[MecGen]

Hello People

Well this is not a post about problems with my sump pump system, but actually a call out for info...I don't really know how it works. This weekend while doing some spring cleaning under the staircase, I gave my pump a test shot and to my surprise it was jammed . My sump system is requied by code, altho to my knowledge it has never ran in the 25 years that I lived here, I get water in the pit but never enough to push the float. Long story short, the pit was never cleaned out...ever, so it had some sediment in it, the pump was jammed with a piece of debris from a previous reno. I took advantage of the situation and gave everything a once over and a thorough cleaning. :thumbsup: The pedestal style pump is on its last leg anyways, its pretty rusted, I will swap it out for something new soon.
Inside my pit - I suspect that that down-turned spout pipe is the inlet from some sort of a interior french drain under my basements concrete slab. The strait pipe is the exit to drain (city run off). The pump is a safety that has the float adjusted just over the lever of the strait drain and is used (turned on) when the drain cannot handle the volume of water. The pump, pumps to the houses drain (cities sewer) or outside to some unknown spot under my lawn.
My question are :
How close is my above guess on how it works?:detective:
I live in the frozen north, should I install a check valve after the pump?
On the downspout, what is the canister looking thing? filter? I have the bolt soaking in penetrating oil now.
Why does the pumps discharge run up a wall for 8 feet, across 2 feet, then back down?.

I am lucky that everything seems to work and there is no problem except for my own curiosity. I hope I explained myself clearly. Can someone explain this to me Please ?:thumbup:

Thanx in advance

 

[AllanJ]

Normally all the fat pipes entering the sump pump chamber are the open ends dumping water from the French drain into the chamber. I don't know what that can like gizmo on the right fat pipe is. The pump should come on long before the horizontal portions of the fat pipes are submerged.

A check valve is used to keep the last two gallons or so of water in the pump outlet pipes from falling back down into the chamber after the pump is "finished" emptying out th4e water. IF the chamber is much larger then the check valve is less important because the amount of water falling back down would then be a smaller percentage of the water accumulated in the chamber when the pump starts up again. I suggest for new installations a chamber large enough to hold 20 gallons before the water laps over the bottom edge of a fat drain pipe.

The pump outlet should not discharge near the house. I don't know why the outlet pipe goes up and over and down and up again.

 

[MecGen]

Hi Allan
I understand the 4 inch pipes could be inlets but why does one have a turndown spout? It almost looks like a sediment pit that I have at my garage (at work). There was barely any sediment in there (25 years) and the water wasn't stail or stinky, making me believe there was some sort of water exchange happening, we had/have a wet spring early summer.

Thanx for the reply,

Regards

 

[WDR]

The down turned pipe is the outlet to the city sewr. The canister is a check valve to prevent the city sewer from backing up if there was a problem. You can unscrew the top to clean/service it. The other pipe is the french drain inlet.

 

[MecGen]

Ok
Any ideas where the pump discharge goes to? city sewer as well? why does it go up and back down? is it possible to keep a min amount of water in the tub...?

Thanx for posting

Regards

P.S. if the tub is emptied via a 4 inch pipe, why would I need a pump?
Sorry for all the questions

 

[WDR]

The discharge of the pump could go outside or to the sewer. The pump is there because if the water level in the city sewer is higher than the pit your basement will flood as the french drain water would have no ware to go. I have no idia about the loop in the pipe.

 

[MecGen]

Bumped for the weekend

Any more ideas?
Regards