clogged sewer or bad sump pump?

[rob6ert]

I live in a 7 year old house with a sump pump. For the first 6 years, we never had a drop of water. About one year ago, we had a very heavy rain and we had water in the basement. It came in all around the perimeter of the room. We figured it was just because the rain was very heavy. About three months ago, we had water again during a hard rain. I called a handyman who replaced the sump pump telling me the old one was full of silt. We relaced it with a RIGID 1/2 horse pump. Since then, when it rains, I notice that the pump works fine for the first 15-20 minutes, then the crock begins to fill rapidly. After the rain stops, it sometaimes takes four to five hours of continuous operation to empty. If I unplug the pump the water level does not change, so I know the drain tile is empty. Also, we have four drains outside in window wells that look like they are not taking water also. Does this sound like a blocked sewer line?

[Dunbar Plumbing]

The four window well drains sound localized with the drainage problems. The situation with your pump would be likely the location of where the new pump was set or different float config that is allowing the pump to pump out the water table differently. It's always better to have a pump run continously for long stretches removing water than constant start and stop, start and stop. Not only hard on the float switch but it costs more electricity with that setup. I couldn't tell you how many sump pumps I have replaced where people think that you can set the discharge line 4 feet outside the foundation wall. They think water stays on top and never goes back to the lowest point, the sump pit.