Laundry tub water in sump pit?

[sm55]

Hi,

My house was built in 1950, and recently we had an inside perimeter drain system and sump pit / pump installed to deal with water issues after heavy rains (hyrostatic pressure pushing up through small cracks in the the basement floor and water where the wall and floor meet).

The new drain / sump system appears to be working great and as expected.

I did notice something that alarmed me a little, and now I'm looking for an explaination. When the washing machine empties into the laundry tub, the water fills about halfway up due to the speed of the pump out, and then the laundry tub drains out within a minute or so. Nothing appears clogged or slow about the laundry tub drain.

But about 1 or 2 minutes after the water drains from the laundry tub, I see some suds and water coming into the sump pit. It does not look to be the same volume of water that emptied from the laundry tub, but it does appear to be from the laundry drain.

The laundry drain goes directly into the basement floor under the tub. I put a hand snake down the drain about 10 feet and did not pull out anything. I also used one of those water jet tubes in the laundry drain, and ran it for several minutes. All appears clear.

But here is the twist - If I just run the water faucet into the laundry drain, and when I used the water jet in the drain - I see no water coming into the sump pit. For some reason, the small amount of water coming into the sump pit it seems to happen when the washer empties into the tub.

Has anyone seen anything like this, and should I even be concerned about it?

Thanks - SM

 

[Mr_David]

Where did they connect the sump drain? Did they connect it to the existing
drain system in the basement floor.
Sumps systems for ground and rain water ( at least here ) are generaly not connected to the sewer sytem. That way when there is heavy flooding from a storm it does not add to the sewer system.
If it was connected to the sewer system there should be a check valve after the pump.
Also some laundry detergents tend to foam up in a drain line and only the foam backs out of a near by drain.
Change you detergent.

 

[sm55]

Thanks for the reply Mr. David.

The sump pit is pumped to outside of the house. It is not connected to the sewer system (or I can say it was not supposed to be), it has intake pipes from the inside perimeter drainage lines and some small holes in the sides of the pit near the bottom for ground water to enter.

I fear a cracked wastewater line. That might explain why the water seems to not drain into the pit if the water flow is moderate, but when the pipe is full due to the draining laundry tub, some water is forced out and picked up in the groundwater / perimenter drain line. (This is my best guess based on what I can observe)

If the abouve is the case - what is the best way to confirm this? Use some dye? Get a camera inspection?

Looking to see what the next steps should be - I don't want to finish the basement floor with tile or laminate flooring just yet if it sounds like a problem that will require digging in the basement. (That would be very unwelcome)

Thanks - SM

 

[Mr_David]

Camera may or may not revel a crack in the line, But You don't have to many other option. The other would be to just open up the floor and replace what you can. Before you hire someone, ask if they have the equip to also locate the line or any problems you may find. Another option would to just let it leak.