Gravity Drainage Basement Systems

skidmark845

What's everyone's opinion on GRAVITY drainage basement systems vs. standard sump pump drainage? Anyone ever heard of any issues with the gravity systems? (Ex: freezing at exit points, etc)

mickeyco

I'm in my first house with a sump pump, everything before had gravity drains to a catch basin, then out to city sewers. I'm not a big fan of sumps, out here the power goes out every time there's a storm, when you really need the pumps. Had a few back-ups (catch basin needed cleaning) in the places with gravity drains (make sure to have a stand pipe), no problems freezing, one was outside the back basement door, exposed to the weather but down below the frost line. The one advantage I had was that my prior homes were higher than surrounding areas so we never had flooding issues.

I don't know if you can put some sort of check valve on them, but I think that would help with any flooding worries, the plumbers here should know.

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skidmark845

What's a stand pipe? Also, why would the catch basin need to be cleaned since it is supposed to have a lid?

mickeyco

Might be the wrong term but a stand pipe is something (a long length of pipe) you stick in the drain vertically when you're expecting water or going to be gone for a while. A catch basin does have a lid, but what does that have to do with cleaning them out? Over the years you would get a sludge build up on the bottom below the exit to the city sewer and you call out the honey wagon to clean them out.

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rino1494

Daylight footer drains are always the best. Just gotta make sure that there are no obstuctions at the end of the pipe. I have actually seen tree roots grow into the end and back the water up into the basement.

Sump pumps should only be a back up, not a primary footer drain.....unless daylight is not applicable. If a sump pump is the only footer drain system, then a battery back-up should be installed.

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concretemasonry

You obviously try to put in a gravity system for the discharge (to "daylight") if the terrain permits. In our area (Minnesota) freezing is not really a problem with most installations. The backfill around the discharge live has a large capacity to store water and heat. Despite cold temperatures, if the is any snow cover, the ground will not freeze as deeply as you would be required for buildings. A good installation has a dicharge that is not visable and is protected. - Pumped discharge to the exterior suffers even more problems unless the line is burried to the same extent.

Few municipalities permit dischrge of sump water into sanitary sewers.

A sump system can be very reliable if you have a battary back-up or a spare on the shelf.

Remember - any ground water that you collect has heat that can be used to prevent freezing if the discharge is not out in the open.

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Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.