the discharge gradually begins running to the dry well.
I know some guys who had a blockage in their primary sump discharge line (moles, debris from the pump, etc) and for that reason I installed a secondary discharge line in case the primary line was blocked. After ten years, never an issue with anything.

 

[jimpen]

Here's an idea. See if you can find french drain pipes or drill the end of a pipe with holes like a french drain on the upside. That should allow faster drainage and I can't see all the pipe getting frozen that the holes would be blocked.

 

[tkappeler]

Do you NEED to bring the water all the way to the streambed? Are you going to be on the lawn at that time of year?

We really want to bring it all the way to the stream if possible since we have a high water table to begin with (seasonal high of 41"). It was a mess in the flatter portions until early May. We could not even get the tractor back there to help out. In addition, because of the water table level, if we dig a dry well, it will fill on it's own in a day or two.

The unfortunate thing is that the sump does not run at all from May through November or December. The time we need it most is when it is freezing.

 

[tkappeler]

I agree with this solution...built an addition back in 2003 that extended the foundation of the house an additonal 45 feet to the east...although the existing basement (7' deep) had no sump pit the addition part was 8' deep and there was a natural spring to the east that never affected the older basement. We had planned to install a sump pit in the newer part and when we realized the spring was there we situated the pit in the corner closest to the spring. After enduring a season with the pump pushing out water in the backyard I dug a shallow trench with my tractor and ran 200' of 1.5" pvc pipe to a hand dug 4'X6' drywell. Given the flat surface of my property the dry well could not be very deep so it is subject to freezing, so I installed a T in the sump discharge line that lets the pump discharge water close to the house in the winter and early spring...and when spring finally rolls around the long line thaws and the discharge gradually begins running to the dry well.
I know some guys who had a blockage in their primary sump discharge line (moles, debris from the pump, etc) and for that reason I installed a secondary discharge line in case the primary line was blocked. After ten years, never an issue with anything.

In theory, I like the idea of the T as we basically did that this past winter. We disconnected the 150' of discharge and simply discharged it to the side property line where the grade would assure it would drain completely and not freeze. But it made the side yard a mess for quite some time in spring.

 

[Streetcar]

You can install the French drain, perforated pipe with gravel surrounding the pipe all the way to the creek. With gravel and geofabric the area should hold up to mower travel