I need help deciding to put a sump pit or not

[DIYplumber]

I have smashed a hole in my basement slab to work to ad some basement bathroom plumbing. Then I saw that a little over 2 ft down, inside the clay I hit the water table. I thought, oh great place to put a sump pit and pump for those once a year my slab looked kind of damp, and maybe a passive radon vent hooked to the pit, . I don't want to cause problem trying to fix this though.

The house has permitter drains and and I think drains hooked up the the gutter that go to the city storm sewer by way of an unreported gravity connection. It seems to work great most times but is getting old. Only once has there been only a tiny bit of water in the basement from regular situation. (once had a overland water event) I have been here four years. The fact that I saw some dampness tiny puddle makes me think I could use a backup system.

So as I have this hole in the floor already for pluming, I thought of dropping a 5 gallon bucket down there. There is a bit of crushed rock layer under the slab and then clay. As I had to dig under the sewer main, I found hard clay, once I dug a bit down I guess I found the water table. I noticed durning heavy rains the water came up to the top of the sanitary 4" pipes level. I notice if I suck the water out of this new pit it will Come back over about 20min - 1/2 hr.

Maybe I don't know what I am doing here.. I guess you can't be sucking the water table down with a small sump pit right ? so maybe there is no point of me putting one, or maybe if I put a small shallow one it will only kick on when the water table is up near the bottom of the slab ? or is there any point ? could this actually make a place for water to Come in the basement. ?

Also if I was to drop a 5 gallon bucket, and it was only a few inches from these pipes, will that maybe make a bad erosion spot ? I was thinking of only putting holes in the bucket around the level of gravel rock layer just below the cement slab, than making a screw down lid to host a air pipe chimney to pump the radon outside (I have slightly elevated levels in the basement) and also put some pipe to a sump pump so that way when the water comes up to just before the slap I start pumping it outside, or also if the permitter storm sewer system gets plugged I have something trying to compete..

I don't want to do more harm than good or just get my house addicted to an electric pump so to speak, maybe even freak out my insurance or something.

Any tips. ?

 

[Reach4]

Maybe I don't know what I am doing here.. I guess you can't be sucking the water table down with a small sump pit right ? so maybe there is no point of me putting one, or maybe if I put a small shallow one it will only kick on when the water table is up near the bottom of the slab ? or is there any point ? could this actually make a place for water to Come in the basement. ?

I would encourage a deeper sump, but keep the holes in the sump up high. That keeps you from trying to suck down the water table, but allows water to accumulate to be pumped out by the sump pump. With a shallow sump, you might run every 20 seconds. I would surround the bucket, particularly the holes, with pea gravel. There should be gravel under the concrete floor, and your new gravel will meet that. Then mortar the pit into place.

The holes can be drilled once the sump is in place. 3/16 holes are a good size.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[DIYplumber]

I would encourage a deeper sump, but keep the holes in the sump up high. That keeps you from trying to suck down the water table, but allows water to accumulate to be pumped out by the sump pump. With a shallow sump, you might run every 20 seconds. I would surround the bucket, particularly the holes, with pea gravel. There should be gravel under the concrete floor, and your new gravel will meet that. Then mortar the pit into place.

The holes can be drilled once the sump is in place. 3/16 holes are a good size.

Thank for the reply and encouragement ! Do you have any idea would be the min depth you would suggest for a 5 gallon bucket ? Maybe attaching two buckets to themselves would give me a bit extra, bottom cut off one and not the other ?

Do you see any interface with the plumbing that you see in the pictures ? It seems like it would kill two birds in one stone as the floor drain (not shown) would be there to the sanitary for backup as well as all the other conditions are great like location in basement and property for discharge. I am thinking it should cause to big a problem really.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

Don't bury a 5 gallon bucket.. Buy a proper sump with a lid that has space to hold the pump and a large volume of water as described by reach4. Don't pump the water into the sanitary if there is a storm water system available. Especially do not connect the pump upstream of that backwater valve.