Solving flooded courtyard with dewatering sump pumps
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- This courtyard had no drainage whatever and would fill up with water after rain events. We installed three sump basins and piped the gutters directly into them. Three Zoeller M98 sump pumps then pump the water to the parking lot.
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Nice! Thank you for showing the system during rain!
No problem! Although it's more time consuming, I find it very satisfying to see that water gonee.
I like the care you took and the foresight to arrive on the job site during a rainstorm not only to see the work don but to plug those. Some places, I mean companies, wouldn't think to leave their armchair for their customer.
I think your the only one that shows it when it rain....
I don't see why that might be. It's my favorite part!
@@GCFD You might be one of the few that truly stand behind their work!
@@GCFD Ours too!
that "I have no comment about the water hitting the bumper, I have warned them" shot, hilarious!
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the rain videos make it worth watching
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One of the best water outflows shots! Thanks for another great video. That parking spot will be the last one filled during rain day.
Haha for sure 👍
My kids would be occupying that parking spot in their swimsuits!
Niceeee, glad you did the rain shot.
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
Good work! Post10 would be proud!
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What a crossover
I like the build. I'd would add unions in the pumps for servicing and more supports on horizontal runs from the roof so it won't say over time. The actual tests are priceless.
Great tip Bob. We didn't install unions because we didn't want the pumps to walk away on their own, given the area.
@@GCFD Wow that's a good call! Now you say that you guys make sure to tighten those bolts everytime too! 🙌🏼
How many times I mudt have seen this video.. just feels good to see a good job done...
I love how you do your after the job, on the next rain videos!
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I love sound of that train in the background, you guy's are very hard working thank you.
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Awesome video and job. Love the after video.
Thank you Lloyd
Nice, that was great to see them pumping down at the end! If it was light out it would have been a cool timelapse to see the courtyard dry up!
Good call Neal! I like the timelapse stuff
I remember doing a lot of that type of work when I was 2nd year plumbing apprentice about 1981, I received my master plumbers license 1992. Good job!
Nice!
I like how you tape your primer and glue together. Great job again.
An old plumber taught me that. It's a great way to roll.
Excellent videos. Liked them all.
Thank you! - Shawn
Definitely a unique situation a little forethought in the building phase would have eliminated this issue. But you sure solved it!! Nice work.
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In the UK we dig a big hole ,line it with a permeable membrane then stack plastic crates similar to beer crates,.In the middle or near the bottom you'd put an aerated box with an automatic sump pump. The crates are completely wrapped in the membrane with A layer of stone surrounding to prevent soil getting in.
We'd also have to bury the pipes 600mm deep and limit the outflow rates to prevent overloading the wider drainage system.
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NICE WORK
Thank you!
Awesome!! My new favorite channel!!
Thank you Jim! Thanks for your support, Shawn
@@GCFD gotta support my fellow North Carolinians!!🐺
I really like the idea of the grated lids. If I were the customer I would have been upset by the concrete dust
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Love waterproofing, been doing it for 3 years now up here in Michigan
Nice!
Now that's what i call problem solved. Great work!
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
You should try Diablo pruning blades for you reciprocating saw if you’re not using them already. Goes through roots really well.
I have used those and they are wonderful. Thank you!
Great work! well thought out and executed. I watched a couple of videos and one thing you can improve on is your finish concrete patches. They look like they were done without much care. Just a few minutes more work and one of the most visible aspects of the job looks professional. Maybe it's just the 2 videos I watched were the exception.
Thank you Bob! We've been improving the concrete stuff and it makes a big difference, like you said.
@@GCFD I'm just a remodeling contractor, not a concrete guy. But one tool I use a lot to match finishes is a tile sponge: I use it early to clean up the spillage and later on to match a texture. I also tend to use "Cement all" (Home depot rapid set concrete) It's a hot mix and has a bit of a learning curve, but it will go from feather finish to 4" and is ready for the final finish in minutes. Cheers man, thanks for the content.
Awesome video and love how you always go back to the job to see it in action.
Thank you JW. It's my favorite part seeing the system working.
Sweet!!! The end was great!!!
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Great work. I install underground sprinklers. Very similar idea with the piping
Thank you Justin!
Post 10 would be proud of you
Post 10 might hate him if his design ended up create flood instead lol
But mostly its municipal fault for not dealing with trash problem and loose leaf.
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Videos are really entertaining.
Thanks! Thanks for watching, Shawn
Good job
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Attention to details is what makes the job go well. You guys have that in spades.
Thank you Chuck! I am fortunate to have a crew that values doing a good job with everything they touch.
That's a nice system.
