Sump Pump Running every 8-10 minutes.?

Question

I have a sump pump in my basement.....it has NEVER ran before. It has never had any water in the well either. I have NEVER noticed anything in it until now. I have had the house for 3 years and this is the first time that the well has been filling up via the ceramic pipe on the side. The sump pump kicks on when it reaches the appropriate water height, drains the well until there is about 4" of water, then turns off. I look outside and I notice the water coming out which is good. This has been going on for about 24 hours now, every 8-10 minutes. I am in the northern Illinois area. We are currently in out "thaw" stage and we just got about 2" of rain 2 days ago. The rivers and creeks are really high. Any ideas as to why this may have all of a sudden started happening? We have had harder rains before and my sump has never done this before even when the creeks and rivers were higher than they are now. Is it a high water table? I am kind of concerned.

Answer 1

I have lived in a house for five years with an active sump pump, meaning it runs a lot. Water under the surface is under pressure that pressure pushes it to the least path or resistance which is your sump.
Check your down spouts to make sure no clogs or broken pipes which could have been holding water for a long time and now your seeing it due to the thaw.
Look around your house exterior make sure no standing water where there was none before
Give it a chance to run and a month or two to dry out
The water table can increase with the increase in moisture under the ground. Under ground springs can change course and develop in different places. Since this was not an issue before I would say that has it dries out it will go away.
Bottom line is as long as the yard as drainage away from the house and the downspouts are working it will go away. I spoke with one engineer who said that houses can be dry for a period of years and then get wetter due to changing conditions around them. If the water is coming in the sump then everything is working the way it should.

Answer 2

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RE:
Sump Pump Running every 8-10 minutes.?
I have a sump pump in my basement.....it has NEVER ran before. It has never had any water in the well either. I have NEVER noticed anything in it until now. I have had the house for 3 years and this is the first time that the well has been filling up via the ceramic pipe on the side. The sump...

Answer 3

Wow you are not the only one....i must live really close to you...around desplaines? i had the exact same problem about 2 or 3 months ago. it took me few days to notice it and by that time the sump pump was running every minute or so and the drain pipes were starting to leak because of the pressure....so i called few plumbers and they wanted to pretty much dig out my basement, charge me thousands of dollars and then find out the problem....so obviously i said no and next day i called the city....they were clue less about the problem but after few minutes the lady on the phone said she an exact same complaint from some one just few hours ago....so i get that persons number from her and i call him.....he ends up being my next door neighbor....he has been in this neighborhood for decades. after chatting with him, he pretty much told me that this was the second time this happened in last 20 or so years....and the problem was that the water company is draining their tanks into our homes thru the pipe underneath the house....if you have a drain in your back yard close to the house, u will hear water trickling in there. anyways, before we could call the company and complain they stopped draining the water.
given that u live probably a mile or so away from me and same thing will happen to you.......your problem will get worst before it gets any better.....the sump pump will go off every 50 second or so instead of minutes and then it should stop after few days.
if you don't want to take any chances with your pump usage or the pipes then call your drain or water company.
there is absolutely nothing wrong with your house....probably the whole city is affected.
just some helpful advice.......if you call a plumber (which u don’t need) don't let him open any drain pipes at all. the water in your sump pump is coming from the front of the house (so could be drinking water, not really sure) and goes through the drain pipes usually in the back of houses in desplaines/niles. also after the problem is taken care of...your sump pump well will have some water left in it. Whenever u use excess water in your bathrooms or kitchen which cannot drain completely thru the drain pipes will accumulate slowly in the sump pump and after few days or hours the pump will run and extract the water into the drain pipes.........this process is normal.

Answer 4

The sump pumping running often is not a problem. Sump pump problems surface when the pump isn't working.

No troubles. Water table is up, ground is saturated from the thaw. let it go.

Answer 5

And you should be concerned, water is not normal for your basement which is actually coming from around your foundation, the good news is the pump is working to help evacuate the water, but the fact remains you have an excess were there should be none. You may need to call your building department and let them know where you are located and they can tell if your on a flood plain, they can also advise you on what is normal for your area. If needed they can give you names of soil engineers and people that can fix any damage. If there is damage then call your insurance company. Ask your neighbors if they are also experiencing similar problems.

Answer 6

the water table is up. it will go down again and your sump pump will stop.

be glad it's working. not working is a PROBLEM.

the sump is just keeping your foundation (and basement) from flooding.

Ours runs whenever it rains more than a half an inch. I'm in IL, too

Answer 7

the pump is doing it's job and from the sounds of it so is your perimeter drain tile. The spring thaw and the heavy rains are probably the cause. When you had the previous "hard" rains the ground may not have been as saturated as it is now, most of it probably just ran off. Give it a week or two of dry weather and see what happens. The only other thing that could cause it to run excessively is a broken or leaking water pipe underground. I doubt this is your problem tho.

Answer 8

i would guess it's because the ground is so saturated, the pump is working as it should, and you should be glad...hard rains run off faster than moisture that has had time to actually penetrate deep into the ground...check with neighbors or call a local plumber and ask.

Answer 9

we are in Des Plaines and experiencing exactly this (7 years later). Which area do you live in?