Sump pump in the winter help

Hi folks,

This forum has always helped me with questions pertaining sump pump. I have a Zoller sump pump that works very well during the spring, summer and fall season. However, the winter is here and I would like some help about the water being discharged outside from the pump.

I have a Honeywell whole house humidifier that is mounted on the supply duct. The water that runs through the humidifer is filtered to the sump pit (furnace and sump pump are in the basement), and then pumps outside of the house. In NJ, winter has been cold and I am afraid the ground freezing up.

Yesterday, I went outside to where the sump pit dumps the water. The 2 or 2.5 inch pipe on the outside runs about 1~2 feet down the ground. I wanted to see where the water was dumped, so I dug around the pipe and was thinking the pipe would be connected to the gutter drain line a few feet from the house. But this was not the case! I would say I dug a good 1.5 ~ 2 feet below and still can feel the pipe going downward.

My question is, how far down is the pipe going and where does it lead to? My main concern is I am afraid the water being discharged from inside the house where the sump pit is, to outside the house would freeze up since the ground is frozen in the winter.

Right now, I redirected the humidifier filtered water to a 25 gallon fish tank and manually dump it into my sink. (is this uncecessary?)

do any of you use a whole house humidifier and is it safe to discharge it to the sump pit and pump it outside?

thanks!

You may have a drywell for the sump pit...there is no way to know exactly where it goes without digging it all up, or finding out from whomever installed it. If the drywall is big enough, and deep enough, it probably extends below the frost line, but there's no way to tell from here. Sometimes, in a neighborhood, they do all the houses the same, and you might be able to ask your neighbors.

Humidifers differ in design. On mine, I would NOT want to dump the discharge into a fishtank. On mine, it is a flow-through, evaporative pad. It turns the water on when it needs humidity, dumps it on the top of the filter pad, and most of the water evaporates. Whatever is left over goes down the drain. Keep in mind that this is concentrating all of the disolved minerals, since only the pure water evaporates (leaving the heavily mineral-rich water left to go down the drain). that extremely concentrated mineral water is probably not very good for your fish!

jadnashua said:

You may have a drywell for the sump pit...there is no way to know exactly where it goes without digging it all up, or finding out from whomever installed it. If the drywall is big enough, and deep enough, it probably extends below the frost line, but there's no way to tell from here. Sometimes, in a neighborhood, they do all the houses the same, and you might be able to ask your neighbors.

Humidifers differ in design. On mine, I would NOT want to dump the discharge into a fishtank. On mine, it is a flow-through, evaporative pad. It turns the water on when it needs humidity, dumps it on the top of the filter pad, and most of the water evaporates. Whatever is left over goes down the drain. Keep in mind that this is concentrating all of the disolved minerals, since only the pure water evaporates (leaving the heavily mineral-rich water left to go down the drain). that extremely concentrated mineral water is probably not very good for your fish!

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jadnashua,

the fish tank is just an empty tank that collects the water from the humidifier hose. I think we have the same set up, it wets the filter pad, but whatever left goes to drain, which is directed tot he sump pit. (afraid of the water being frozen when discharged outside.) I redirected to an empty fish tank. Now, when you say yours discharge to a drain, where is the drain? I'm assuming your furnace in the basement, so where does it drain out?

Without knowing the chances of your sump discharge freezing, it is only a guess whether it would continue to work or not.

It would be "normal" to discharge water from the humidifier to the homes regular plumbing drainage system. This could go to a floor drain or connect to the drain for a basement laundry for instance. If you do not have a drain low enough to connect to in the basement, you could have a drain pump installed which would pump the water to the home's main building drain.

I run mine down the washing machine stand pipe...

...there is no way to know exactly where it goes without digging it all up, or finding out from whomever installed it.

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A camera could tell you where it go's, its worth a try before digging at least.

Our laundry is on the second floor, so unfortunately I don't have the luxury to do so.