Water pump and chamber - Drainage of garden

[dmorris@dmc-golf.com]

Hi, I hope you can help me, as I have been doing so much googling, and now need some good advice.

My wife and I have just bought a house, which we now know is flooded. Its a big garden approx 60 yards from the back of the house. The buildr has suggested and indeed dug 3 soak aways in the hope to find soil, but all we got was clay - so no good there. The plan is to install french drainage which Im fine with, and have the pipes entering the soakaways which will be filled with clean bricks etc. Connect these 3 soak aways by gently sloping pipes (simmilar to an overflow system in a sink or bath) when doing this eventually the very large soak away near the house will be the exit for the water down the drain.

However the problem is there is not enough height for us to drain the water out of the soak away into the manhole - ahhhhhhh why didnt he check the levels !!!!

My idea is to build a smaller soak away chamber to the edge of the property where water from the large soak away neares the house can flow into and them pump the water uphill into the drain.

Any advice if this is feasable and sensible would be welcome. I am looking at digging down approx 5 feet or so, and installing a self build concrete walled area for the pump to sit into, allowing access from above ofcourse.

Help please - Dave

email dmorris@dmc-golf.com

[Carberry]

Some pictures and drawings of the sites showing dimensions and either fall or direction of fall would be helpful.

[local patios and driveway]

How deep is the manhole. Sounds like you came up with an expensive and complicated solution when land drains would be easier, cheaper and more efficient, especially if you are hoping to drain in to main drains (have you checked with your local council that this is even legal at this point)

[Tony McC]

There's a 'sticky' right at the very top of the drainage sub-forum page...

Soakaways in clay soil ... they don't work!

The image below dates from 2005, but can I find it on the website? C. I. F! I can't even find it on Google, but I'm sure it's been used on one of the 4,000 and odd pages on this rambling site...



...anyone recall seeing it?

I recall drawing it. I even knew where it was on my HDD, but it doesn't seem to have been used, which is very, VERY odd. I don't create drawings and not use them. They are *always* only done when required for a webpage!

#mystery

[GB_Groundworks]

ive seen in, but cant find it

google image search searching for the image, not just the name doesnt return anything.

[url=http://www.google.com/search?tbs=sbi:AM ... 83-WIYDHP0

RwCj0X7viE5hgk5AKquYxGK6v6QNlJ-cLrF106NyXy0yRI3K8tmZOr6wG74u1c2bQXOP2E7m6kX4FICoEHHUM6yX9k

9VC0dhWBqmTuVQ0ThWVXMBhEVqxKQqj_16tPp3DbkRO84cl9LHBqbY_1xqhrES6n-NPVY_1H6L-Zj_1WnED5OZIiLF

AQCzrT4DZgW5XTQPhaoSaUfJT0mSsWt5dXTVIqM2wvAwKQjDLgDwbI9D-0R9AsDxuNMUDuReC9JxIKLya_1eXgawV9

Rg-rnelbZu2bdbb6TmfQo-4FmnMIKo-fgB9BGk8B1Twt38agfN2dv59cQwyZyscUiJCrb1efXvfBfqs0hAZcDxcvSj

ujm3ZcRuVvv4gtZb3CFRRJmj5dFBpMk_1NZXSrmgoavg97-l1iI3n0zbSGKdMhapkJktg_1DZddVhy2-KFG23-rzJo

tiY_1zISUtI4GZ9Hcn6wA1NAZeR4ledN60vELdZbwR9aUAKY9Ixk8KA02CUlqrJ_1YmoogTtfAWeFlcqBAWO5KH-dQ

cH_1oM_1Izokp_1dd-HfOYBfxm46zUKB_1JDbendQnvXXfPNmTpcSIPUm42vB258HoPJL4_1y-ypk3hsU4pSYaHhkR

AHad9dCG_1R_1fXRE6tLw40pCMk6a0vo_1LLW2y5BJEakSx6FNMhDwiatzPbBZKS4fSZht8HKR3QYWxL0K915Oq7AA

wWpRVGQnkhBjmXLeQm7cbFMXhF4XRaU2zGGkMZtl_15TSvSxm6iasA4CIe6yLNC1fo8te-Qd-3DUlzM9S5Y5YKGo-W

zVtIGuNKts9JfwvtkjZv-9DVvTHVwXO1F3NjJUb8U7WijV3EX7VqWX4sTF_1qFMGyCIsBk0jCYSZMuM4d1561XGbVC

jRhaiHI99w8M7qLynaKr9O-aklf49I4AXEisE_1t20MgxnUQID376XcNlCKCRn0qRHB8pOk5V0uINjidBTi0rKEv5Y

