Our sump pump has been running almost nonstop for the past 2 months. It kicks on every 3-4 minutes, runs for about 30 seconds, then shuts off and repeats. We've also noticed two new hairline cracks in the basement, one vertical on the north wall and one small horizontal one near the floor on the east wall. The house is about 30 years old and the sump has always run during heavy rain but never like this. Could the constant water pressure be whats causing the new cracks? Im worried this is going to turn into something expensive. We already replaced the pump once last year thinking that was the problem but the new one runs just as much.
5 Comments
the pump running that frequently means your water table is high or you have a water source nearby thats feeding into the drain tile. the cracks could absolutely be related. constant hydrostatic pressure against foundation walls causes exactly what you're describing. the horizontal crack near the floor is the one id watch closely because thats where water pressure is highest. have you had anyone check if theres a broken water main or irrigation line nearby? sometimes a neighbors busted pipe raises the local water table and your sump takes the hit
hmm we havent checked that. the neighbors did have some plumbing work done in november actually. could that be related??
that timing lines up perfectly with when your pump started going crazy. id ask them what work they had done. if they had a sewer line replaced or something similar and the backfill wasnt compacted properly, groundwater can find new paths right to your foundation. worth a friendly conversation
30 year old house with a sump running every 3-4 minutes is not great. That pump is going to burn out fast at that rate and if it fails while youre asleep or on vacation you could have a flooded basement on top of your crack problem. I'd get a battery backup sump installed ASAP, theyre like $300-500 and worth every penny. For the cracks, the vertical one is probably not a big deal but that horizontal crack near the floor needs monitoring. Put a pencil mark at each end and measure the width. check it every 2 weeks.
we dealt with this for 2 years before figuring out the root cause. turned out a storm drain in the street had partially collapsed and was routing water underground toward our house. city came out and fixed it and our sump went back to normal within a week. the cracks we developed during those 2 years are still there but they stopped growing once the water situation got resolved. might be worth calling your city public works dept to check if anything changed with underground drainage in your area