Sump Pump Runs Constant

vbreidenbach

Hello,

This is my first post.
We have lived in our house for almost 6 yrs. The house was built on a converted soybean farm. The 2 acre piece is extremely flat with a very high water table. My sump pump runs constantly even when we have a drought in the summer months, it does not skip a beat. My footer drains are tied into my sump pit and then pumped out.

My question is regarding putting in a an exterior pit in my yard that is deeper than my footer drains and have gravity drain the water to the outside pit and pump from there away from my house.

Is this common or should I live with the constant running of the interior sump pump?

I am not in the building trades so I am wondering why we take water from the outside of out house and bring it inside to pump back outside.

Any thoughts???

Ron6519

You don't really take the water in from the exterior, you just collect it and put it back out. When it gets pumped out, how far away from the house is it deposited?
I don't think that digging a hole outside will result in a solution, unless your going to excavate a very large pond.
Have you talked to a soil engineer about this? What type of soil strata do you have? How deep is the sand layer or do you even have one?
Is there a wetlands near you? Stream or river?
How close are there areas lower then where you are?
Ron

itsreallyconc

is it even possible to build a dry well below a watertable ? if the soil's that loose, how would you line the dry well so it,,,,,,,,,,,,,, nevermind, too much too early isn't good for me,,, just keep a replacement pump on hand,,, IF it were OUR home, i'd install zoeller's wtr-powered backup pump, too

water from the outside to the inside & back outside ? no idea but its done,,, you can install pumps OUTSIDE as the base of the foundation - that work is usually described as ' dewatering ' & involves wellpoints + more pumps,,, think of your home's bsmt as a ship's hull below the waterline,,, just my thoughts

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if you hear it from a guy in the apron store, be VERY suspicious the mtl/method will work,,, when it time to build something together, they won't answer phones NOR help
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Daniel Holzman

The main reason that pumps are placed inside the house is convenience of access, especially in the winter, and to prevent freezing. You do not indicate where you are from, so I don't know if freezing is an issue. If not, it is possible to put the pump pit outside.

Regardless of where you put the pump and pit, it is necessary to pump the water away from the house, and hopefully to a point where it will not return to the foundation. Typically this means pumping to a stream, to the storm drain system, or possibly to a point on your property far from the house. If this is not done, you get what is known as short circuiting, meaning you are pumping the water out, the water returns via groundwater flow to the pump, and you pump it again. Possibly this is your situation.

itsreallyconc

this is not the recycling we've come to know or love ?

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if you hear it from a guy in the apron store, be VERY suspicious the mtl/method will work,,, when it time to build something together, they won't answer phones NOR help
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jomama45

The first thing I would do is call a contractor who draintiles farm fields for a living. If you're in an agricultural area, they're certainly around, and can typically get your house on natural drainage, one way or another.

About 5 years ago, we had a new house in a very similar situation. The "tiler's" came in and ran draintile to the ditch, 1200' away, and the sump pump rarely, if ever, runs.