what is this pipe bringing water into my sump pump pit?
In the basement of my house upstate there is a pipe bringing what looks like clean, fresh water into the sump pit. it was not running all summer but now that it has rained a lot it is constantly running and the pump is doing a fine job of removing the water. it has been a constant flow for over a week now with the pump turning on every 30-60 seconds to remove the water that gets added. the house has a well and there is a small drainage ditch that is behind the house but this weekend that was dry. Is it possible that there is some sort of low lying aquifer that is being drained into my basement? I am so confused, anyone have experience with this sort of thing? I tried to take photos of it but it is a hard thing to photograph. [Screen Shot 2022-10-31 at 2](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:AvwF:screenshot20221031at2.28.57pm.png.jpg) [Screen Shot 2022-10-31 at 2](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:3xJE:screenshot20221031at2.28.32pm.png.jpg) [Screen Shot 2022-10-31 at 2](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:57vu:screenshot20221031at2.28.17pm.png.jpg)

randolph
in General Discussion 2 years and 9 months ago
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justinromeu26 | 2 years and 9 months ago
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Thank you randolph.

randolph | 2 years and 9 months ago
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sorry for your loss.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 9 months ago
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About one hour after i wrote that, i got a call. She passed away. Funeral is tomorrow.

randolph | 2 years and 9 months ago
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why?

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 9 months ago
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Randolph, you were supposed to ask why she no longer has to worry about her sump pump.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 9 months ago
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Randolph, did you read what i said about my aunt’s pump and vegetation. You won’t believe it. She no longer has to worry about her sump pump.

randolph | 2 years and 9 months ago
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I spoke to the neighbor who knew the previous owner and is familiar with the history of the house – she confirmed this is normal for the house, it is built over a spring. case closed.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 9 months ago
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What nycsport said. The house is probably on a spring and they put a gravel bed under the floor to catch and direct the water to the sump.
We used to go in a cave on a mountain in dutchess county. I think it was called indian dome cave. It always had water running in it. That water runs down through the earth and if you dig a hole in the right place, you will find it. Your house is in that sort of spot, me thinks. Sometimes this emerges as a spring at the base of a hill. There was a spring like this on route 25 in cold spring harbor on long island. There was a pipe coming out of the base of the hill and when i was a kid people used to drive up and fill milk containers with water to drink. Some time in the 1990s the municipality plugged that spring up because they felt it was unsafe. You can see this sort of water seeping out of rock faces on the sides of mountains.

randolph | 2 years and 9 months ago
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there are 2 pumps in the basement, one in the pit and one on the floor for when the pit overflows. so far i have not seen that happen, but there is a water line around the basement walls so it has happened in the past. and as you say i need to get these on some sort of backup system for when the power is out.
i am still confused about the source of the water coming out of this pipe. i might try shutting off the well pump just to make sure that it is not coming from some leak associated with the well pipe. if the water keeps flowing I guess it is safe to assume there is a spring under or around the house that is draining into this pipe and there is nothing to worry about as long as the pumps are doing their jobs.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 9 months ago
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My mom’s boiler is in her basement on the very south shore of long island. The basement floods during storms like sandy. She has one pump which is served by a back up generator. There is another pump served by battery back up. The pumps are set so one is the primary pump and the battery back up is secondary. The secondary pump kicks in anyway if the primary pump is overwhelmed but is also there in case the primary fails completely.
In a building where i once worked, they had two pumps. One was back up and set to go on later, when the water got higher. But there was a switch between them so they would alternate between each other so one did not wear excessively. These were not self containted pumps like little giant but larger units with motors that could detatch from the shafts and impellers.
Watch for vegetation growth in the sump. My aunt’s sump would get vegetation in it. This past year the vegetation clogged the pump, flooding the basement.
Steve
Brownstonehomeinspection.com

randolph | 2 years and 9 months ago
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My house is at the bottom of the mountain, so it is very possible that all the water running downhill forms a spring and that drains out this way?
My dad is convinced that my well is overflowing, but I don’t see how that would cause all the water to come out in one place.
My biggest concern is that if the power were to go out and the sump pump stopped pumping my basement is going to fill with a lot of water. I need to get a battery backup system for it ASAP.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 9 months ago
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In regions where there are hills, water will flow underground and then emerge as a spring, often at the edge of a hill or some lower lying area near by. Perhaps this house is built into that sort of situation and when they laid the basement slab they knew there would be a problem so the incorporated a french drain into it as nyc sport suggests.
Randolph, are there hills nearby?

nyc_sport | 2 years and 9 months ago
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Likely french drains. But no idea why it would be flowing water without rain