I recently had a new sump installed by a plumber after having him come out for his opinion on the increased waterflow this year. I actually believe now its just due to the rising watertable caused by the large amount of percipitation this year. In any case, he made the suggestion that I replace the existing pump because it was getting old and was being worked hard. He put in a Hydromatic with a membrane pressure switch. The switch was not rated to go off until a height which would fill 75% of the drain tile inlet. I voiced concerns, and he told me not to worry.

Fast forward 3 months. I started to notice a lot of silt in the well. It looks like most of it was coming from soil surrounding the well erroding due to the standing water. There is a gap between the inlet pipe and the cut-out in the manufacturered well it feeds into, and I saw a stream of silt coming through there while its filled. Ultimately, the switch failed (which is odd for this type of switch) and I replaced it with a correctly sized switch that goes off prior to the inlet. Now I have concerns about the reprecussions of the errosion caused during this timeframe. I also am noticing more silt coming thru the inlet itself than before. Is this something to be concerned about even though water is still clearly coming in?

A complicating factor is that I have another well...which is supposed to be strictly for draining the washing machine and floor drain. Unfortunately, its not a sealed sewage well, but rather another sump well. It never had issues with groundwater before, but after adding the higher switch it started to fill up, also thru the crack between the floor-drain inlet and the well formation hole. Its very slow, but it still fills up. In fact, when the switch failed in the sump...the water level stopped raising in the sump well and seemed to divert entirely to the other well - obviously routing itself through the dirt under the slab. It was still coming through, though at a much slower rate, a couple of days after installing the new lower switch. I am hopeful it will stop in the coming days, but either way I have to wonder if permanent damage was caused. That said, is it wise to seal off both of the gaps in each well with some silicon caulk or perhaps JB Weld?

Well, I have some other concerns about exterier drainage, but I'll get to those a little later as I see I've blabbed on long enough. Thanks to anyone who read thru this and can offer some advice.

Thanks,

Jeff