What to do with leaking hillside?

[CliffordK]

Do you have year-around flow?
Year-around rain (you may choose to also capture roof water)?

Here we get wet winters, and dry summers, so I think my spring will provide year-around flow, and while I could capture rain water, it would need a big tank to hold enough rain water for 3 or 4 months of use without replenishment. At the same time, my spring should give me somewhere around 100,000 gallons during the summer.

Here is the thread about my spring.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/279501-developing-small-spring.html

I'm still working on it some. I just let excess flow go downhill (where it would have gone anyway). My pump is on page 3 of the post. I'm setting it up with 12V, which I'm planning to convert to solar later, but 110V pumps are also very common.

My calculations are that at about 1GPM, one gets just under 1500 gallons a day, so a 1500 gallon storage tank is a good size, buffering about 1 day worth of pumping. I'd rather have even a slightly larger tank.

Right now, I'm only running the pump a few hours a day, but my ultimate goal is to run it 24 hrs a day. I have a float switch on the collection basin, but not at the barrel/tank at the top of the hill. My plan is to connect an overflow to a hose to water trees & etc with any "excess" water, thus, I should be able to design the system to allow pumping 100% of the water uphill, without regulating it at the storage tank. At least in theory. And, if I go with solar, the energy will be free.

One of the issues with a "remote float" is that wiring would become much more complex. You could just put the two float switches in series (with the lower one set for on when full, and the upper one set for on when empty). However, that would mean that both float switches would require full volts/amps. And all the wire in between too. For a 12V system, that becomes a problem with resistance and voltage drop. So, one may need a relay system. With a single float, that is no longer an issue. Plus, my goal is to use the water.

 

[Tkblacktail]

I would like to have this "problem". I'm cutting into E30 above my coast range house and while I do not have visible water, I have muck that must be seeping under my home and working its way into the crawl space in the form of vapor. Crawl space is covered with 6 mil black plastic. I'm below the stem-wall with the cut and I hope the drain and wall I'm installing will turn the moisture to the sides of my home.

The E30 was against our house when we bought it in 2001; I've been gnawing on it all these years, I bought my tractor a couple weeks ago and wammo, I have 120" of distance.

Our well is situated below our home; how nice it would be to have running water above our house for a gravity feed system....

 

[kevin37b]

Dig on the opposite side and see if that relieves some pressure .

 

[extrakt0r]

Anyone worked with Wayne pumps before? Thinking of using this one... Wayne Energy Efficient Submersible Stainless Steel/Cast Iron Sump Pump — 4600 GPH, 22ft. Max Total Head, Model# EE980 | Sump Pumps| Northern Tool + Equipment

 

[aczlan]

Anyone worked with Wayne pumps before? Thinking of using this one... Wayne Energy Efficient Submersible Stainless Steel/Cast Iron Sump Pump — 4600 GPH, 22ft. Max Total Head, Model# EE980 | Sump Pumps| Northern Tool + Equipment

That will only lift the water 22 vertical feet, so watch out for that.

Aaron Z

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Doesn't look like you have a high volume flow. I'd go with a french drain over perf pipe leading to a collection tank, and then use a small solar powered pump to an uphill storage tank so you have a gravity feed/pressure system to water your lawn and garden with. Spread it/spray it over enough surface and you might be able to evaporate all of it, at least during the summer. I think you're still going to have to route the excess into your normal surface runoff.

 

[CliffordK]

That will only lift the water 22 vertical feet, so watch out for that.

Aaron Z

Yep,

Perhaps I should have looked at the sump pumps a little more.

Beware of low pressure & "head rating", as well as pumps that advertise a high systemic pressure, but low head rating.

For many pumps, the flow and pressure/head are inversely related, so you get zero flow at the maximum pressure. They should include a pressure/flow graph, but it isn't always provided.

I went with this pump for my 12V DC system.
NorthStar NSQ Series 12V On-Demand Diaphragm Pump 2.2 GPM @ 70 PSI | Sprayer Pumps| Northern Tool + Equipment, then have a remote foot with an anti-backflow valve that I picked up from the local building supply store, as well as a free floating ball switch (See discussion in the thread). This keeps the pump dry, but perhaps a sump pump would have been much simpler.

Water weighs about 0.43 lbs per vertical foot. So, if you are doing about 50 feet of rise, you would only need about 25 PSI, except that you also need to have FLOW, so a bit higher rating is needed.

Most submersible well pumps are designed to be long and skinny, which could be awkward for your collection system, but they certainly are designed for high pressure, and I suppose to survive silt and other adverse conditions.

There are, of course, many shallow water (and creek) well pumps.

 

[Gator6x4]

If mine I would dig out in the area of the spring. Install a large diameter section of concrete pipe or tile. I would then slope or create a drainage ditch and line it with Rickrack. (No French Drain)This would give you a flowing water source to incorporate into your landscape. The storage head could then be used to supply water for your garden or lawn irrigation. Once you have the large tile installed with an outlet you can accurately measure the gallons per minute the spring is outputting. It looks substantial from the posted photos and something that would rapidly fill a fifteen hundred gallon storage tank.

 

[fishnnut]

Dig a ditch around your house and make a moat! HAHA!

 

[EddieWalker]

For a long term, permanent solution, I would avoid anything mechanical unless that was the last option possible. I'm also very hesitant on French drains. They work great when they first go in, but depending on the soil and amount of rains you get, they only last so long. You might get ten years or more out of it, or you might get half of that.

Open trenches are always the best way to remove water. Wide with a gradual slope and edges for maintaining them works the best and they last forever.

From what I can tell in the pictures, the entire hillside is leaking. Catching all that and moving it away from your house so the ground can dry up will be very involved, expensive and probably temporary.

Have you considered working with the water and creating a creek type setting in your landscaping? There are quite a few plants that you can choose from for the hillside that will hold it together and thrive on all that water. Once landscaped, it will become an asset that you will be able to enjoy as it matures and fills in. Something that will not require redoing or an ongoing electric bill.

Congratulations on a beautiful house in an amazing setting!!!

Eddie