Sump pump won’t stop running

My sump pump will run and start to immediately fill again and run again several minutes later. Outside, the pipe comes out of the house, turns down into the ground, runs underground where it comes out a good 20 feet or so from the house. I’ve attached a picture, maybe that will help. What is happening now is that it doesn’t look like it’s going out into the yard, the water comes gushing out of that green cover there, drains back into the pit and then it runs again. It started about a week ago or so when it was really cold. I’m in the Chicago area and it has been really cold, could it be frozen right there and the ice is blocking it? Though I haven’t had that problem for the past eight years I’ve been here. The weather has been warming up a little so I don’t know if there is ice in there or maybe something else blocking it. I have scooped water out of the pit to get it to stop but I know that’s not the solution. I don’t know much about plumbing and would be afraid to try anything but the simplest solutions, hopefully I can avoid calling a plumber.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

From your description, yes, it sounds like your line in the yard is either frozen or blocked in some other way. However, and if I have understood correctly, I would wonder how water could get back into your sump so quickly (if at all) after being discharged anywhere outside the wall. Is this sump intended to be taking care of storm water seeping into the basement, or is there some other usual source for the water it collects and pumps away?

So your water is going out of the sump pump and into the flexible black pipe. But currently the black pipe is not draining the water away from the house (about 20 feet). It over flows the black pipe and the sump pump fills back up and runs again.
If what I just said was what’s happening then…

You have a lot of clay in your soil and it has created a path in the clay to get back under the house. I have had this happen before. You need a new out side drain or run the water somewhere else.

Try connecting a hose to a hot water faucet and push it up the outlet as far as it will go. If it is a fairly straight run, it should hit the ice and melt it out. Keep pushing as you melt the ice.

If that doesn't clear it, get that green grate removed and push the hose down there to get the same effect.

You want to deliver the hot water to the ice plug, so keep trying to advance the hose.

Thanks for the advice guys. But I was thinking of another possibility. The pump is about 8-1/2 years old and has to shoot the water up a good nine feet or so to get out of the house. Could be going bad and not have enough pressure to get it all the way out? Any thoughts? Thanks again.

Chewy55 said:

Thanks for the advice guys. But I was thinking of another possibility. The pump is about 8-1/2 years old and has to shoot the water up a good nine feet or so to get out of the house. Could be going bad and not have enough pressure to get it all the way out? Any thoughts? Thanks again.

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Go outside where the water is going into that green drain. If the water is going out and the level in the sump is going down, then it's probably not a pump problem.