Sump pump won’t stop running

[Chewy55]

My sump pump will run and start to immediately fill again and run again several minutes later. Outside, the pipe comes out of the house, turns down into the ground and goes out about 20 feet into the yard. However, now when the sump is running the water starts gushing back up out the opening where the pipe turns down into the ground, so the water just falls back in and the cycle starts again. It started about a week ago or so when it was really cold. I’m in the Chicago area and it has been really cold so I thought maybe it was frozen there, though I haven’t had that problem for the past eight years I’ve been here. The weather has been warming up a little so I don’t know if there is ice in there or maybe something else blocking it. I have scooped water out of the pit to get it to stop but I know that’s not the solution. I don’t know much about plumbing and would be afraid to try anything but the simplest solutions, hopefully I can avoid calling a plumber.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[CraigFL]

I'm not sure I'm following your explanation but the two most common problems with why a sump pump runs to often are:

1. The discharge water is too close to the house so it soaks back in and fills the sump again.

2. The check valve directly over the pump is not working -- causing the water in the pipe to drain back into the sump instead of staying in the pipe until the next pump cycle.

[Chewy55]

Well it’s kind of hard to describe. The pipe comes out of the house, turns down into the ground, runs underground where it comes out a good 20 feet or so from the house. I’ve attached a picture, maybe that will help. What is happening now is that it doesn’t look like it’s going out into the yard, the water comes gushing out of that green cover there, drains back into the pit and then it runs again. It has been really cold, could it be frozen right there and the ice is blocking it? If the check valve is bad is that something the average person can handle or would I need to call a plumber? Thanks for any help!

[Chewy55]

It doesn’t look like the picture attached, I’ll try again. If it doesn’t work this time is there a trick to this? I chose “manage attachments’, “browse”, chose the file, then “upload” and the file appears to be attached but didn’t show up in the thread.

[Wgoodrich]

How deep is your drain line going out the 20' from the house? Very commonly this line is not below frost to hit daylight further out by gravity. If this is the case considering the extreme weather you have been having I would predict your drain line out the 20' is frozen or where it daylights on top of the ground has formed an ice cap on the end of that drain line plugging it. I suggest you buy a piece of 4" flex hose on the surface of the ground and dump into it to drain away from the house till you subsurface drain thaws.

Good Luck

Wg

[Chewy55]

Thanks for the advice. But I was thinking of another possibility. The pump is about 8-1/2 years old and has to shoot the water up a good nine feet or so to get out of the house. Could be going bad and not have enough pressure to get it all the way out? Any thoughts? Thanks again.

[Wgoodrich]

Your last two replies are your best bet. Either your water have worn a path back into the basement due to a frozen drain outside as I discribed or you pump is pumping the 9' up then shutting off then a bad check valve is allowing the water to refill the sump as CraigFL suggested.

Just my opinion

Wg