I got a sump basin put in my front yard with drain tile and rain leaders feeding into it. The drain feeding to the city is several feet above. I want to understand how exactly this system works.
the rain leaders and drain tile feed by gravity into the basin. Then what? do I simply place a sump pump into the basin to draw water up to the pipe leading to the street? how is the sump powered?
Thanks for any responses
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Replies
Who put it there? Seems like you should be asking them.
Are you sure it's not a drywell? Leaders drain into a drywell, then the water is absorbed into the earth.
Around these part putting drain off into the sewer drain (assuming that is what you are referring to) gets you in trouble.
Putting it into the storm drain system requires a permit.
Eric
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
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The guy who did my excavation, drain tile and back fill put it there. All the water in the subdivision is run to the storm drains. it is all by permit as well as inspected. we get too much rain where I live to consider dry wells in most cases. ( they would end up being a wet well not a dry well...lol)
lets just say that I've got some issues with the installer and leave it at that.
it might just be a gravity system with no pump..
the inlets from the gutter leaders are below the outlet... but you still might get flow if the leaders themselves are above the storm sewer outlet... it could even be a siphon sytem
but without a diagram or seeing it.. who knows
if it's a pump system, then obviously you need power..
a conduit from your basement would be called forMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
And who inspected the install being that as you stated it is done by permit?
lets just say that I've got some issues with the installer and leave it at that.
Sounds like you may need a pump. Get a good excavator septic guy or engineer to look at it.
EricIt's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
[email protected]
"And who inspected the install being that as you stated it is done by permit?"
The city did.
If you did not see the entire install, you may have a siphon type sump - worked on a few of these back in the 80s. .
If not familiar with them, here is how they work. Highest water mark in basin is above low water mark in storm drain and above the high point of the siphon ( but well below high water mark in storm drain). So, when the storm drain is at capacity, the basin can only drain into adjacent soil.. If the basin is full and the storm drain level drops, the siphon is full and then the basin drains into the storm drain - all by siphon action, no power needed.
Ask the city if this is what was installed.
edit The drain feeding to the city is several feet above. If the 'above' portion is an open pipe, they are doing what the storm ponds here in King Co (Seattle area) do. Simply let water accumulate in ponds unless the ponds get too high, then only what would other wise overflow gets ducted to the nearest river. Can take a pix of some local ones if I remember to carry camera on next walk with grandkids - theylike to throw the road gravel into the ponds.
Edited 11/1/2005 10:06 pm ET by junkhound
Edited 11/1/2005 10:07 pm ET by junkhound
OK that is making some sense, because one of the lots on my street has been reserved as a retaining pond. the outlet is an open pipe as you described. I guess I just need to put the right pump in there to pump the water up to that height.
correct me if im wrong: once the water fills up above the inlet drains, water pressure will not allow anymore water into the basin....true? therefore, need for the pump to reduce water level.
P.S. I'm in the Vancouver (BC) area and spent many childhood summers in Seattle (Ballard) at my grandparents. you and I both know about rain.
sump pumps have a float valve, when the water gets 'this' high the pump turns on and pumps water until the level drops enough to turn the pump off again. the pump outflow is supposed to run to the storm drain and where I live (Bay Area, Ca.) this will be generally be a 1.5" ABS pipe for a professional installation or a garden hose for a DIY job.
The other way to do this is to have all your drain lines run into a sump and then simply have the water leach out the bottom of the sump. I live in clay country so I've never actually seen one and I'm a little skeptical about how well they'd work. NDS, who makes a lot of the drain pipe and fittings has good info on how your drain system (but not the sump pump) was supposed to be built. You can find their info here:
http://www.ndspro.com/technical_info/index.aspx