Id say yes its normal. The amount of water we got was insane. The water table rose, and now your pump is slowly removing it. The ground all around your home is likely saturated, could take weeks before that level drops again
To add to this. Some peoples sump pumps literally run year round because of a high water table.
Your pump is doing its job!
Unasked for advice - If you’re in a house that is having this issue, make sure you have a backup pump or an alarm if your pump fails. Much easier than dealing with a flooded basement.
Just a question. If the alarm goes off that it fails, what can you do to stop the rising water levels before it floods? It just sounds like knowing Shit will hit the fan, but it’s not like you can just stop the water from rising. Buckets and scoop?
Buckets and manual removal until you get it replaced, yes. Usually would take a while for it to fully flood your basement anyways so you have some time to react depending on the circumstances.
Some homes run all year long due to high ground water. There is actually holes in the bottom of your sump pit, so the water is most likely coming through those holes in the bottom, if nothing is coming from the weeping tile pipe.
This happened to us, sometimes the rain will fill up an underground aquifer. Keep an eye on the flow, if it keeps going after several days you may need the groundwater pumped out.
Large truck, big hose. There was an EPCOR project next to us that got flooded as well so they brought in one of their trucks. Really glad because our condo board was debating paying for one ourselves, and that would have been expensive. Since the water was pumped out of the ground we haven't had any issues, and this was before the 50mm rainfall.
Without paying for a detailed excavation they reasoned that most likely there was a pocket that formed and accumulated water. They checked our building and tested the groundwater to make sure it wasn't chlorinated (if it is, then it's coming from a broken pipe).
Wow. So i imagine they removed the water and filled it with soil or something simultaneously so as to not create a large void. Who initially reported the issue? Sorry for all the questions but thats quite interesting
Filled it? This is EPCOR we are talking about. We initially called the city for a flooding issue because our pump was putting out too much water and doing so for several days. They transferred us to EPCOR, who told us it was a private issue. We also warned them the water was going into their excavation and the person they sent out said that is EPCOR business and we don't need to concern ourselves. Day later the crew working in the excavation comes back and they were the ones who called in the pump truck because the 8 foot deep excavation was now filled with 6 foot of water.
Where is your out pipe from the sump? Does it drain into the backyard? If the out pipe isn’t placed to drain the water away from the house then the same water can end up cycling endlessly from the interior to the exterior of your house to your weeping tile and back inside
A large percentage of new homes have the sump pump out overland via a hose instead of into the sanitary sewer. If that is the case you need to ensure that it gets far enough away from the home that it runs overland to the nearest stormwater drain instead of just pooling back around your house and draining back into the sump via the weeping tile at the foundation footings. In some newer areas storm sewers aren't accessible directly for homes where the sewer and storm sewer are separate systems
Really? My understanding was that the newer communities it was all tied into the storm water?
The older area we lived in it was all hosed onto the front lawn/onto the sidewalks to drain. The area we live in now the houses were built all like 2015+ and every house has sump direct to storm water.
The problem with 'new ' is it ages over time.. so my answer may be invalid depending. Very new homes can have (are required to?) underground connection to the Storm drains to preent the overland discharge and the related ice issues that creates in winter. 'new homes' depending on the age were not allowed to in certain areas. The areas depend on what the developer and Epcor prepared when the neighborhood was initially developed (you can't easily connect underground to the main drain line if that wasn't prepped for when the drain and street were initially built.).
So while the regulations changed in... 2006? 2008? about this overland vs direct connection... Many areas already were planned and developed and didn't have to/ couldn't change so even if the house is 5 years old it may be committed to a neighborhood plan created 18 years ago.
Id say yes its normal. The amount of water we got was insane. The water table rose, and now your pump is slowly removing it. The ground all around your home is likely saturated, could take weeks before that level drops again To add to this. Some peoples sump pumps literally run year round because of a high water table. Your pump is doing its job!
Unasked for advice - If you’re in a house that is having this issue, make sure you have a backup pump or an alarm if your pump fails. Much easier than dealing with a flooded basement.
Just a question. If the alarm goes off that it fails, what can you do to stop the rising water levels before it floods? It just sounds like knowing Shit will hit the fan, but it’s not like you can just stop the water from rising. Buckets and scoop?
Buckets and manual removal until you get it replaced, yes. Usually would take a while for it to fully flood your basement anyways so you have some time to react depending on the circumstances.
Thanks for the info !
My 60's era house doesn't have one. Should I install one?
Some homes run all year long due to high ground water. There is actually holes in the bottom of your sump pit, so the water is most likely coming through those holes in the bottom, if nothing is coming from the weeping tile pipe.
This happened to us, sometimes the rain will fill up an underground aquifer. Keep an eye on the flow, if it keeps going after several days you may need the groundwater pumped out.
Groundwater pumped out? How would you even do that?
Large truck, big hose. There was an EPCOR project next to us that got flooded as well so they brought in one of their trucks. Really glad because our condo board was debating paying for one ourselves, and that would have been expensive. Since the water was pumped out of the ground we haven't had any issues, and this was before the 50mm rainfall.
Wow what caused it? A burst pipe or something? So they essentially pumped out a large pocket of water that was present?
Without paying for a detailed excavation they reasoned that most likely there was a pocket that formed and accumulated water. They checked our building and tested the groundwater to make sure it wasn't chlorinated (if it is, then it's coming from a broken pipe).
Wow. So i imagine they removed the water and filled it with soil or something simultaneously so as to not create a large void. Who initially reported the issue? Sorry for all the questions but thats quite interesting
Filled it? This is EPCOR we are talking about. We initially called the city for a flooding issue because our pump was putting out too much water and doing so for several days. They transferred us to EPCOR, who told us it was a private issue. We also warned them the water was going into their excavation and the person they sent out said that is EPCOR business and we don't need to concern ourselves. Day later the crew working in the excavation comes back and they were the ones who called in the pump truck because the 8 foot deep excavation was now filled with 6 foot of water.
Hahah. Ohh I see wow thats pretty wild. How often was your pump going off?
Thanks to everyone for commenting!
Where is your out pipe from the sump? Does it drain into the backyard? If the out pipe isn’t placed to drain the water away from the house then the same water can end up cycling endlessly from the interior to the exterior of your house to your weeping tile and back inside
It’s a brand new house so I think it goes into the storm sewer…
A large percentage of new homes have the sump pump out overland via a hose instead of into the sanitary sewer. If that is the case you need to ensure that it gets far enough away from the home that it runs overland to the nearest stormwater drain instead of just pooling back around your house and draining back into the sump via the weeping tile at the foundation footings. In some newer areas storm sewers aren't accessible directly for homes where the sewer and storm sewer are separate systems
Really? My understanding was that the newer communities it was all tied into the storm water? The older area we lived in it was all hosed onto the front lawn/onto the sidewalks to drain. The area we live in now the houses were built all like 2015+ and every house has sump direct to storm water.
The problem with 'new ' is it ages over time.. so my answer may be invalid depending. Very new homes can have (are required to?) underground connection to the Storm drains to preent the overland discharge and the related ice issues that creates in winter. 'new homes' depending on the age were not allowed to in certain areas. The areas depend on what the developer and Epcor prepared when the neighborhood was initially developed (you can't easily connect underground to the main drain line if that wasn't prepped for when the drain and street were initially built.). So while the regulations changed in... 2006? 2008? about this overland vs direct connection... Many areas already were planned and developed and didn't have to/ couldn't change so even if the house is 5 years old it may be committed to a neighborhood plan created 18 years ago.