sump pump drainage

mikehaugen · Feb 2, 2013

My sump pump currently discharges into my septic, it has for who knows how long. I bought this house 4 years ago and have it's been on my to-do list to reroute it, but reading the recent septic threads has me a little concerned and it has increased the priority. So anyway I want to run a dedicated discharge line for it and the best place is a ditch and would need to run about 150' from the house to the ditch. I would also like to tie in the down-spouts to it as well.

My question is this... I have a small basement that covers about 1/4 of my house, and it is surrounded on 3 sides by crawl space so the pipe will come out of the house above ground. Is freezing an issue if I do this? The reason I chose this particular part of the ditch is because I can run 1/4"/foot slope I think. Also, how deep would you run the pipe- I would plan on using 4" drain tile off of 2" pvc out of the house. Is the gutter downspout idea a bad one?

One other question is what is the best way to go about this? Are there walk-behind trenchers large enough for this or would I be better off renting a mini-ex? The neighbor down the street is an excavator and I suppose I could ask him but would rather try to do it myself.

quicksandfarmer · Feb 2, 2013

Here's how I ran mine: Black poly pipe, 1-1/4". I broke the soil with a middle buster plow and cleaned it out with a 4" trenching shovel. It was as deep as the plow would go, about 12".

Since the water is forced by a pump the pipe doesn't have to be large diameter and the slope isn't critical.

It's possible to trench in with a plow, but in my case I couldn't because I had to go under a stone wall and a driveway.

Egon · Feb 2, 2013

Don't know about frost in your area.

For the sump pump discharge line a Trencher would work fine. If the down spouts are all solid tie in's the trencher would also work. If not the downspouts should have a constant slope.

Tieing in the downspouts is a good idea. Your sump pump may end up with less work.

sailfast · Feb 2, 2013

mikehaugen said:
My sump pump currently discharges into my septic, it has for who knows how long. I bought this house 4 years ago and have it's been on my to-do list to reroute it, but reading the recent septic threads has me a little concerned and it has increased the priority. So anyway I want to run a dedicated discharge line for it and the best place is a ditch and would need to run about 150' from the house to the ditch. I would also like to tie in the down-spouts to it as well.

My question is this... I have a small basement that covers about 1/4 of my house, and it is surrounded on 3 sides by crawl space so the pipe will come out of the house above ground. Is freezing an issue if I do this? The reason I chose this particular part of the ditch is because I can run 1/4"/foot slope I think. Also, how deep would you run the pipe- I would plan on using 4" drain tile off of 2" pvc out of the house. Is the gutter downspout idea a bad one?

One other question is what is the best way to go about this? Are there walk-behind trenchers large enough for this or would I be better off renting a mini-ex? The neighbor down the street is an excavator and I suppose I could ask him but would rather try to do it myself.

Please don't mix it with downspouts. They tend to clog when your dump pump would need them most.

Coyote machine · Feb 2, 2013

sailfast said:
Please don't mix it with downspouts. They tend to clog when your dump pump would need them most.

I agree on this one for sure! Since you have to dig a trench, lay two pipes, one for the roof runoff/downspouts, and a second for your cellar sump, and put a capped clean-out on the roof's drainpipe run so you can unclog it without having to dig it up later. Use a 4" green pipe, which could be perforated as it nears the end of the run, depending on where it will dump. Your roof will shed an amazing amount of water in 'zero' time during torrential rains- not like we've been experiencing any of those recently!:confused2:
Show pics of construction....

Deere Dude · Feb 2, 2013

mikehaugen said:
My sump pump currently discharges into my septic, it has for who knows how long. I bought this house 4 years ago and have it's been on my to-do list to reroute it, but reading the recent septic threads has me a little concerned and it has increased the priority. So anyway I want to run a dedicated discharge line for it and the best place is a ditch and would need to run about 150' from the house to the ditch. I would also like to tie in the down-spouts to it as well.