Thank you! It was a difficult situation, plus they added a sidewalk where we were originally planning to take our pipe and they said we couldn't touch the sidewalk. It had to do with accessibility with the new sidewalk and they didn't want to get in trouble.
Impressive.
Thank you B A!
Those pumps are no joke
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Great video. I did a similar job at my first house which had an enclosed courtyard. I often wonder if the new owners have maintained it.
If they are smart they have! It's a lot easier to maintain than install a new system. 👍
Dang I wish I could do that up here in Canada. Problem is the bitter cold in winter would freeze lines like that. We get lots of water every spring as the snow melts
Luckily we don't have temperatures like you do!
Great work as always. I'm just curious how you find a group of loyal/hardworking guys willing to do this type of work these days
You take exceptionally good care of them, provide lunch, provide an easy-going atmosphere focused on getting the job done correctly and not "saving money" and value their experience and opinion/input. 👍
So cool 😎
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Not sure if it was possible in this situation as I wasn’t there to see everything but I would personally recommend for this one single sump with the lines running into it and directly connect it to the storm drain in the parking lot without a pump. If it needed to go up in elevation is when using pumps works, but try to eliminate any failure points which having pumps adds a few.
I agree with your reasoning! Installing pumps is my absolute last resort because they are a constant expense and maintenance item. The courtyard has a brick wall around it with no fall towards the street. Sometimes you gotta pump that water...
Looks good. Did you check gutters and whether they have screens to keep leaves from all the trees out of the discharge pumps. I know pumps will pump it but that would cut down on discharge waste onto driveway, which could get slippery.
I don't want screens on anything in these systems. The reason is they never get maintained and eventually clog. Then the whole system is useless. I want the debris to flow into and through the system. The only exception is gutter guard over the gutters.
Nice job.
Thank you!
A lot of balls to the guys core drilling that way done that one time and man almost lost a limb
any recommendations for installing pumps in cold climates? should i install heat trace to prevent things from icing up?
It is incredible how these buildings are constructed with little attention paid to drainage.
I’m going to suggest to you please use schedule 40 electrical conduit for your electrical work. It’s easier to pull wires through because of the wide sweep 90s, but more importantly if somebody digs into it they should immediately recognize it isn’t a water pipe before they cut into it. This job looked like a lot of work!
We use 1 1/2" pressure PVC to run the cords through because we already have that pipe on the truck.
How about just running some hazard tape around / over the pipe. There is always one idiot that does not check what they are doing.
@@GCFD Stupidity!
Suggest to the owners that they buy spare pumps. This will avoid future water issues when these pumps fail.
It’s fascinating to see drainage being pumped onto open roads. Here in Kuala Lumpur we would not be allowed to do that. Houses with that build up would require at least 1’x1’x1’ open drains and it would be channeled to the main sewerage at least 3’ deep. Otherwise it would not be able to hold up to 500mm rain per hour 😆
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Some countries like Australia it is illegal to put stormwater into the sewer system.
@@jamesbh101 And New Zealand - we're spending big money separatng the two cntury old systems!
Great video. It appears as if the cover isn't letting enough water in, too few holes?
Nice job, except I would have put a rubber cap on the PVC pipe where the power cord comes out. Just cut an X in the rubber cap, push the power cord through the X and push the rubber cap on to the end of the PVC pipe. Prevents small animals from nesting in the PVC pipe.
Great video! Thanks for showing the set up in action in the rain.
What is the part attached just above the pump, glued on at 6:25? Thank you.
That's called a check valve. It's like a one-way valve that doesn't let the water flow back into the basin once the pump stops.
@@GCFD needed a small hole drilled below the check valve to prevent problem
NICE!! I hope they own that stall. Lawsuit?
Love your videos! Amazing craftsmanship and pride in your work. I wanted to ask, why not plumb all three pumps into one 4” pipe out the curb rather than do them all individually? That way you don’t need to have the required fall? Just let the pump shove it out? I’m
Curious haha.
If any of the check valves failed you'd be pumping water into the other sump basins, including the customer's basement! I like three independent systems so I never have to worry. Great question! 👍
@@GCFD awesome! Thanks for the reply, the more you know! Love the videos, keep it up man!
88r
That water coming out is going to be more of an issue sooner or later, but not your fault the guy put a sidewalk in the original spot
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A little extra work would have got those pipes under the sidewalk with no issues. The concrete you just poured is going to crack and deteriorate
The sidewalk was installed recently and had to do with accessibility. We were forbidden to go near it.
I like how homie at 4:07 was just cutting the sidewalk with no water. And then wasn't even phased when the boss was walking up with a camera. This must be normal practice.
👍 We use water. I'm not sure why he didn't on that day.
