Here I sit in lovely Michigan. The water level in my new pond in the back yard is the highest I’ve ever seen in 30 years here. A quick question for the experts.

The sump/crock in my basement is on the north wall. Under the basement is a foot or so of gravel on the clay. A black 4” corrugated plastic tile/pipe runs around the perimeter of the foundation.
There is a walkout on the west wall and the land falls away in the west then creates a bowl. The East wall is a full wall that the porch and entry on the first floor at street level.

Anyway, a 4” tile drains the foundation into the west yard. There is so much water in the west yard behind the house that it is backing up the drain pipe into the house and dumping into the crock. So every minute and a half the sump pump starts up and pumps the water out, which then winds up back in the pond in an endless cycle. It is the lowest spot for a quarter mile.

The are two tiles going into the crock; the one at the east side barely drips at all, the one on the west side of the crock is the one that has water constantly pouring into the crock.

The question is... if I plug the west pipe from allowing
Water in, am I going to cause a bigger problem? There will still be the other end of the pipe to drain into the crock if necessary.

It’s a 6 month old Zoeller pump, but I don’t know how long it will last cycling on and off 20-30 times an hour.

If you make a “c” with your fingers and thumb, the opening is where the crock sits. At the top of the “C” is a T connector which usually drains water away from the house. With this much water, it is backing up into the crock

Advice, opinion would be appreciated. Thank you.

The switch is good for about 250,000 cycles which doesn't take long if it's constantly cycling. Get a LevelGuard electronic switch. Otherwise, if the water isn't backing up into your basement, don't worry about it.

The sump in our house on Lake Huron was cycling every minute and was keeping up with the inflow. Unfortunately, record lake level caused water to start coming into the opposite corner of the basement. We paid a small fortune to have a second pit and second drain around the inside perimeter of the footer put in.

You're not alone. Water tables all over Michigan have risen this year.

Don't block the pipe. The pump can take it. I recommend people get them looked at yearly, regardless of how often they run. If you only get this much water every 30 years or so, you're good. If you start getting lots more regularly, a second sump may be in order.

Your sump discharges above grade on the exterior of the home somewhere, right? These get piped in a variety of ways but you can always put a hose on the discharge and direct it somewhere else. If it's been very wet and the ground is full of water, yeah the sumps are just circulating the water, but as long as the basement itself is dry, they're doing what they should.

Check the documentation for your pump, it should have guidelines for lifespan, keep a rough tab on it. Also recommended is battery backup for sumps, if you don't already have one.

Sorry, I should have mentioned the 250,000 cycles for the switch comes from Zoeller. We have 5 Zoeller pumps. Two in each sump at the one house and one at another house. The second pump in each pit at the one house is a backup in case the first in each pit fails. We also have a third pump in each pit that is like a boat bilge pump and runs of 12 volts. Each of those is hooked to a 4D battery and an automatic charger. The 4Ds will run the pumps for 2-3 days at the current inflow rate if the power goes out.

At our current inflow and cycle times the switches were only good for 6 months which is why we started using the LevelGuard electronic switches on the lowest pump in each pit. They are rated for 10 times as many cycles.

My Zoeller was a 1983 and I replaced it several years ago because it was badly rusted but still working.

Is your west pipe solid or perforated? I assume it is perforated so you could plug it to lessen the water inflow.

I would be concerned about a backup pump just in case.

Thanks men, I’m getting some good info. Let me ask you this. I have a single pump in the crock. How do I put a second pump in the same crock? Do I have to build a stand or platform to place it on top of the original pump? I can then just put in a connector and use the same discharge pipe, right? Yes the ground is really saturated around here.

I want to head down south for a few weeks or months. I can’t just walk away from this. My neighbor said he can stop by every couple days. Um, no. If that pump dies that crock will over flow in an hour or less.

quote:

Originally posted by greco:
Thanks men, I’m getting some good info. Let me ask you this. I have a single pump in the crock. How do I put a second pump in the same crock? Do I have to build a stand or platform to place it on top of the original pump? I can then just put in a connector and use the same discharge pipe, right? Yes the ground is really saturated around here.

I want to head down south for a few weeks or months. I can’t just walk away from this. My neighbor said he can stop by every couple days. Um, no. If that pump dies that crock will over flow in an hour or less.

You can build a stand so the second pump is higher. If you use the same discharge pipe, you need a check valve on both pumps so the water doesn’t back flow.

Even if there is only one pump, there should be a backflow preventer. They are required here, highly recommend one if there isnt one.

As folks have noted, always put a check valve in a sump pump discharge pipe. If more than one pump then each pump should have a check valve in its discharge prior to connecting to any manifold. It's cheap insurance, especialy if the piping is all PVC (usually 1-1/2" or 2" for sump pumps) as a plastic check valve is inexpensive. Not to be confused with a backflow preventer, which is a common term for a device installed on domestic and fire water service piping (even though the check valves are indeed preventing backflow). Sorry Arc, 35 years in the trade, can't help myself.

If you add a backup pump above the first pump, make certain there is room for the pump controls (on both pumps) to operate properly. Some people use pumps that operate off water lines (the pressure in the water line operated the pump). This will have implications with Code as it represents a cross connection (domestic water to sewer) and your local authority may require a backflow prevention device on your water service.

I use a pedestal pump on top of the regular one as a backup set to go on at a higher level. This covers everything except a power outage. I have a Generac whole house generator to take care of that issue.

I would recommend getting a second pump installed.

Darn pumps usually fail when you need them.

If you don't have a generator on the house, consider a battery backed up pump.

Do you have a home alarm system?

If so I would suggest a high water signal contact tied to the alarm system.

Yep, I have always had a check valve. I have to figure a way to hook up a levelguard switch to this zoeller 53. I don’t really want to break the seal to get to the internal wiring.

quote:

Originally posted by greco:
Yep, I have always had a check valve. I have to figure a way to hook up a levelguard switch to this zoeller 53. I don’t really want to break the seal to get to the internal wiring.

You can do it on the external wiring. But, use heatshrink butt connectors and heat shrink them. Most external float switches, you just cut the hot wire (line) and install the float switch in between (on 120V). Or better to get a pump with a built in float switch for the backup, pump.

You need a check valve on EACH pump, prior to each one connecting to the main discharge pipe......otherwise the lower pump will pump and it will just leak back into the sump from the higher pump.

quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:
As folks have noted, always put a check valve in a sump pump discharge pipe. If more than one pump then each pump should have a check valve in its discharge prior to connecting to any manifold. It's cheap insurance, especialy if the piping is all PVC (usually 1-1/2" or 2" for sump pumps) as a plastic check valve is inexpensive. Not to be confused with a backflow preventer, which is a common term for a device installed on domestic and fire water service piping (even though the check valves are indeed preventing backflow). Sorry Arc, 35 years in the trade, can't help myself.

I know how to do it right, from experience. As long as the job is done right, what it is called matters little. I'm a contractor, and as long as my subs know what they are doing, they can call it Macaroni.