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View Full Version : How to properly terminate a sump pump discharge line?


s2jmblev
Mar 31, 2010, 12:58 PM
Last summer I purchased a home that has a sump pump. The house is approximately 6 years old, on a 3 acre lot, and has well and septic systems. Apparently, the builder never terminated the sump pump discharge line. It just sticks out of the basement wall, about 2' above the ground in my backyard. The pump runs often during storms and occasionally on clear sunny days.

When I had a deck built at the end of last summer, the contractor had to dig a hole for the steps about 3' from the foundation, near the discharge line. He told me that ground in that area was extremely saturated. He was kind enough to purchase a 10' long piece of 4" corrugated drain pipe and slide it over the PVC discharge line. This drain pipe now resides under my deck and the water discharges about 6' from my foundation. There is a slight slope away from the foundation at this new discharge point. However, a mud pit is beginning to form at this new discharge location. Keep in mind that my deck extends 12' from my foundation, so that would be the furthest I could go with the pipe without having it be an eyesore in my backyard.

I actually have a few questions:

1. Is this 8' pipe sufficient enough so that none of the water is being "recycled" back into the sump pit?

2. Would it make sense to connect an additional slotted pipe to the current one, allowing the water can discharge over a wider area?

3. How should this have been dealt with in the first place, by the builder?

Jay

truck 41
Mar 31, 2010, 09:32 PM
If the sump pump is strictly for rain water, I would run the two inch pipe down into the ground and beary it a few inches below grade and run it away from the house to a planter or tree area, the pump should push the water a good distance on a horizontal, or sloap the pipe away from the house.

CHayn
Apr 1, 2010, 04:18 AM
If you live in an area where it gets cold in the winter months as I do you will need to have the ability to unhook a line going underground and run something above ground during the winter that can thaw out, I prefer rigid pvc. I replace lots of burned out pumps in the winter because people use a small diameter hose buried underground and it freezes.
You can also bury the 4" tile and after a 10' length of non perforated tile go to a perforated tile for 20 or 30'. Or use a dry well system. Lots of options

speedball1
Apr 1, 2010, 05:38 AM
I would take the line and bury it, below the frost line if you live up North, and run it out to a hone made dry well,(see image). Now your water can be dispersed of without all the muddy ground. Good luck, Tom