Connecting Collapsed Storm Sewer to Sanitary Sewer?

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amkjud

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Is this ok?

My house has separate sanitary and storm sewers. The storm sewer collects the water from 3 roof gutters and 2 drains in the driveway. It runs parallel to my house under the driveway. As it reaches the front of my house it turns into my basement and then turns out the front of the basement toward the street. It is completely exposed in the basement, but underground when outside.

The storm line is collapsed and a plumber recommended that instead of digging it up and replacing it, I should cut the storm line in the basement and connect it to the sanitary line (which runs under the basement). He would add a new trap to the storm line before it connects to the sanitary line. Although the sanitary line is exposed in a pit before leaving the house, he recommended breaking up the floor earlier, so that he could make the connection before the vent.

I like this route because it is *much* cheaper that replacing fixing the collapse. But I'm concerned that if there is heavy rainfall, the sanitary line might not be able to take on the additional burden and it would then back up into the house. (I think the storm pipe is larger than the sanitary, which adds to my concern.) And a different plumber recommended against connecting the 2 lines because the storm line collects leaves and other debris that could block up my sanitary line.

Question #1: Is there really anything wrong if I connect the storm line to the sanitary? Will it overburden the sanitary line?
Question #2: Even if it works fine, is this a code issue? The original plumber told me it is only a code issue to connect the sanitary line to the storm line. But googling I found some towns that do inspections to make sure people haven't tapped into the sanitary line for storm water.

Thank you for any advice!
 

Jadnashua

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In some places, the storm and sanitary sewer lines are separate. If they are in your area, and the storm and sanitary sewers aren't combined at the street, no, you cannot legally do this. A heavy rain can easily overload the sanitary sewer and cause unprocessed sewage to be released, and, if things aren't right, into your basement.
 

Ontario Plumber

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I don't know about in the States, but here in Toronto, the City have made it mandatory to discharge storm water onto the garden by extending the downspouts 6m away from the house. If you have and weeping tile or catch basins then you could run these into a drainage pit, or sump pit and have it pumped out onto the lawn. Probably gonna be much cheaper than digging up your basement.

The City Council here don't want to have to treat unnecessary water (e.g. storm water) at their treatment plants. They also don't want it overloading the sewer systems.
 

amkjud

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Thank you Jadnashua and Sean.

Sean, I live in a very built up area in New York with no options for extending the downspouts (my entire property is only slightly wider than 6m!) or drainage/sump pits. Once the storm line comes into the basement, it is only about a foot away from the sanitary line, so there really isn't that much digging up the basement. Relatively speaking, it would be the cheapest and simplest option. I'm just trying to find out if it would be the "right" option. Otherwise I'm stuck with a $12-15k job to replace the storm line outside. Thanks again!
 

hj

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In most areas, because of water volume concerns, it is ILLEGAL to discharge storm water into the city sewers. Doing this overloads the sewage treatment plants.
 

Ontario Plumber

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Thank you Jadnashua and Sean.

Sean, I live in a very built up area in New York with no options for extending the downspouts (my entire property is only slightly wider than 6m!) or drainage/sump pits. Once the storm line comes into the basement, it is only about a foot away from the sanitary line, so there really isn't that much digging up the basement. Relatively speaking, it would be the cheapest and simplest option. I'm just trying to find out if it would be the "right" option. Otherwise I'm stuck with a $12-15k job to replace the storm line outside. Thanks again!

Well if that's the case, and it's permitted by local codes, then I would run the storm drain into the sanitary drain with a running trap with cleanout on top.
 
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