Richtdow
New Member
Yesterday after a couple days of rain ending with a particularly heavy bout, my basement had a couple of inches of water in it from hydrostatic pressure. This happened once before two years ago under similar conditions. Since then I worked my surface drainage around the house (ground level gutters and a swale) and the basement had been bone dry until this weekend.
It was filling at a rate significantly less than 5 gpm as that was the rating of the pump I was using to empty the basement prior to troubleshooting the source. At best I could gauge the fill rate was in the ballpark of 15-20 gph.
I noticed that the water was coming in like a spring from small cracks around the foundation and plugged some up. However, I am thinking I need a sump system to catch the water next time the hydrostatic pressure builds up.
My questions:
1. Given that it will only run roughly once every two years based on previous experience, is a sump pit really the best option? If not, what?
2. How deep should a sump pit be in this situation? I have a hunch that if I go 30" deep I'll just be bringing in water from the ground and pumping it out. Normally this water doesn’t enter the basement anyway.
3. If I install a sump basin, can I put holes in only in about the upper ¼ in order to only capture significant soil saturation as it nears my basement floor?
4. What is the distance away from a sump pit that hydrostatic pressure is relieved? For example, the opposite wall where some leaking/seeping was occurring is about 15 ft away, will the sump pit alleviate this pressure?
5. I have sized the Wayne CDU790 as the most appropriate pump for my head and fill rate. Is this brand and model worth it? At the Wayne’s pump rate, is it too much?
6. What dimensions of a sump basin do you recommend for this application?
It was filling at a rate significantly less than 5 gpm as that was the rating of the pump I was using to empty the basement prior to troubleshooting the source. At best I could gauge the fill rate was in the ballpark of 15-20 gph.
I noticed that the water was coming in like a spring from small cracks around the foundation and plugged some up. However, I am thinking I need a sump system to catch the water next time the hydrostatic pressure builds up.
My questions:
1. Given that it will only run roughly once every two years based on previous experience, is a sump pit really the best option? If not, what?
2. How deep should a sump pit be in this situation? I have a hunch that if I go 30" deep I'll just be bringing in water from the ground and pumping it out. Normally this water doesn’t enter the basement anyway.
3. If I install a sump basin, can I put holes in only in about the upper ¼ in order to only capture significant soil saturation as it nears my basement floor?
4. What is the distance away from a sump pit that hydrostatic pressure is relieved? For example, the opposite wall where some leaking/seeping was occurring is about 15 ft away, will the sump pit alleviate this pressure?
5. I have sized the Wayne CDU790 as the most appropriate pump for my head and fill rate. Is this brand and model worth it? At the Wayne’s pump rate, is it too much?
6. What dimensions of a sump basin do you recommend for this application?