WWRbsB7BmCY0bAPnN0L1Wmosa9UE4YqPLjAvc4ZOv7gB-QCtCdnCNfGQgQ1Mindna9lC9d2dbv5MTL-DKJ5yOrpSz2

5DJMo3CIkCzU8UEby8wSVH_1JcowTOZ3lJFJOrJeLaWFd8HfvOpoBbzprmc00o6HnEQbeQUAdlORxZORQIw9G0KlHt

Ft-DbZQYTXmFOTni3unlDIJrYU2q2GJrA9zGgciUfRRX-UbXmWudrehPonp4HBLhKFh9K4W3Lk9cD3n2AN5qSkn9a6

8X0UybJ0&hl=]http://www.google.com/search?....bJ0&hl=[/url]


we've done pre fabricated ones in basements that came with two pumps built into the tank and just incased it in concrete in the floor.

but seen then built with concrete man hole sections as well

there was a forum post about one thats where i saw it, there was a photo inside a wet well and a pump and theres was question and you posted this I'm sure



Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1359234260

[digerjones]

i did one of these for a septic tank just like tonys, its still working well after 10 years, think have changed the pump once.

dave, it might be worth checking further down the run of drain past the manhole to see if you can gain some depth.

[mickg]

it was uploaded to the server date as below

wetwell01.gif 2009-Aug-21 13:57:26 13.2K image/gif

in the following directory
http://www.pavingexpert.com/images/drainage/

you should not be able to access this directory using a browser otherwise the entire contents can be copied quite easily, there is code available either to add to a .htaccess file or can be added to the server configuration - just saying

do a search at google for the URL below
http://www.pavingexpert.com/images/drainage/wetwell01.gif

[GB_Groundworks]

Yeah I think the point was finding the text and relevant page as tony had the link to paste it in the first place, I'm sure it was in reply to a forum post about them, maybe from France?? Remember a photo looking into a chamber with rusty chain holding the pump...

[mickg]

yeah gotya Giles, I don't recall seeing the image before

[GB_Groundworks]

erm....

http://ext.pavingexpert.com/cgi-bin....d380bbc nothing on that one

ok found the post i was on about but not your pic,

http://ext.pavingexpert.com/cgi-bin....p+float

[Tony McC]

I've done google checking, on the image name (wetwell01.gif), and on the theme of wet wells, float switches, rising mains and the rest, but it's just not turning up. Bloody mystery! Maybe I'll build a new page and expand the theme.

Point about htaccess noted, Mick. It surprised me too, as it used to be unobtainable to the great unwashed, so maybe it's summat that changed when we moved to the new server system over xmas. I'll ask Ian...

Any comments from the OP who unwisely uses his email address as a user name? Has any of this been even vaguely helpful to you?

[dmorris@dmc-golf.com]

How deep is the manhole. Sounds like you came up with an expensive and complicated solution when land drains would be easier, cheaper and more efficient, especially if you are hoping to drain in to main drains (have you checked with your local council that this is even legal at this point)

Hi,

Yes this was not meant to be the way. The soak aways were done first, and we didnt know what was underground. Hindsight tells me I should have asked neighbors etc or done research, but once they were dug and totally useless costing machines, labour, skips and then rubble, we then implemented the french drainage.

In terms of the council, plenty of the neighbours do what we are suggesting, but my suspicion is that they would not approve - however we simply do not have any other remedy.

Would you think the wide plastic piping is sufficient to put the pump inside, or would you suggest a concrete base and walls as images have intimated?

[rimexboy]

http://ext.pavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/ib3 ... l=rimexboy

You used it in the above thread I think

[Tony McC]

For a DIYer, a plastic chamber will be easier to handle. Dig the hole, put in a concrete bed, push in a plastic raising piece so it keys into the concrete before it sets, and then add further sections as required.

If you can shape the concrete bed into a dish to create a more effective sump, so much the better, but the pump is the most important component. A reliable pump with good filtration to prevent blockages is essential.