My basement has three floor drains that feed into the sump system. The two floor drains closest to the pit have standing water in them about 12 inches below surface of the concrete floor. (Both drains approximately 15-20 feet from pit). The third floor drain, which is around 45 feet away from the pit has standing water in the pipe only 8 inches below the concrete. The discharge pipe into the sump pit itself is a full 20 inches below the floor.

Does this indicate that the drain lines under the floor have a blockage due to soil build-up in the PVC pipes or for some other reason? If I am supposed to see standing water in the drain pipes, shouldn't it be at the same level as the discharge pipe? Do I just need to have the drain pipes snaked out? I have a constant trickle of water into my pit (pump typically runs every 15 minutes) - wouldn't removing any blockage improve the entire sump system's ability to remove ground water from around my house? Is there some other explanation as to why there is standing water at all in the drain pipes?

Thanks,
Dave S

Sounds to me like the drains have P traps in them to prevent gasses from coming back in your house. (like they are supposed to) I'm assuming they drain OK.

They would pitch from the furthest drain down to the pit, so the higher level makes perfect sense to me.

Hope this helps,
Stew

I thought they might have traps at first, but why would they? The sump system is not connected to the sewer system, so what gases are there that require traps? Also, the other end of the pipe system discharges into the sump pit and is completely open to the air, so wouldn't any gases be escaping that end of the system (if there were any)?

I'm not a plumbing code wiz - there are liekly requirements for traps. Maybe Tom (speedball1) can help us here.

I think the sump would tend to get a little dank, moldy, and depending on what else might be in there, smelly.

I think there are traps in there, particularly with the description you've given.

Rgds,
Stew