too much water

I have a major water problem and I need some help with trying to fix or at least control it.

I just built a new home on the same property I have being living at for the last 28 years.

My original home was a ranch with a basement. I had a sump pump pit in a crawl space area in the basement. However the crawl space was at least 3'1/2 to 4' feet higher then the basement floor itself. The pit had a 24" depth. When the homes in our unincorporated area were built back in the 60's they did not used drain tiles around any of the homes including ours.

Being that we are unincorporated we do not have proper street sewage for draining any rain water, melting snow,etc... The water just runs down the street until it meets up with the city of Chicago's system.

About 100' to 150' feet behind our property there is an elevation in the land, it's grade is 5' to 6 ' high then ours. Between our house and his area raise land is my neighbors back yard. Whenever we have heavy rains or a fast thaw, or both at the same time which are every common lately. My neighbors back yard will hold at least 4"to 5" of water. It looks like a small pond.

Okay with all of that said, I did a complete tear down. My new ranch home also has a basement, with an 8' 1/2 floor to ceiling height. We installed drain tiles around the entire house. My sump pump pit is 24" deep and 18" in diameter with a Zoeller 1/3 hp. sump pump 1"1/2 pipe straight up, over 10' then out and back down under ground to the front yard to a pop- up system that releases the water into the yard which then floods over into the street and follows the fore-mentioned route.

My house is not yet two years old and I have already replaced the sump pump. When it rains or we have a thaw, the water just starts to pour into the pit. My pump has ran at times for over 16 HOURS non-stop because the water is pouring in so fast. At times the water has elevated well over the top of the drain tile out-let into the pit. To where it has come close to overflowing the the pit and flooding my basement.

I have heard about a Little Giant sump pump, the Dominator Wastewater and Sewage Pump 10S. I was told this type of pump can handle continuous on going pumping for very long periods of time. The pump has a 2' out, so I would change my pipe to a 2"., and it runs 115 volt.

I know about using two pumps in a pit and having them alternate. I just fell most of these systems are designed for normal applications.

I believe that all of the excess waters that surround my home, once having saturated the ground. Now has found a way to travel freely right into my drain tiles.

What do you think I should do?

The drain tile is doing its job. I would say get a bigger pump. Compare GPH at the rise you have. Also look at service factor for run time. A more powerful pump will not have to work as hard to move the same amount of water. Run the pump at the voltage it is built or wired to run at. 120 into a 240V motor will burn it out.

Also check that there is not an easy path for the water from your discharge back to the buried tile.

Another thing to consider is a battery backup pump that has a float set just above the "on" position of the main pump. That way if the main one can't keep up the other pump will help out for peak water flow. It will also help in case of power failure.

You can also use a city water powered sump pump too. Typically they will pump out 2gpm while using 1gpm city water. They work in a power outage indefinitely.

Water powered pumps are not permitted in some areas. I would suggest larger multiple pumps alternating operation with controls that turn on the second one if the level goes higher. I would also suggest a standby generator.