I recently bought a new house and was wondering if the sump pump draining into the main drain instead of on its own drain to outside the house is a problem? I have never had a sump pump before and was curious because we get a sewage smell inside our bathroom every once in awhile on the first floor and didn't know if maybe that would be why. Also, the water draining to the main drain is not exactly on a downward pitch(which I am going to correct soon). Thanks in advance for the advice.

Discharging a sump pump to a city sewer violates code. Discharging a sump pump to your own septic tank may over load it in wet weather when it can stand it the least. Getting it disconnected from the sewer may help the odor.

All you should have to do is pipe it outside on the ground. Make sure the ground slopes away from the house and best not towards your leach field if you have one. You might tie it into the down spout drains if you have any.

For the advice.

Ok, I am about to change the sump drain to go outside because it is a violation to code. I have found the pipe they must have used that drains out to the front of the house. My guess as to why they moved it to the sewer drain is the water was being a nuisance to their landscaping capabilities in the front of the house. Why they didn't drain out to the driveway, maybe someone else can answer that 'cause I don't know. I wanted to make sure there isn't anything different or special I needed to do other than just hook the pvc pipe to the pump that goes outside? The only thing different I am going to do is divert it to go out to the driveway where my downspout is. I've never hooked a sump pump up before so I wanted to make sure I knew for sure I was doing it correctly. Thanks

Not much special. Us as few elbows as possible, and maybe make them the longer drain elbows. The pump won't pass much solids, but no sense giving clogs a chance.

I already bought the elbows. It looks like 2 elbows. If I can run it straight through I will try but I don't think I can. Thanks again.

People are telling me running a drain to the outside will freeze in the winter. I live in the Northeast and we have pretty harsh winters. The area I live in has a high water table. Whenever there might be a thaw and then gets cold I will have this problem. Any suggestions?

As long as water is free to run out the end of the drain, the pipe should be empty except when the pump is running. As long as the water is running, it shouldn't freeze. That is the basis of leaving a trickle of water run in the coldest weather to prevent a water supply line from freezing over night when no water is running.

If the water runs onto your driveway, it could freeze there into a sheet of ice.

I didn't think of the running water part. I would have to think of a place to run it that it won't come back into my house. I already ran into that a couple weeks ago. Thanks for the thoughts, labman.

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Originally Posted by jduke44

I recently bought a new house and was wondering if the sump pump draining into the main drain instead of on its own drain to outside the house is a problem? I have never had a sump pump before and was curious because we get a sewage smell inside our bathroom every once in awhile on the first floor and didn't know if maybe that would be why. Also, the water draining to the main drain is not exactly on a downward pitch(which I am going to correct soon). Thanks in advance for the advice.

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How old is the house? If a sewage smell is in a first floor bathroom, it could be a broken vent pipe inside the wall which would allow sewage fumes to enter the wall cavity and get into your living area. In old homes the vents can rust through, usually at elbows where they are threaded (if it's an iron pipe). Once located you can generally repair them using a rubber boot and / or some PVC fittings and silicone caulk as long as there are no active fixtures using the same line above the break.

Shoot me an e-mail directly if you want and I'll see if I can help. [email protected]

Regarding your other pump, it may be just a sump pump for the house drain tiles but if you have a bathroom in the basement, it may also be an affluent (poop!) pump for the bathroom fixtures. If that is the case, there should be check valves and vents on the well where the pump is. Let me know and I'll see if I can help.

Best...

John

Hey John...

You just stumbled onto a thread from 2005... ;)

I hope the duke is all set by now...

Have a good day!