u/archbid

Bernie and AOC show up to open for the Strokes concert tonight in NYC

I have a basement that is totally sealed that is set on a gravel base with an exterior sump. The sump is drained by a main and backup pump with mains power and a battery backup. This sump is also used by the French drains and the drains in the yard to collect water because we are below the street drains.

There is a crawl space and a light well attached to the basement, each of which is also concrete and sealed, it each has a drain because there is the possibility of water intrusion.

The problem is that these two drains use the same sump as the basement. if the sump fails (pump or power failure), it fills and water goes backwards up the two drain lines, comes out the drains, and fills the basement.

It has happened twice during big rains. The collection from the yard fills the sump, it backs up through the drains and fills the basement.

I am trying to figure out how to fix this, and I thought of putting backflow preventers (I don't know the right word) in the drains. however, they are 2 3/4” I.d. Openings and I can’t seem to find one that fits.

I have also thought of routing the site drainage away from that sump, or creating a separate sump for just those two drains (the light well has a cover that lets in very little water and the crawlspace has essentially none.

Thoughts?

I hired an HVAC to put in a Mitsubishi split AC unit behind a wall. the install is perfect, very professional.

I asked for mud-in vents, and he bought one from BuildMart. Unfortunately, one of his guys ripped the black louvers out from inside and damaged it in the process, so he bought a replacement and then tore the black louvers out again. I asked why and he said they don’t work and will make too much noise.

I am presuming the people who make the vent make it for this purpose, and would make the louvers removable if they made the system not work. can someone help me understand what is going on?

I wrote this a while ago and have shared it with many of you. I changed the link, so if you are interested, request access again. The only ask I have is that you not share the link anywhere.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UDHRt5wseX2aDiroCyNrG2Q2kAxNADvoP56X550VnMw/edit?usp=sharing

so much work to get this bad boy perfect, now it runs like a champ. daily driver