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Yet another sump pump / pit question

2K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  SeanFlynn 
#1 · (Edited)
I registered today and did a fair amount of searching before asking my question. I didn't seem to find my exact problem.

We have lived in this house for almost 10 years now. For the first 8 years our sump pit sat completely dry except during heavy rains. After a heavy rain, the sump would kick the water out as it should and after a few days the pit water level would go down and eventually disappear.

We have a tile that feeds into the pit. During the first 8 years when it would rain hard, we would get water coming in from the tile. All of this is behavior I would expect.

About 2 years go we noticed that our water level was sitting right at the level of the tile. It would never go above, never below. I figured the water table had changed (if that is possible) and readjusted the float on the sump accordingly.

The problem now, is that when we get a heavy rain, the water never goes above this level to kick the sump on, and we get water in the basement around the foundation on one corner of the house. If I expect a heavy rain, I turn the sump on and it runs non-stop but it usually keeps the water from entering the basement.

All of this may be unrelated, but it seems to work.

Last night we got water again and I noticed something that I hadn't noticed before. The pit always fills up very quickly. But it's not coming form the tile. It is coming in from the roughed-in hole that the tile runs through.

When the water level is high and the pump is not running, water will come up to the bottom of the roughed-in hole for the tile and stop. I can see water movement and it appears that more water is running in, not out, but the level never goes above that line.

This never changes, dry or wet weather. These symptoms were still the same earlier this summer when we went almost 3 weeks without a drop of rain.

As fast as the pit fills up with water (usually less than a minute and it's about 4" from the top) I would assume that I have some kind of leak somewhere. Our water bills have never gone up and I don't see the meter going crazy, so I would assume that if it's a leak it is somewhere before the main to the house.

Any other suggestions of things I should try? If I call a plumber, what should I ask them as far as type of equipment they have on hand to do the testing I need? If it's not a problem with my stuff, do I call the city?

Looking for suggestions. Thank you very much for your help.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention that I think is odd. When the water level is high and the pump first kicks on, the water coming in from the hole is faster and it slows to a trickle as the water level goes down. When the pump kicks off and water starts to fill back up, the water from the hole increases as the water gets higher.
 
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