I just wanted to note, when I cut concrete the silica dust gives you cancer. About 3 years ago on the job site we had to wear facemasks, something to think about, and use water to cut back on the dirt
We use water when we cut concrete. This worker didn't use it and I wasn't paying attention.
Thanks for sharing video of your work. Can you give a rough estimate of this jobs' price? Thanks again.
Next time install unions on the discharge pipes on those sump pumps... to make your life easier when you have to pull them for cleaning, replacement, etc.
We normally install unions. In this case we didn't install them because there are a lot of people around and we didn't want the pumps walking off on their own. I should have mentioned that!
Great video, what brand of pump you use and recommend?
Areas like this are the reason I’m looking into buying a 1-1.5 ton mini(micro) excavator.
10/10, 16:50 there may be something to study here as the center discharge seems to be syphoning better than the others.
Thanks! That center discharge is coming from the sump basin with two gutters draining into it. I think there was more standing water there for it to continue pumping.
@@GCFD and length of discharge pipe. Middle seemed to be a shorter run to the parking lot.
Curious is this job is located somewhere where freeze/thaw is a problem?
No, we're in NC.
NC still has plenty of freezing, but this should still be okay. I have irrigation system above 3’ and it’s lasted years fine in NC.
17:05 It's like the fountains at The Bellagio
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i suggest using the m95 their the improved version of the m98 with a 2 year longer warranty, a better switch system and better heat give off
I'll def check into it! Thanks for the tip!
With GFI power outlet they can trip from water/power surge have to use them code plus safer ,you need to keep up on it see if it is tripped every so often .
Great advice! Otherwise it trips and no pumps working.
PSA - For all of you kids watching this, don't play with electricity while standing in water!
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And you’ve obviously never been on a construction site. Drop cords laying in standing water all the time.
@@electricaf365 no I have not but I know water and electricity don't go well together.
@@electricaf365 whatever
I think I would have cut the bumper in the middle anchor down each end and have two pieces instead, which would let the water flow through it.
We thought about that but it was up to the property manager.
Easy way to wash your intercooler or radiator on the front of your car. You know ole Granny at the retirement center there just needs all the HPs.
Yep!
The electrician hardwire the pump or put a female plug to the wire and then connect the male plug from the pump to the female plug? Thanks in advance. I have a similar case in my back yard is pretty much flat.
I like this design for what I see. But I’m concerned that there is no alarm or failure alerting system. For a minimal extra cost you could use a wifi connected power monitoring device along with some custom software to alert based on various failure scenarios. Or, a different option would be to add a high water alarm above the pump- basically a second float. These could send a message to the property owner automatically. I work in IT and create monitoring systems for my employer. So this is easy for me. You could get a similar system as I described that’s pre- made and ready to use out of the box from pumpspy. I’ve never used that one as I designed my own. But in this environment shown in the video the smart outlet from pumpspy seems like a perfect fit.
Great idea!
@@GCFDadds value to the job for little cost
My backyard is lower than the street. I want to pump water uphill to the street (10 inch rise over 50 ft) Is it ok if the pump piping is pitched uphill? Worried about water trapping in the pipe and freezing?
Yes going uphill is why a pump is required. The freezing thing is an issue.
Awesome work to bad the electricity wasn’t finished
Yea for sure!
@@GCFD
My hats off for taking the rare initiative to follow up on jobs
That speaks volumes of your companies reputation
Nice setup; do builders normally plan for drainage like this, or is this more of an afterthought?
I often see it as an afterthought, where a little planning could have avoided it completely. It's easy to look back so maybe we don't know what all they had in the plan.
It’s so crazy to me that down pipes aren’t plumbed directly into stormwater drains over there. Where I live all down pipes are plumbed to tanks or to stormwater drains.
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Is there a reason/benefit to not using the PVC gutter downspout adapters that have the square gutter connector? Looking to do some DIY runs. Thanks in advance!
I don't like using adapters because they close off access to the system. With the downspout in the coupling there is enough room to fit a jetter hose in there to clean things out. The adapters do look better but I don't use them. 👍
Well I'd never use that parking spot! 😄
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Is the reson you piped all three pumps all the way to the curve due to redundancy or capacity? I was thinking it would be more cost effective and less pipe to go into one before going to the curb. I am no expert, just a curious IT tech 😊
Yes I took them all to the curb because it was the best possible way to do things. I thought about the issues you mentioned, but I wanted the system to work as best it could. Thanks for commenting!
@@GCFD Yeah sometimes cost effective is not the right way, its the same thing in networking :) As you more or less have redundancy now, with not single point of failure.
