Want to plug window well's corrugated PVC drain pipe

[Kazari]

It has taken me a long time to figure out that my basement has been flooding all these years because of a black, corrugated PVC drain pipe that drains INTO the window well. I'm sure it was intended to drain the window well, but it doesn't do that now. I didn't discover this until earlier this year.

I thoroughly sewer-jetted the line a week ago (and it went fully 25 feet down the line), but the window well (and my basement) flooded again this week during a heavy rain, so obviously that wasn't adequate.

Digging up and removing the line isn't an option because of a lot of stuff that's been built on top of it.

I would now like to seal it.

Please let me know what you recommend for something like this.

[suemarkp]

I'm not so sure sealing is the right thing to do. Where is the water coming from that fills the black pipe? Is it gutters, surface runoff, or what? This water needs an exit or else it will just backup at the water source(s). If the black pipe is perforated instead of solid, then sealing it wil be totally useless because you can't seal that type of pipe.

The window well ought to have a drain. Will this pipe work at all to carry away the minimal amount of water that normally finds its way into a window well? If so, I'd leave it in place.

Find the source(s) of water that are filling this pipe and run a new pipe to carry it someplace else. Can you tap into that pipe to prevent the water source from filling the window well while still allowing the window well to somewhat drain?

Do you have a low area where you can run a new pipe to that will carry water away by gravity and not find the basement? If not, you could try digging a big hole and fill it with drain rock, or you could install a pit and put in a sump pump to pump it to the street (if allowed) to further away to a remote drain area or hole in the ground.

[Fischer]

[QUOTE=Kazari;74588]It has taken me a long time to figure out that my basement has been flooding all these years because of a black, corrugated PVC drain pipe that drains INTO the window well. I'm sure it was intended to drain the window well, but it doesn't do that now. I didn't discover this until earlier this year.


Hi,

I'm a little confused. Does the pipe drain into the window well or out of the window well?

If it drains into it, it would come out higher than the bottom of the window well, and if it drains out of it, it would be in the bottom of the window well.

A picture would help, but a clarification of the location of the pipe should suffice.

I do have a way to seal the pipe, but that may not be what you would want to do.

[Kazari]

Thanks for your responses. I have attached four photos to try to explain this better.

I believe the pipe was installed when the townhouse was built, as my neighbors have similar pipes. But theirs do not leak. Supposedly it went to a central black corrugated drainage pipe out in the back yard which is now 20 years gone. So, yes, originally, it was the drainpipe for the window well. But it doesn't drain anything anymore.

I know everything I read in here says that window wells need to drain, but I don't have the ability to create a new drain in this situation.

It floods from massive amounts of ground drainage.

I figured this out after years: I have replaced the gutters, dug trenches with more of this cursed black PVC pipe to take that away, AND I have a 6' x 3' piece of Plexiglas covering everything so that NO water can get in to the window well.

I have been in the window well during a massive downpour and the only significant source of water -- and I mean multiple gallons a minute -- is this pipe.

I don't know if it is perforated or not, however.

>Do you have a low area where you can run a new pipe to that will carry water away by gravity and not find the basement? If not, you could try digging a big hole and fill it with drain rock, or you could install a pit and put in a sump pump to pump it to the street (if allowed) to further away to a remote drain area or hole in the ground.

I could probably dig one, but since I hate this pipe more than life itself right now, I'd rather just kill it.

But help me maintain my rationality. I want to solve the problem, not worsen it.

[joed]

Sounds like the main drain is plugged and the awater from other window wells(perhaps even the neighbours) is now draining into your window well.

[Kazari]

I don't think so, because they're mostly downhill from me. The one uphill who might have the drain never has a wet window well, so what would it be draining?

I believe either a tree with a root in the pipe (totally plausible in this configuration), a silted line downstream or a blocked/non-existent outlet and the water is backing up.

When I jetted the thing, I could hear it clear as a bell until it got to foot 23 or 24, then it got really quiet -- like it was underwater down at the end.

But I can't snake it because the PVC will get all chewed up.

[suemarkp]

I'm afraid if you just "kill" this pipe and block it off, the water filling it is going to just follow the outside perimeter of the pipe and work its way to the window well anyway. I'd suggest digging up this pipe, starting at the window well, for as long as you can stand and see if there are any tees or wyes turning this into a collector. At some point further away from the house, you can just dig down and make a gravel pit dry well, or find a new direction to go and lay new pipe (the smooth wall polyethelyene type) to carry it somewhere else).

[Fischer]

I'm guessing (and I say that literally), that your best best is to find the source of the corrugated pipe. You would have to determine the route that the pipe takes, pick an open spot where's it's accessible, and excavate at that point. A locator camera might be of some help in determining where it may be coming from. With a camera you would be able to see if there are any T's coming into it.

You mentioned that it drained from another pipe long gone. It may be long gone, but still serving as a pipeline for water from another source, and with the back end gone, it takes the easiest route for the water to take. Try and interrupt this route. The cure may be in the form of a sump pit and pump before it gets to your window well.

I'm with Mark on this. Don't block the pipe. Find the source of the water that's coming through the pipe.

[Kazari]

All right, all right. I'll dig the danged thing up.

Was really hoping to avoid that.

*sigh*

Thank you.

[Fischer]

All right, all right. I'll dig the danged thing up.

Was really hoping to avoid that.

*sigh*

Thank you.

ATTA BOY. Best to do it the right way even if it's an ugly proposition. It's almost always worse thinking about it than doing it.

Keep us posted on what you find. We like to know the source of these very odd problems so we can add to our own collective knowledge.