Sump Pump - How to deep to bury pipe and other questions

[John Smith]

I have a sump pump installed in my house that was setup wrong by the previous owner that drained into a utility sink. I have it piped outside the house now and want to bury the 1.5" pvc drain pipe I ran about 50 feet. My question is how deep do I need to trench and do I need to follow any rule about for every so many feet it must drop like a regular house drain line?

I am just outside DC and we do get freezing temps but I don't know what the frostline is for this area as far as the ground is concerned. I am planning to have the line terminate at the curb which will maybe be 3 or 4 inches underground. I am going to call miss utility to come out and mark everything before I start digging.

Anyone been through this?

 

[AJP]

In Toronto area .. sump pipe exits through basement wall about 18 inches below grade and ends up at the drainage ditch approximately 60 ft away about 6-8 inches below grade. The lawn has very small slope to the ditch. I believe it is a 2 inch pvc pipe and no problems with freezing. Bigger problem is the Weeping Willows roots that travel at least 40 feet to clog the sump pit

 

[John Smith]

In Toronto area .. sump pipe exits through basement wall about 18 inches below grade and ends up at the drainage ditch approximately 60 ft away about 6-8 inches below grade. The lawn has very small slope to the ditch. I believe it is a 2 inch pvc pipe and no problems with freezing. Bigger problem is the Weeping Willows roots that travel at least 40 feet to clog the sump pit

18 inches below grade! I can't believe I will have to go that deep in my region, at least I sure hope not. I don't have any willow trees nearby. Around here people just have it drain on the street at the curb, which is where I am planning to terminate mine. Thanks for the info.

Anyone further South have anything?

 

[Weedhopper]

Pitch the pipe so that it flows DOWNHILL

In other words do not leave high spots that can collect water that will sit and freeze. If the pipe is empty there is no water to freeze.

Ours is about 24" down... still above the frost line here, and it is about 6" deep at the end. Nary a problem.

The warmth of the water actually melts the snow faster than normal in the winter and we get a green strip of grass where the pipe is.

 

[bkfj40]

Dear John,

As long as you have slope to it, I wouldn't be too concerned about achieving frost depth with it. The main thing you would want is to have atleast 1/8" per foot to the curb. From what I remember though, I don't know if you'll be able get that slope and still hit the curb at your house. Pitch it downhill like Weedhopper suggested and you should be fine....do you have enough fall between your house and the curb?

One last thing is to rember to put a check valve in just up from the sump pump, otherwise all the water in the vertical section of the pipe will flow back.

bk

 

[Weedhopper]

Dear John, ;p

One last thing is to rember to put a check valve in just up from the sump pump, otherwise all the water in the vertical section of the pipe will flow back.



Yep, I fergot about that...

 

[John Smith]

Dear John,

As long as you have slope to it, I wouldn't be too concerned about achieving frost depth with it. The main thing you would want is to have atleast 1/8" per foot to the curb. From what I remember though, I don't know if you'll be able get that slope and still hit the curb at your house. Pitch it downhill like Weedhopper suggested and you should be fine....do you have enough fall between your house and the curb?

One last thing is to rember to put a check valve in just up from the sump pump, otherwise all the water in the vertical section of the pipe will flow back.

bk

You have a good memory. I don't think I do have enough fall. Unless I exit the pipe from the house above grade then bury it further down I won't be able to maintain enough pitch to hit the curb. I do have a check valve a few inches after the pump. I was not real excited to knock a hold in the side of the house below grade anyway. My power service used to come in below grade and during heavy rain it leaked. Yeah water and electricity is a bad mix . Resolved that when I upgraded to 200amp service and put the service hole well above grade. Living on top of a spring sucks. I think I know why the PO had it dumping into the utility sink now.

I guess I could always run the output to a fountain or water feature at the front of the house. LOL

Brian are you going to make it to the 4Runner Jambo next weekend at Rausch or CMCC this year?

 

[Thornton]

Mine is just a couple inches below grade and at on point you can see the top of the pipe showing. The flattest run is 1/8" per foot. Then it hits a nice downhill run where it empties out at the tree line. Haven't had any problems with freezing. It's been this way for about 8 yrs.

 

[Bogo]

Use the black plastic water pipe that is 1-1/4" or larger. It can handle freezing. Also it can handle some abuse. We think nothing of running it across the surface in pastures with cattle stepping on it. We also drive over it with pickups and tractors.

It is vital that the outside portion drains freely. If you do get an ice plug it can be a real pain trying to thaw it. An advantage of the black plastic pipe is it expands a bit under pressure. This allows some water to flow past and melt the ice plug. For this to happen you would need a strong sump pump.

 

[EdsCruisin]

Your frost line is still more than 24" down in DC. But as they said, if the line is angled appropriately, it will drain ok after the pump cycle. The deeper you bury the better. I had one freeze and it caused all sorts of problems inside.

 

[Cruiser804]

LOL John we should have done a tech day on sump pumps and drainage. The PO of my house had the water draining into a sewage line. When I had the basement finished I found out why. Wow a swamp in my backyard.

I now have all the down spouts in my backyard and my sump running into 3" corrugated pipe and exiting near my neighbors yard via a pop up. I told him I would run it through his yard to the storm drain, took a year and a couple of inches of standing water to convince him. So will be working on that this weekend.

He has a good slope. I think we'll use 4" pipe. Then I am going add a drain at a low spot and connect it to the main drain pipe.

I still need to get under the deck and run new pipe there. I am pretty sure the deck builder damaged it and now I am recycling water .

Ahh, the joys of home ownership.