ExiledInIllinois

Blame the Kennedy family many moons ago for starting moving away from what Rosemond is saying. My mother in law... Well into her 80s has been mailing us Rosemond's articles for years.

He is seeing a dentist. Teef is a dentist. Ain't the internet great The only bad thing, @teef gonna miss his Ferrari payment now! LoL

I have one. This is from one of my wife's grammar school class pictures. Back in 1977-78, @ 10. It's for the local Buffalo crowd, they may guess it. Hint: He's an area politician and pretty high up. Hope that wasn't too much of a hint! He looks the same today as he did 40+ years ago.

Simply the name. I never know what is the proper way to spell gray/grey. I won't forget again. You were big help. The PumpSpy really helps, got me to see what the sump was doing. Simply, The pit is too small. If I ever built again, I go bigger and deeper. But redundancy with pumps and maintenance hedges against disaster.

My niece's old house on the coast in N.Carolina:

Just don't pump your cellar out too fast. One of the deckhands with a marine outfit here borrowed one of the company's big pumps... Water came out too fast, buckled his foundation. There is hydrostatic pressure. Betcha @BringBackFergy Ferguson knew that! Smart guy. A little incorrigible, but smart guy... Makes a mean breakfast sammich too!

Don't quote me on this... But that's just one style. The bigger volume ones may be a turbine, powered by water pressure. ??? The venturi style is the portable one I have. Not sure that's set up for high head (lift) and pumping higher amounts of water... But in a pinch, will take edge off water rising... I guess the YouTube videos do confirm, though...

Yup! https://mobile.twitter.com/BuffaloBills/status/1200184494793342981

@SlimShady'sGhost @Seasons1992 We landed on the moon! "One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind!"

He's probably hitting the weed now and taking a drink! Cannonball!

Yet... Prevented millions of people from getting cholera. Sorry Buttercup. The good, millions outweighs one. Take one for team dad. 4" is standard, great! Most of time no issues with pass through. Mine is PVC... 23 years now.

Noooooo. With Lake Michigan at current levels... It would naturally be flowing in the direction it is now. We are just regulating it, letting it ramble and do some work (flood control, navigation, economy, sanitation) in return. Just like Woody Guthrie sang almost 90 years ago: "Uncle Sam took the challenge in the year of '33 For the farmers and the workers and for all humanity Now river, you can ramble where the sun sets in the sea But while you're rambling, river, you can do some work for me..." If we didn't control... Too much water would be flowing the way you think it shouldn't. So what gives, why are you so conflicted?

Bingo! Any dip in corrugated plastic will collect water, dirt. My underground discharge after 10 years, I had to access it, rod it. I actually sleeved it... It was like pottery chunks coming out with snake I sent down. Formed like glass, shape of corrugated too! If you can 6" PVC... $$$$ you can always sleeve smaller in it, not that you will for 50 years anyway... But it does depend on how careful you back fill, settles, tree roots, etc... Where PVC is vulnerable is at pass through in house. Use cast iron, then adapt back to PVC on both side. Foundation settles. Settles, backfilling may crack it and will never know for years. Neighbor across street, builder passed through with PVC, must have cracked during backfill with dirt... Every time he flushed toilet, water made way thru ground to drain tile and sump went off! Sanitary sewer was on opposite side of house too!!!

FWIW... Basement Watchdog make great products. If you want mechanical floats... Here is a great one. Two switches. If first one fails, second one will press into service. Caged too. So, no hanging up in narrow sumps: Neighbor using this for 10 years... I just hope the second float is not activated... CON: No easy way to tell if your pump is on second float unless you watch, test it regularly. Should have a light that engages like a surge protector indicator.

Here is a great electronic pump controller. Again, no moving parts, floats to hang up in small pit, etc... https://www.amazon.com/LevelGuard-Z24800A1Z-Solid-State-Switch/dp/B0096H5OUO/ref=asc_df_B0096H5OUO/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198097979185&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2096194501190347352&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021638&hvtargid=pla-323324349092&psc=1 They make a commer one that can be smeared with peanut butter, poopyshit, effluent and TP for our bungholes... Even grease and it will still sense the water! Only a hundro + bucks... Remember... The plumber will sell you a Hydromatic, Zoeller, those are great pumps, but they are automatic pumps with switch under the water... Gotta pull them out of hole to fix the switch. Go manual pump with piggy back switch (makes it automatic)! If switch goes, you can abandon broken switch and add piggy back in seconds without having to pull out pump from service. Heck, you can just have your wife or kids stand there all night plugging, unplugging if switch went bad! ? ? NOTE: Plumbers want return calls. SumpWatcher is loaded with various alarms. High water, will tell you if pump motor windings are failing... Doesn't have a low water shut off point. It shuts pump off at low water when it senses the pump current changing when pump sucks air . Takes a millisecond to sense: They do make this for sewage. Yet, the sensor on LevelGuard will handle total gunk.

