Foundation Drain System (sump pump)

[calflyguy94]

Hi I was wondering if anyone could answer my question. I have a 2 year old home and found a leak in the finished part of my basement. I have a poured foundation and this was a shrinkage crack vertical in length running from the corner of the basement window to the floor.

I had a repairman out to fix the crack, and it was raining really bad. Water was pouring in at the base of the crack only. You could see there was some dampness towards the top of the crack but all the water came from the base. He had been in the basement a good 1 1/2 hours when he asked why my sump pump hadn't come on. I told him since the house was built 2 years ago it never does. I also told him I pour water in the sump every now and then to check to see if the pump works, which it does. I thought thats all I needed to be concerned with.

He then said to me I wasn't the lucky guy on the street because it never came on, but the unlucky one because all my rain gutters are tied into the foundation drain tiles and water at some point durning a heavy rain would need to be drained. We checked the sump and the pipe into the home had dust in it. He thinks I have a break down in the foundation drainage system that the builder needs to come out and fix. He also stated that by the amount of water that is pouring in at the bottom of the crack by the floor sould have been carried away from the foundation had it been draining properly, and if this isn't fixed I would see more crack as thats what happens when water has no where to go.

My question that i want answered is this. Should my sump pump be coming on and off during heavy rains, like my neighbors. With my gutter system tied to the foundation drain wouldn't this be the case everytime we had strong storm?

[Cass]

The fact that your pump doesn't run could be due to lots of things. The down spouts should not be tied into your foundation drain, they should have there own piping to take the water away from the house. I would contact the builder and see if the crack and leak are covered under the builders warranty.

[calflyguy94]

The shrinkage crack is on me as it is stated in our home warrenty book within the first year. The gutter system is connected to the foundation tile as I have pictures of every step of the build. I more worried that this system should be coming on. I always thought they put it in as a back up in case the water had no place to go I didn't know this was the way the water ws supposed to be directed away from the house.

[hj]

The foundation drainage system is usually a very "loose" system and as such it would be almost impossible to plug it up, unless it was very, very poorly installed originally. With the downspouts tied into that drainage system, your sump pump could be overwhelmed during a heavy rain, once the drainage system is made to work again. And you would definitely be flooded during a power outage, which can occur in a heavy rain.

[calflyguy94]

but the pipe leading water into the sump is bone dry as water has never came into the sump. the pump itself works, but this system as never kicked on and I also want to say that the yard around our house is very sloshy more so than if you come away from the house we have good sloping away from the foundation but the ground away from that is saturated all the way around the house. I guess what I'm asking is, should water be coming in when we have heavy rain or is it ok that none does.

[jadnashua]

The downspouts should NOT be connected to your perimeter drain and come into your sump. They could be connected to the perimeter drain which then goes away from the house, but that should not be connected directly towards the sump. The sump might connect to the perimeter drain with a checkvalve to prevent water from coming in via that route, though. The output of the perimeter drain should be directed either to a drywell, or out away from the house. It makes absolutely no sense to direct rainwater into the house so it can be pumped out. The sump should be designed to handle any ground water that seeps into or under the house.