I have 2 sump pumps - one pumps to another - need advice

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PRice

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I bought an older house that has a finished basement. There is a mechanical room in the basement with 2 sump pump basins, each with a pump, 5 feet from each other. Pump A is closer to the center of the house, pump B is near the basement wall.

Currently Pump A discharges into Pump B. Pump B discharges underground to the curb on my street (with no backflow valve). Interesting (and not great) setup!

Anyway, the pipe going from Pump A to Pump B is the cheap flexible hose and it split near the output on Pump A. That got me thinking that I need to read more about piping and make improvements.

A week later the float on Sump Pump A failed so the pump runs all the time. I unplugged the pump for now and simply plug it back in each night if the water is high. That got me thinking about replacement pumps. I'm not sure how old the pumps are.

Sump pump A is in a rectangular concrete hole that is 11"x 20". Sump B is in a 15" round basin.

I'd like to purchase a system with battery backup for power outages, but I'm not sure of the best setup.

Should I buy 2 battery backup pumps and keep the same setup as today (Pump A goes to Pump B)?

Or should both pumps discharge independently through the same outside pipe?

Any other advice or tips before I make a plan?
 

Smooky

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Cacher_Chick

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The battery backup units are independent of the primary pumps. A photo of what you have would be helpful, but I agree with smooky in that each pump should have it's own check valve and be piped to pump directly out.
There is nothing wrong with piping underground to the curb, as long as consideration is given to the likelyhood of freezing at your location.
 

PRice

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I am attaching images as requested of each sump, the floor with the corrugated pipe connecting each hole and the pipe out of the basement.
 

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  • PumpA.jpg
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  • PumpB.jpg
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Cacher_Chick

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I would plumb each pump with a check valve out to daylight using sched 40 pipe and fittings. I would question why the pumps are set so deep, as it is waste to pump away water that is not high enough to cause a problem.
 

PRice

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Good point. The rectangular sump drain has been dry for about 15 months. It only recently had water in it after a few wet weeks followed by a huge snowstorm.
 

Cacher_Chick

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Since "100 year" rains seem to be happening every few years, you should keep that in mind when upgrading your system. You don't want to compromise the capability of the system, but you can make it more reliable and economical to operate in the long term.
 

PRice

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I would really like to have a pipe in the ground between the 2 sumps so that I could use only one pump.

So it sounds like pumping both sumps outside is the way to go and of course use PVC to do it all. I can also look into raising the pumps a bit to reduce workload.

I'd also like to put better covers on the holes in the floor for safety but I'm not sure how to run rigid pipes through the covers while still allowing me to open them. Would I just use a rubber coupling above ground and disconnect it when I want to open the cover?

I think I can make covers out of 3/4 plywood and maybe anchor something to the floor to latch the tops down. I need some ideas here.
 

Reach4

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I can also look into raising the pumps a bit to reduce workload.
I would not raise your pumps. You could presumably raise the tether if you wanted to have the pumps not draw the water as low. I think pumping down to the level of bottom of the under-floor gravel is useful.
 

Cacher_Chick

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A sump pump should always be raised up off the bottom of a pit to help prevent it from sucking up any solids that make there way in. A concrete paver or bricks are commonly used to set the pump on. In the midwest, many houses have their basements dug down quite close to the water table and it is common for the sump pit to contain water much of the year. The water does not cause any problems unless the level is allowed to rise higher than the top of the footings or the lowest spot in the floor slab.

There are plastic covers available for standard preformed plastic basins. For other sizes, we have the local steel supplier cut covers to whatever size we need. If we provide them with a pattern, they will cut holes and make split covers to maintain easy access to the pit.

If you are up to it, you could saw cut the floor and connect the sump pits together. The main concern there is consideration of any other piping that might be under the floor.
 
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