Go to the FDM Canada SiteInstalling your outdoor sump pump shouldn’t be a project that gets put on the back burner. Not only is your sump pump fundamental in preventing water from pooling near your home’s foundation, but it’s also simple to install. In fact, I’m going to show you just how easy outdoor sump pump installation can be and provide tips to ensure your system lasts.
Which Outdoor Sump Pump Should You Install?
Installing the outdoor sump pumps, Micro Bad Seed or Full Frame Bad Seed, couldn’t be easier. These chambered sump systems were built to be DIY friendly. When deciding which sump pump system works best for your property, consider how deep of a trench you’ll need for your drainage system.
The Micro Bad Seed sump pump is 24 inches tall. It works great with French drain trenches that are shallow, allowing you to install it in a trench that’s only 10-inches deep.
For example, the trench pictured above needed to be shallow because the home is on the lake. If we dug too low the system would pump and recirculate lake water, so the Micro Bad Seed was ideal.
Now, if you’re looking for a lot of slope and want to install your French drain system deep, your best bet is to use the Full Frame sump pump. It’s taller, starting at 24 inches. Our tallest Bad Seed sump pump is 40 inches.
Setting Up Your Sump Pit
When you dig your sump pit, it can be easy to underestimate the width needed for it. You want to make your sump pit wide to ensure there’s room for your corrugated pipe after you place your sump pump inside.
The sump pit needs to be deeper than the trench, so the water just falls out of your trench into the sump pit cavity. Water always seeks the lowest point. This will leave your French drain trench completely dry. Keeping your trench dry prevents tree and shrug roots from growing into your French drain system. If there’s water left behind, roots can sniff that out.
We came up with a simple, DIY system that’s easy to install. There’s a French drainpipe and a roof runoff system pipe both running alongside the Bad Seed sump pump system. The Bad Seed has an inlet on either side to keep stone out.
Next, if you run downspouts to your Bad Seed sump pump system, make sure to have an inline distribution box installed to catch any debris, shingle, gravel, or leaves that come off the roof. This ensures the sump pit will last forever.
Choosing the Right Materials
When setting up your sump pit, you don’t want to use pea stone or small stone. Instead, use large stone so you don’t end up with little stone chips getting into your pump. Outdoor sump pumps don’t last long if they eat a lot of stone.
Always put your sump pit as close to the area of discharge as you possibly can, reducing the amount of distance that you’re pumping the water. Your pump will work more efficiently, and it will pump water faster if the discharge line is shorter. We like this black flexible PVC Schedule 40 for discharging water. With only a screwdriver, you can hook it up and run it wherever you want to discharge the water.
Close the Distance to Your Discharge Area
As a rule of thumb, I like to keep my discharge lines to 50 feet. Occasionally, discharge lines go to 100 feet, but I really don’t care for it. A larger distance to the discharge area slows the system down so that it has to work twice as hard. This means your outdoor sump pump just isn’t going to move as much water. We refer to that as head.
When you increase the head, the sump pump works really hard and loses its effectiveness to move flood conditions. Your trench might need to get kind of deep to move your discharge line closer to the area where you’re discharging the water. That’s why we have a Bad Seed sump pump that’s 40 inches tall.
DIY Friendly Outdoor Sump Pump Installation
A lot of people say, “Where I want to put the sump pit, it’s very far from my discharge.” The answer is to redesign your system. Thankfully, this couldn’t be easier. You dig a hole, oversize it so that it’s wider, and run your pipes alongside it. That’s it. You’re not hooking anything up. That is how simple the installation is. You just need a screwdriver and a shovel. Armed with those two things, you’ll have all the success in the world.
We have streamlined the Bad Seed sump pump system. We have streamlined it to where it just couldn’t be easier for the homeowner to install an outdoor sump pump.
The Experts in Outdoor Sump Pump Installation and More
French Drain Man has over 35 years of experience in the drainage industry, making them the experts in everything drainage related. From installing French drain systems to providing DIY tips from the pros, French Drain Man has you covered. Using only the best techniques and their own purpose-built parts, French Drain Man ensures that homeowners have the highest quality, long-lasting drainage systems around.
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