i need to pump water from incredibly wet part of garden

I am getting to grips with my new garden and the solid red clay that forms it but have a problem in one corner. I have an idea but need to know if its doable and what it may entail.

This side of the garden- I call it the dark side- is about 18" lower than garden next door which obviously drains into mine. I also have something higher than mine at the bottom so get water from there too! I havent the money or energy for land drains and anyway have nowhere for it to go.

I have just had a shed on the dark side laid on a concrete base. To avoid getting the base sodden i have dug a kind of moat all round one side to keep water off the base. When it rains like it does this just fills up and no the soil around it is smelly and stagnant.

I just went out and filled up 3 gallon of water from my moat. I was thinking that if I get a small pump would this do the job? It would need to be plugged in when i need it . Its ok me hand bailing it out in June but cant see me doing it in the winter.

What type of pump would work do you think? I need some ideas!

 

Hi

A sump pump would be useful attach a hose and straight down the drain.

I have one just in case , with having a river at the bottom of the garden

 

Hi there
I suppose you could just get a submersible pond pump and run the pipe to the nearest drain. You would need to dig out a bit of a hole to put the pump into, so that water is collected from the lowest point. There may however be a problem with mucky water going down the drain. It might cause a blockage?
What I'd be inclined to do is to dig out a hole big enough to take something like a regular dustbin, plus an extra 6"-12" all round Drill out some holes in the dustbin, place the dustbin in the hole and surround the sides with gravel or the like. The gravel will help hold back any muck and also give some drainage to the surrounding ground. You can then just place the submersible pump at the bottom of the dustbin and turn on as necessary. Obviously you would need some kind of cover to keep it out of sight. Hope this helps
Cheers...Freddy

 

hiya, thanks for the reply. Yes i wondered about the dirty water clogging it up? I am not sure if i could go down the depth of a dustbin!! Holes seem to fill up quicker than I can dig . I have just had a conservatory built on the sunny side of the garden and the clay went down at least 3 feet solid and it took forever and he did that every day. where the hole needs to be is wet, claggy, smelly and stagnant! nice.....and noticed there are lots of mossies about which are no doubt breeding there too.. I could possibly dig about 18" down . this would be nowhere near enough no doubt

 

Hi again.

I suppose 18" down would certainly make an improvement. You just need some kind of container for the water to drain into. Important in my view to make sure you surround your chosen container with gravel

 

What type of property do you live in I,E. new or old ,why I ask is that if you live in a new build you should have two sets of drains ,1 for waste water and one for rain water,if you have a rain water drain you could dig a drain to run to it. If so dig a deep hole next to the drain lower than the run off drain you want and fill with gravel and just drill 1 to 3 holes into the top water drain,the gravel will form a sump and only clear water will go down the drain.

 

They tend to suck-in from top (or need water over the pump at least, otherwise they over heat) and usually don't have a float switch.

Sump pump suck in from the bottom (so will drain, for example, a cellar to the last couple of mm). Usually have a float switch - so you can leave it plugged in, if you want, and it will pump whenever there is water sitting there.

However ... the "swing" of the arm can take quite a bit of [sideways] space, and the pump only comes on when the arm has moved all the way (there is a ball bearing in the arm, and it has to go past an obstruction, so the arm needs to come nearly upright to turn the pump on, and then doesn't turn it off again until the arm has sunk right down again).

Apart from taking that width into account, I would just sink a bucket (with holes in the bottom and gravel under and all around the outside) into the area, and then put the sump-pump in it.

(You might be able to find a sump-pump that has a float switch that doesn't need the "width" of the swinging arm)

Better would be to run a land drain towards to the bucket. Its just a trench with a length of perforated drainage pipe (comes on a roll) in the bottom, and then cover the pipe [just] with gravel. That will allow water to come out of the soil, into the "French drain", and then flow to the sump, which will dry out the soil in that area.

 

thanks for all the replies. I am going to look into the sump pump issue , putting it into a container of some type and pumping from that. The only concern I have is that is my garden is lower than neighbours there will always be water in mine. But mainly I need to protect my shed base as it will soon get rotten if the water is lapping over the concrete base. I looked in hole this morning-saddo that I am- I emptied it yesterday and its filled again today with about a gallon of water and I dont think it rained! no wonder there was no plants in the garden when I moved in-they probably all drowned

 

My back garden sounds similar to yours, I am afraid it`s all hard landscaping now, when I had my greenhouse erected we laid a concrete base, it just shifted the water course, as water will find its own way. If you get the same problem, my water all comes through the base of my metal shed now, I have pallets inside so nothing is on the floor.

 

I hope it doesnt come to that! something to look forward to I suppose

 

Sounds to me as though this is an ideal opportunity to construct a bog garden and have the plants use up all of the excess water. Otherwise, I fear you are just wasting your time .......
Try a Gunnera