Installing sump pump pit

[Donald]

The building is a church built in 1830 with a crawl space that gets water from rain in the crawl space causing high RH. We just had a footing drain installed close to the north side foumdation wall which is a little higher than south side.

So now we are thinking of installing a sump pump pit and sump pump. The polyethylene pits they sell at HD are huge, like 18" diameter and 24" deep. That is a large hole to dig in the crawl space that is difficult to work in. The high and low levels for on/off of a sump pump are probably 6" to 8" apart. So I am not sure why we need a 24" deep sump pump pit.

 

[Al]

You will never be sorry you made a bigger pit. With smaller ones you have to much pump cycling. Key is to get a smaller sump pump. But it must (obviously) be bigger than expected inflow.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Al
You will never be sorry you made a bigger pit. With smaller ones you have to much pump cycling. Key is to get a smaller sump pump. But it must (obviously) be bigger than expected inflow.


I can see your point with respect to diameter, but not depth.

 

[Chris142]

You ever metal detect arond places that old? Might find something neet.this area didnt get real popluated till the 1970's so my chances of finding old stuff are slim

 

[sleddriver]

What about trimming some off the bottom to make it 16-18" deep instead?

 

[MNgopher]

The deeper the pit, the lower it will keep the water drained. In most cases it is nice to have the buffer. It also keeps the pump cycling below the drain tile inlets when present to keep the tile functioning better.

 

[andyd]

I don't get draining the high side of ground water flow unless you are diverting the flow away from the building. The deeper you extract the ground water from, the drier the crawl space will be. Rent a rotary hammer and use it with a 3/4 X 18" masonry bit. shove it into the soil to loosen it up. Scoop the loosened dirt into mortar tubs or 5 gallon buckets to slide out the fill.

 

[Brybo86]

Originally Posted By: andyd
Scoop the loosened dirt into mortar tubs or 5 gallon buckets to slide out the fill.


A handful of youth group teenagers work well for this type of job.

 

[tgrudzin]

I installed one in my basement, in Illinois. Hit clay real fast. I didn't even add gravel to the outside. The clay keeps everything firm and after a month, created a nice filter system. The water is crystal clear in the well. Probably 10-14 years old. I wouldn't trim it, unless your going through rock. What size do you think it should be?