I think if they re-directed they're down spouts to the parking area that problem would have been solved this is just putting a band aid on the actual problem. That sump pump system needs an electrical breaker panel for all of those pumps.
There was no way to direct the downspouts uphill to the parking lot and through that concrete wall. We would have loved to do that for sure!
Tell the guy priming the pipe a 1/2 " that the whole joint needs to be primed especially on a pump discarge
Are there maintace that need to be done on these sump pumps also
Not really. They work until they stop working. These have a 3 year warranty so are high quality pumps.
@@GCFD the on off switches will burn up right at 3 yrs,after the warranty runs out ( ask me how i know) that is Zollers weakness better off going with a float switch instead
Where are you located, My guess is in the warm zone where there is no permeant winter frost line.
We are in NC. No real frost line here.
Hi, I was wondering what tool the guy at 3:48 is using? It appears to be cutting roots to help dig the trench better?
That's a dewalt 20v sawzall with a green limb blade on it. We were trying to get through those crape myrtle roots!
Who ever parks at that curb is gonna have a terrible day if it rains. That’s a lot of splash discharge.
Yep
I didn't understand where the roof water was going to before?
Where does the car park drain to?
The roof water was pooling in the courtyard with nowhere to drain out. The parking lot drains to the woods. 👍
@@GCFD
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I think,,,, well I HOPE we have regulations in the UK to require drains to be linked in to a system.
However, in a lot of places it is one system which takes rainwater and sewage meaning sometime he sewage treatment plant gets overloaded and release untreated sewage :(
@@GCFD i wonder why a huge brick wall maybe hmm.
Over all good work but definitely need to get more practice on the cement work.
yeah, silicosis much? :P
Foot trowel LoL
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@@ScottHz Was wearing ear protection though, he'll be able to hear himself coughing to death..... These guys certainly don't take safety in the workplace seriously. Do good work though
What pumps do you use?
Why the water still there?
Which water?
I commented on this video and I got a reply from another person in this field on that comment. How could that be? Quite interesting as I follow you a lot. On this video I was wondering if you had any flak from who ever was assigned that parking place.🦇
How is not having storm water control on property not normal?
Love the videos
This construction looks old
i probably would have put on some elbows to redirect the flow left and right from that parking stop.
That's a good point. There was a low point where the parking lot and sidewalk met and we wanted to direct the water out into the parking lot further away from the sidewalk. It was not an elegant solution but it was highly effective.
I had a plumber buddy who told me to always twist the plastic pipe when you insert it into the female joint. He said it will always glue any voids/bubbles in the glue area that you did not see. He would always insist that his employees twist the glued pipe to prevent call backs.
I have worked mainly with schedule 80 water pressure lines and they don't want you to twist because any particle in there could leave an un-glued section when twisted. I just gob on the glue on both sides of the connection and call it done.
Wouldn’t want my car parked there, or get be getting shopping out when the pump goes off and soaks me, could you have put small 90s on to direct water along the pavement?
There's a wheelchair ramp nearby and so I wanted to direct the water into the parking lot. Definitely not a super elegant solution.
Yeah, thought the same thing. Wonder if the hoa/mgmt would let them cut a section out of the curb so the water is not deflected upward.
I thought you would have cut those 3 pipes at the kerb to make it look nicer and prevent them from being damaged.
With the parking lot curb there we left them protruding. We also wanted to make it obvious where the water was coming from since this is a less-than-ideal discharge point.
Seems odd the power was not hooked up - all that seed getting washed out. Otherwise nice job & video. I’ve tried solid bucket before but water pushed it out of the ground!
The electrician had not hooked up the outlets yet and I didn't want to leave extension cords set up per the pump manufacturer.
All the ground water, maybe it would have been better with perforated basins
This was all surface water and not subsurface water. Since we piped the gutters directly into the basins we went with solid basins with perforated lids.
You made removing sump pump very hard . It will breakdown over time
I was curious when it comes to the perforated catch buckets can any type of soil be compacted on the outside? Wasn't sure if clay would clog the system
When we use a perforated catch basin we surround it with several inches of gravel to help keep things flowing.
Hey Shawn - Love these videos. I continue to learn a lot from you guys. One question about this sump setup - Do you think a sump basin with a perforated lid would be as effective handling surface water as a typical 12" catch basin? This would allow me to skip a catch basin altogether in my system and just have surface water go directly into the sump setup. You guys should think about a merch store selling your t-shirts. I would love to show some support and appreciation.
Yes I think you'd be fine doing that. The sump basin acts as a catch basin when you place it at a low point with a perforated lid. I haven't thought about merch. I don't know anything about it.
@@GCFD I want a t-shirt that says "FULL BUBBLE!".