My question is this... I have a small basement that covers about 1/4 of my house, and it is surrounded on 3 sides by crawl space so the pipe will come out of the house above ground. Is freezing an issue if I do this? The reason I chose this particular part of the ditch is because I can run 1/4"/foot slope I think. Also, how deep would you run the pipe- I would plan on using 4" drain tile off of 2" pvc out of the house. Is the gutter downspout idea a bad one?

One other question is what is the best way to go about this? Are there walk-behind trenchers large enough for this or would I be better off renting a mini-ex? The neighbor down the street is an excavator and I suppose I could ask him but would rather try to do it myself.

I live in WI and it freezes, but the sump pump doesn't run when it freezes because the water table has dropped by then. I would get it off the septic system this spring before it starts running much at least.

I ran a 4" underground PVC pipe to a pond about 40 feet away. Other options may work also, but I thought that is easy to work with. The beginning of the pipe by the house is a 4" standpipe then an elbow underground about a foot deep aiming toward the pond. I have it open on top and have the discharge to the pump aiming into that pipe, but not connecting to it. That way if the main pipe freezes somehow, the sump pump will just squirt on the ground, and that won't hurt anything.

I wouldn't hook a downspout to that because that could plug it up with leaves and garbage, but I would add another pipe along side if you decide to add one. Six inch corrugate poly with slits isn't that expensive for a couple hundred feet. A downspout may work in the same pipe, but I wouldn't hook it up directly because I have seen them freeze at the bottom of the downspout a number of times.

You have to maintain a pitch and unless you use a trencher of some sort it will be difficult, I dug mine with the loader but only went down a couple feet, but it was a big hole, and took awhile.

radioman · Feb 2, 2013

I installed a couple sump pumps pipes in NYS where frost line is 4 ft. All you really need is to get the vertical pipe to get the most height INSIDE the basement with a check valve at the pump. When you go high as possible, then elbow out of basement - whats really critical is that the pipe will ALWAYS be drained via gravity so where ever you end up routing the pipe to its always on a downslope. . Running water does not freeze and a empty pipe will not clog up with ice. Granted you might get a coating of ice in the pipe, but when water runs over ice, it melts it and take it away. It doesnt matter if it a ditch or a drywell.
Don't just dig a trench and bury the pipe. Dig it out so you can put a level on the pipe and always have the level off center of lines so its always draining from house.

mikehaugen · Feb 3, 2013

thanks for the replies guys, my frostline for building code is supposed to be 42" I believe. I really didn't want to to have to go that deep, so it is good that the ditch I want to use is slightly downhill and deep enough I can keep a pretty good slope the entire length. I will give it a try, and see what happens. I also like the idea of the the middle buster, or maybe even a potato plow. Also those are good points about the gutter downspouts, glad I asked I had never considered clogging, but then again- I don't have a lot of trees so I don't get a lot of leaves. Still better not though.

Tompet · Feb 3, 2013

radioman said:
I installed a couple sump pumps pipes in NYS where frost line is 4 ft. All you really need is to get the vertical pipe to get the most height INSIDE the basement with a check valve at the pump. When you go high as possible, then elbow out of basement - whats really critical is that the pipe will ALWAYS be drained via gravity so where ever you end up routing the pipe to its always on a downslope. . Running water does not freeze and a empty pipe will not clog up with ice. Granted you might get a coating of ice in the pipe, but when water runs over ice, it melts it and take it away. It doesnt matter if it a ditch or a drywell.
Don't just dig a trench and bury the pipe. Dig it out so you can put a level on the pipe and always have the level off center of lines so its always draining from house.

The outline by radioman is on the money. The line can about as shallow as necessary. The one thing I did differently is put a one way breather fitting (vacuum breaker) t'd off the 90 degree bend where the line exits the basement rather than a traditional check valve at the pump. That makes sure there is never standing water anywhere in the line.

radioman · Feb 3, 2013

with a breather - you will always get a gush of water back into the pit that is from elbow down and believe me, that is quite a bit of water coming back but not enough to trigger the pump again. I prefer the check valve, but if you have an unheated basement and it get really cold down there, then a breather would be better to keep the line clear .