Storm water into Sanitary Sump–Old House
My cousin lives in a circa 1930’s home in suburban Chicago. After these huge rains we’ve had, he had water in his basement beacause his “sump pump” failed and asked me to look at it. He called it his sump pump. What I saw was a sanitary ejector sump. It discharged right into his sewer pipe. the laundry tubs and basement floor drains go to it. He swears water (rainwater?) was gushing into it during the storm. he does have a floor drain in the celler doors that lead to the outside and some drains in his window wells. There is no other sump in the basement. He put in a regular stormwater sump pump which I told him was wrong. Was it common back then to mix use the sanitary sump for rain water also? I’m sorta at a loss as to what to do. BTW, his gutters still go into the sanitary sewer which I said was most likely illegal. Help!
Replies
pt
Simple answer-yes, in some areas it was common for storm and sewage to be carried away by the same line.
However, as you surmised that has changed. While no longer can connections like that be done, many old in use systems are still plagued by this problem. Where there was no new storm/rain/basement/garage drains allowed, unless the municipality has separated their storm and sewage drains-you see sewage backups when large volume rains happen that the system can't handle.
Most common place for them to appear-basement floor drains...............sometimes as a gusher.
Too bad about Chicago. Please, don't let those asian carp get into the Lake.
Illegal? Maybe. Common? Oh yeah.
I live in Chicago. At one time, all downspouts were connected to the sewage system, as are all street drains. It is a single, common system.
Many towns now have ordinances stating that the downspouts must be diconnected and drained to the ground, to minimize the load during high rainfall.
If the sewer is full and the water still comes from the gutters, that water will outflow from all the basement floor drains. To give you some idea of the water pressure, I have seen it shooting out of the top of a 4' standpipe under a heavy rain.
#1, the downspouts need to be disconnected from the sewer line and those feeds plugged, asap. This is a no brainer and may be required by the municipality.
Is the basement flooding due to rainwater, ground water or sewage backup? Different sources require different fixes.
What town are we talking about? Towns near the Des Plaines river suffered very badly. Much of the town of Des Plaines is still flooded, including the original corporate McDonalds location.
I know little about a sanitary pump, but I could see how it could double as a sump pump, as long as the sewer was not full. I can also see how the inverse would not be true. It sounds as though this home ought to have both.
Good luck.
Illegal maybe....
His house is in River Forest. Looking at it today, pretty sure it is the cellar door drain that is going in there. Tough solution other than having another sump installed. Thanks for your views.
Another disaster town.
River Forest also got hit real hard.
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