Sump Pits and Pumps, The Basics.

A sump pit is a place where water that drains from around your home’s foundation collects.

A sump pump, pumps that water out of the pit and away from your house and foundation.

That water legally needs to be pumped to a spot in your yard where it can be absorbed by the terrain.

Why?

Well modern homes in Canada are mostly built with full basements as foundations. Because of this water can collect around the concrete that makes up your foundation.

Homes have a system of weeping tile installed along the foundation running into channels underneath the floor of the home’s basement. This water ends up in the sump pit.

Without this system water would simply pool next to the foundation. This would cause premature aging of the foundation. This leads to weakened concrete that cracks and heaves. 

You can learn more here. As well as see some diagrams explaining this process.

https://winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/drainageflooding/lotgrading/sumppumpdischarge.stm

We wanted to explain a couple of fixes for issues we see regularly surrounding sump systems.

So we made a couple videos.

In the first video we talk about the importance of disconnecting the exterior line from the sump discharge during cold weather. The exterior line can freeze and this causes malfunctions in the system. This is remedied by disconnecting the exterior line when temperatures go below freezing and reconnecting it in the spring. Please watch the video for a full explanation and demonstration.

In the second video we talk about having a sump backup system installed in homes built before 1990. These homes have a backwater valve but were not required to have a sump pit. At that time the City simply drained all extra water into the sewer systems. But as Winnipeg grew the sewers could not accommodate the heavy flow and so sump pits became mandatory.

During heavy rainfall the backwater valve in older homes closes to prevent sewer backflow. According to the city, “With a backwater valve alone, weeping tiles connected to the sewer line can't drain when the backwater valve closes, causing water to overflow into your basement from the floor drain.”

Basically what this means is that while these homes are protected by a backwater valve from having sewer water flood their basements they are not protected from groundwater. During heavy rainfall when the backwater valve closes it leaves nowhere for the groundwater that would normally drain into the sewer to go. This is why we recommend having a sump pit installed in these homes to protect against flooding during severe weather events.

Please watch the video for more information.