combine sump pump drain line with french drain?
I have a sump pump that pumps washing machine water and heat pump condensate to a dry well in the middle of my back yard. At least that is what I believe is the situation. There is a drain line from the sump pump directed to the an area with a roundish berm that is about 5' x 5' length and width and about 2' above grade at the top. There is concrete around this berm underneath the soil. I have not dug it out to investigate it completely since the berm itself has been landscaped and it would leave an ugly scar in backyard.
However, my objective is to remove this berm altogether so I have a backyard with a nice unobstructed grassy lawn. Also I would like to eliminate the moisture that tends to weep into my basement during heavy rains. Coincidentally, I might add that this moisture never even causes the sump pump the turn on. The water just pools a little in the corner about 5' from the sump basin and makes my basement walls damp in a few areas. The pump only turns on when the washing machine is dumping water into the sump basin. I plan on routing this washing machine water to the septic tank. The sump pump would barely run at all even during heavy rains without the washing machine water.
The first part of my question is: Can I redirect this sump line to the front yard? It would have to make at least two right angle turns to get there as well as be pumped up about 8' from the bottom of the basin. Total length of pipe about 40'. Also, while digging the trench to put in this drain line, could I add a french drain and somehow tie the two lines together to make one drain line going out to the front drainage ditch?
This would conceivably solve my minor moisture problem in the basement as well as allow me to remove the berm from the middle of my back yard with just one trench. The one issue that I can think of is only that I would be putting washing machine water to my septic tank that was not going there before. I am not too worried about that however, since it is probably better for the environment anyway to make this change.
Is this going to work? Does it sound like a reasonable thing to do or does anybody foresee any problems I might run into that I have not yet imagined?
Thanks!
