Bought a 30 yr old house that has a sump pump in the basement. I don't know what all exactly drains to the sump but I'm thinking maybe the gutters drain to the sump by way of the french drains (PVC pipes coming out of the ground @ grade to accept gutter discharge). During a hard rain our 1/2 hp sump pump has to operate every 6 seconds. We have a 17" sump and I calculated roughly 23 gpm of water entering the sump during the last rain. The sump pump discharge pipe goes to a storm sewer in my neighbors yard. During a heavy rain, this area will flood putting the discharge pipe under water and making the sump pump work even harder. Our sump pump is rated at 68 gpm @ 10' head. During the last rain, I calculated that the sump pump flowrate is only 33 gpm (probably mainly due to the flooding around the discharge pipe).

Is it natural to have this much water entering the sump? Is my system setup typical? I do have a battery backup pump.

Thanks

During a heavy rain, this area will flood putting the discharge pipe under wate The very first thing I would do is would be tom install a check valve on the sump discharge line. Next I would trace the french drains to see if instead of dischanging into the sump pit it could be directed elsewhere. You
Re correct! You're overloading the system and most of the rainwater runoff can be directed elsewhere. Say into a "do it yourself dry well" (see image) Good luck, Tom

It would be very rare for gutters to drain into a sump pump in the basement. Makes no sense to me at all. Why take water that's is already outside, bring it inside only to pump it back outside. Nearly all sumps that pump outside are pumping foundation water that is trying to seep into your basement. You may have a high water table or just poor grading, only one of these can be fixed so try regarding. You also should try to direct your sump discharge to an area that is not under water.

Tom, I do have a check valve installed in the discharge line and have verified that it works. I'm not sure how to trace the french drains, the water enters the sump via slits in the side. I like the idea of that drain well, I'll have to verify if the gutters in fact do drain to the sump.

Ballenger, I don't have many options for discharge of the sump unfortunately. Regrading is probably the best solution but not possible for me right now.

Thanks for the info guys!