Your window wells should have a drain that leads down to your existing drain tile around the foundation. The drain will carry any water that enters the well down to the foundation tile, which will then take the water to a sump or other means of outlet. If it does have a drain, then it is possible it could be clogged. Has there been a heavy rain in the area lately?

There is no drain in the window well. We live in Utah and homes are not usually built with drain tiles around the foundation (unless you are in a flood plain). We have not had any heavy rain, but have had more snow than usual. Any thoughts on the usefullness of caulking between the foundation and the window wells? I'm guessing that this is where the water is getting in, but not sure. Thanks.

I live in Maryland and I have the same problem with the same questions... We have three basement window wells and two of them when we have heavy rains they get full of water. The water has risen high enough (36") and the water gets into basement through the window itself. The same situation, the area around the wells is wet but no surface water. The windows are on opposite sides and the other window does not have any problems. One of the window well has a broken seal between the foundation and the window well. In addition of fixing the leak, do you have any ideas?

When I started building homes, one of the bits of advice that the old pros told me was "avoid window wells". Installing window wells with no drainage boggles the mind!

Ditto homebound's advice.

I have the same problem as above with my window well. I have taken the downspouts underground and away from the house 40'. I have re-attached the well with silicone and tap-cons to the concrete wall. I have covered the well with a well cover.
I have two questions. 1 How deep should/can the gravel be at the bottom of the well. 2. My house was built in 1978 and I live in southeastern PA. How can I tell if there is a drain system at the base of my home's foundation. (Is it code?) If I do, I'll connect to it. If I don't what's next?

Feel free to take the gravel down to the footing. You want gravel that doesn't pack too tightly, so the water can run down. Yet it shouldn't be too loose, so that cold air ends up next to the footings, bringing the danger of frost heave in the spring.

Well guys, I guess the picture describes just how a window well should be installed. Just had an egress window put in and with a drain connecting into the drain tile. I have no problems with water ever comming up from the drain as well. Try calling Egress Solutions and put an egress window in. My wife has two of those window wells at her place of work that many of you describe and they leaked inside causeing over $10,000 worth of damage including black mold big time. Lucky it was the landlords dime and not hers.

Have had two 100 year storms in three years.
Water completely surrounds house, first time over the wells, last time two inches below. I can keep water from entering over the top, but water leaks into well where well flange meets concrete wall. Given time, I will probably dig out two of them and replace with higher ones. In the meantime, I want to know the best type of caulk/sealant I should use to seal between the flange and the wall.
Thanks

I have a window well that fills up with water and leaks into my basement.My gutter was overflowing and clogged.The window well flange was pulled away from the concrete wall on both sides.

I have done the following:

Cleaned out the gutter and re-pitched it.

Dug out window well and bolted the flange to the concrete wall.

Sealed the ends of the window well where it meets the wall with flashing material and a tar coating.

Covered the well with a plastic window well cover.

Regraded around the well.

Installed stone inside the well.

Now all I am waiting for is a heavy rain to see what happens. I will let you know how it goes!!

There is a big problem with the image above.

If the pipe below gets over run with water it will not drain anything. Basic plumbing always requires a vent. This is because if the water down the line of the same tube doesn't drain you cannot add more water to the tube.

Gutter drains and window well drains are explained well in the following link..

Here is a link that might be useful: basement waterproofing information

"Basic plumbing always requires a vent. This is because if the water down the line of the same tube doesn't drain you cannot add more water to the tube. "

This is not sanitary plumbing with traps that require protection against siphoning.

The lines are normally so large (3 inches and up in many cases) there is no chance of having enough water flowing to fill the lumen of the pipe.

There size allows them to hold water that will soak into the ground over time once the rain stops or the snow finishes melting.