pump & drain questions

I'm in a new home on septic for the first time. I have a drain by the furnace/water heater in the floor - where does it go? I wondering in case I ever have a sump pump overflow or other flood - can the water be put down that drain without any harm? And where does it go?

Second question is relate to my ever-running sump pump (50 gallons per hour all winter - dries up in summer - second year in a row now). I've got a good pump in, have a backup, am looking at enlarging the pit this summer - but I'm wondering why I shouldn't just be having a pump running 24/7 carrying that constantly (and it really does stay constant between 40-60 gallons per hour for 6 months of the year) carries the water out. Is there a pump that would take up that relatively small amount of water, lift it 8', and possibly not burn out if it ran dry? I'm not even worried to much about it running dry if I can maintain less than the 50 gallons per hour - then the sump pump would only have to go off when it couldn't keep up - a lot less than it does right now.

Ideas???

Thanks for a plumbing newbie...

40 to 50 gallons per hour is almost what most sump pumps will pump in a minute. Most of them will do 20 to 30gpm. Running it dry will damage it for sure. First it's water cooled and needs to be under water and secondly the impeller is more than likely plastic and can melt from heat developed by running in the same water for too long a time.

If you could enlarge the pit to accept more water and tether the float so the pump does not come on so often, you would find the pump would last a lot longer.

bob...

40 to 50 gallons per hour is almost what most sump pumps will pump in a minute. Most of them will do 20 to 30gpm. Running it dry will damage it for sure. First it's water cooled and needs to be under water and secondly the impeller is more than likely plastic and can melt from heat developed by running in the same water for too long a time.

The pump does pump out the pit fast (a few seconds) but it has to go off every 3-5 minutes right now, 24/7 for about 6 months of the year. I don't expect it to run all the time, I was just wondering if there was another type of pump (a pond pump, or some other type) that might be okay pumping all the time and wouldn't be bother by running out of water and/or shutting off automatically. I was just thinking a pump running slowly all the time might be better (longer lasting?) than one that has to come on and off 300+ times each day.

Right now I'm using a submersible pump and I can't adjust the switch - I'm thinking my next sump pump will be pedestal style so I can better adjust the float switch - and I've heard they last longer and are more reliable???

I would fix the water problem before I bought a new pump...

How do you fix the water problem?
Not sure what it is...most people think it is the water table (rising in winter, lowering in summer); is that fixable?

If you can dig a ditch lower than the cellar floor all the way around your house and then install 4# perforated pipe and back fill with 1.5' of crushed stone and have the pipe empty out on the ground at some point lower than the foundation and away from the house, you won't need the pump.

This is the only way to fix the water problem other than using a pump.

If it's just plain water with no chuncks, I would look into a 12 volt Shurflo pump. You could run it from a transformer and power supply. They have pumps that pump as little as 1.5 gpm. This way it would not be going on and off all the time and your light bill would be much smaller too. These pumps do not lift water very well so it could be set up high enough so as to keep up with the pit but not pump it dry.

bob...