Well, the concrete has cured. I bought a 12″ diameter circular paver to place in the bottom of my sump barrel for the sump pump to sit on. Then I installed the 1-1/2″ threaded-solvent weld PVC adaptor on the pump. Then I solvent welded about a 4′ section of PVC to that. At that point (about 3′ above floor level), I installed the check valve. Below the sump pit cover (at floor level), I drilled a 3/16″ weep hole in the discharge pipe. The purpose of the weep hole is to prevent airlock. From the check valve I made my connections all the way to the outside downspout drain, which will take the sump water to the ditch about 200′ away from the house.
After everything was installed and connected, I tested by dumping about 5 gallons of water in the pit. The pump discharged it in approximately 5 seconds. Pump is rated for about 42gpm. The pump sits in 4″ water and kicks on when water reaches 8″ deep, then turns back off when water level is down to 4″ again.
I normally do not like rain, and we haven’t had any for a couple weeks. (In my alternative universe it is 80′ and sunny every day and rains 1/8″ every night from 3-4am). However, since this isn’t my reality I am actually hoping for some drenching rains just to see if installing this sump pump will alleviate the wet basement issues and prevent water from coming up thru the floor and around the perimeter.