Did I already post this? Well, here it is again. We used to have this on 45rpm as child... Probably why I am such a teetotaler:

I totally agree! PVC... I got corrugated plastic... That's made to be economical on farms. Will last long time... PVC is smooth, is best. I am lucky... My house built in 1996... Codes, they can't just put houses in every spot. If my subdivision went up in 1960s... No doubt they would have planted a house in the allotted retention pond that sits there today. Why houses were cheaper back then. Fewer houses absorb that cost.

Lot of times those venturi pumps after sitting idle for long periods will leak. Need maintenance. No harm leaking, it's leaking right into pit... ...I added a water line right next to sump pit with hose bibb on end... To always have that option. Helps me clean the sump out few times a year... Also, allows to test during dry spells. I have one of these in case of dire emergency... Lost power, generator crapped out, outta of fuel, etc... Take the edge of water rising. Remember: Basement won't flood till all the pipe in drain tile around house fills totally up. That's usually hundreds of feet of 4" drain tile. The pit will raise fast to that inlet... Then slow as drains backup, fill... Then about a foot of ground needs saturate... THEN water will find it's way in at lowest joint between basement wall and floor. Always best to pump as much water away and keep that drain tile dry during drought periods. Don't leave standing water in drain tile! That limits your reserve capacity during a storm, power loss event. Handle it, pump away during drought. Think of that drain tile as a reservoir during a pump, power failure. I don't sweat when my pump goes off every 30 seconds or continuously during storms. It's doing it's job, because when it's dry out, not raining, it slows to a handful of times a day with the pump operating. I can see that all via the PumpSpy app: Look... Last time it really rained here was 11/21 - 11/22... And that's nothing. I have seen 2,600 pump cycles during cataclysmic storms: Again... Being proactive, maintenance, redundant pumps is the key. Maintain the switch, pump, etc... I put in a separate pvc discharge pipe and added another AC pump that always sits high out of water (less wear) from main pump. That is on an inverter to a DC battery. The battery charges via AC. If main pump fails or discharge jams, freezes, that will pick it up thru separate discharge (AC pump run off AC mains)... OR, if power failure and I can't get to generator because I am away (AC pump run off Deep Cycle Battery)

You may have high water table... Or dtains set lower, basement deeper than neighbors. I know I take the heat off my neighbors being slighly lower than their sumps. Yes. I have heavy clay soil in this area. You'll know if check valve is leaking. Just look, listen at the pipe, look at bottom of pump after the pump runs. It's NOT that much water in pipe. Get a PumpSpy: http://pumpspy.com During dry spells... My pump will run once or twice a day. When it poors... It will run every 30 secs! THIRTY SECONDS. I set the pump below discharge inlet. Drain the lines around house. A standard 4" line dry during dry spells will give you "reserve capacity" when it storms and power goes out. You wanna hit that storm with a dry line. Also, I have an extremely small sump. <<<<<< like @BringBackFergy @Cripple Creek and especially @Gugny... Gug has the smallest pit of all. Get an electronic switch. Mechanical switches have moving parts, wear... https://www.plumbingsupply.com/sumpwatcher.html A good pump controller will actually tell you when pump is burning out. When there is blocked discharge, high water... Go piggyback switch... You won't have to yank the pump out in storm to change switch. If you are worried about water cycling around... You could dye the ground as a tracer: Orangeburg (yes named after town in NYS) was meant to be cheap... Same with corrugated plastic. But that's better. Ideally you want smooth PVC. Obviously the modern corrugated plastic is better used widely... But if you can, build, go 4-6" PVC. $$$$$

Thanx... Without the tag and ShoutOut... I might have missed this. You're like a "high water alarm!" OP... I am fully analyzing your post as we speak. Special out to one of the gray beards. I forget which one... So confusing! @Greybeard @Gray Beard @Graybeard Who knew there were so many! Oh wait, the one I am looking for is in post #4 & #6!

By the 4 competing sperm? There's a word for that: Blivet And it ain't ham!

Excuse me... The "Would Ya?" OP NEVER passes judgement, let alone in the thread title! A good "judge" never shows their personal leanings. You're so dead to me! You always reply to me! Betcha she could fix a speeding ticket. I do see the key word here. Let that be none! ?

AND the reason RJ is so awesome: Started in Radio!!! Old school.

I know. I should have noted that. I figure throw him in there. Shut up the play by play and just let Romo talk. Like @Buffalo_Gal said, sans the eye candy remark... NOT that there is anything wrong with that... ? LoL...

LoL... I will give you half this! Not the eyes thing though!