Sump construction

[Maximus]

I'm going to install a sump to run my garden land drain into, from there the water will be pumped away, can anyone advise as to the recommended construction of such a sump?

Thanks

[flowjoe]

You can buy pre-fabricated units at a hefty price or you can construct your own using concrete sectional rings or even a plastic manhole shaft.

However there are things to be considered such as the volume of water to be shifted and the size of the pump to be used.

A big pump in a small chamber will be on/off all the time and you are better off with a larger chamber where a good volume of water is lifted in one go.

It is important though that the chamber is water tight so that you are just draining the area serviced by the land drains or you will find that pumps burn out if over used due to a constant volume of water running into the chamber.

There are plenty of good quality pumps available at a reasonable price such as hippo, You also have to consider your power supply, connection and of course safety device such as a circuit breaker.

As always without seeing the site i can not be specific about the actual construction required.

Never straight forward i`m afraid

[ski]

If you want a good job, I would be very temtped to have all your land drains coming in to a standard plastic manhole, from there one pipe in to pre formed plastic sampling chamber from someone like Titan Tanks. These are strong and totally waterproof and have a good acces lid. They have one outlet of 110mm which you can step down to suit your pump. I would however question having a pump unless absolutely essential.

[Pablo]

A simple time delay switch run through the float switch will allow the tank to fill up even more meaning the pump will run for longer and less often which is better for the motor. You can get longer float switches aswell but not heard good reports. Placing the pump as low as possible above the silt ( pump should be able to handle solids up to 5mm) will give better results also. Another way is to put a timer on your consumer unit meaning the pump only gets power a few times a day and if the float switch isn't on then it overrides and switches off. Like before these things aren't as simple as they first sound and may require tinkering so leave access. Just realised I've used the word simple twice with two different meanings mmm. ???