No Dump Sump Pump
The water
table in our Townhome is a bit high. We
have a sump pump that kicks off several times a day even without rainy weather.
Just this
week, the association has spent money to improve the drainage in our back yard. They have dug a deep trench, laid pipe on gravel,
graded down to a large retaining and drainage system. They are doing a nice job. Personally I am not sure it will alleviate my
need for a basement sump pump, but the association determines how our dues are
spent, sort of a mini-government thing probably complete with studies and
kickbacks…
The trench
showed that under about 8 inches of soil is solid clay as deep as can be
seen. Wonder why we have drainage
issues.
Anyway, it
can’t hurt and should be some improvement.
They were
mostly finished by Sunday. Out of
curiosity, I manually kicked off my sump pump.
It drained the 8 gallon tank quickly.
I wanted to see how fast it would refill. Hours later the tank was half full, I kicked
the pump off again. It whirred and
whirred, but it was not drawing water out of the tank.
WTF?
Coincidence?,
or did it have something to do with the outside drainage work?
Now, late at
night, I had to manually bail out the tank so the thing would not overflow, and
I went to bed flustered just a bit.
Actually I was PISSED with a capital PISSED!
“Why can’t
people just leave well enough alone?”
“Relax,
check it in the morning” as Mrs. C sent an email to the association people.
“They
blocked the underground pipe from the sump…has to be.”
“Check it
in the morning.”
“But..”
“Check it
in the morning.”
In the
morning after about 15 minutes of restless PISSED OFF sleep, Mrs. C woke me up.
“I just
checked, the outside pipe from the sump is off kilter, must have been hit
during all that work. The drainage
people are outside.”
I went outside
to check the pipe. It was moved maybe an
inch from the pipe to the underground drain.
I moved it into place. Went down
into the basement, plugged in the pump and it kicked off like a charm.
The workers
confirmed that water went all the way to the catch basin.
Great, but WTF?
Apparently the
offset pipe to the outside was at an angle and partially blocked, this caused
an air bubble thing that is the same as plugging the pipe.
This air
bubble thing is just one reason why plumbers need a license. If you do not allow air release in the right
place your entire system will be a mess.
Plumbers are more than guys with
a wrench and an exposed crack, these guys know stuff.
A little
Google research and I learned that my pipe between the pump and the check valve
should have a quarter inch “weep” hole to also prevent an air bubble problem.
WTF?
What idiot
installed the pump without this recommended weep hole…oh wait, I did.
The pump now
works, the weep hole is drilled and I am going back to bed.
