# Sump pit smell and water color



## chsitko (Aug 27, 2010)

We bought our home last spring and the house was built in 65. The previous owner had the sump pit going directly into the main sewer, which is illegal. 

When it would rain hard, the pump would cycle every 5 seconds. When it wasn't raining the pump would still cycle every hour or so. I finally got around to disconnecting and rerouting the pipe out the house (I have another post regarding questions for this ). Since routing the pipe out the side of the house, i have noticed a dramatic decrease in the activity of the pump. The pit is still wet, but the pump will go days without cycling. After a couple of days the water in the pit starts to smell pretty bad, and the smell is noticeable anywhere near the room. I then noticed the water started to turn black and started coating the walls and anything else in the pit. When i redid the plumbing i replaced the 6 bricks that were in the pit with a larger square patio paver to provide a larger flat area since i also added a backup system. 

So what would cause this smell and the black buildup. The paver turned solid black which makes me think it might have been the cause?

I also wonder if i had a break or separation in the sewer pipe, which may have caused my pump to cycle so often during heavy rain. We haven't had a good rain recently, so i don't know how much change will occur during a good rain. If we do have a break, the smell might be coming from the particals which have leaked out over the year. We actually have 2 sewer pipes coming out of our house, the one where the sump connected to is only being feed by the kitchen.

I removed the paver and pumps and dumped bleach into the pit to disinfect, which cleared the water up. I put a different type of paver in which is concrete hoping it would help. The water is not black, but is turning a deep yellow color and has started to smell again. Also on the top of the water is small clumps of what appears to be a film like material which clumped together.

Sorry for the long post, i hope i covered most of the need information.


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## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

Mildew can form in the sump pump pit although I don't know why some homes would get it and other homes might not.

During a dry spell when there is no water collecting in the pit, see if you do get water in the pit after several showers in quick succession and/or washing several loads of clothes in quick succession. You could also put dye in the waste water. Allow at least a day for dye from a possibly leaking sewer line to get to the sump pump pit if you use this method of testing.


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## walkman (Jan 4, 2009)

I put in a sump pit in my crawlspace last year and am getting the same water condition that you are, although not with an odor problem. I have some gravel in the bottom of my plastic sump liner. 

I run a condensation line from my dehumidifier which is the main/only source of water in the pit unless we have a very heavy rain. 

I poured some clorox into the pit thinking that might help.


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## federer (Aug 20, 2010)

any update on this?


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## chsitko (Aug 27, 2010)

I opened up the cleanout to the sewer and after removing the cleanout plug the pipe was entirely solid with a black substance. I poked at it and was able to break it up, the material was about an inch or 2 thick. It was very strange, it was almost like sout. I dont know if the previous owner had some type of stove preiously and maybe was wasing the ash down the drain, but it was wierd. After cleaning that material out, i removed some roots from the pipe which increased the flow. I think the pipe was so full of roots and the sout like material that it was causing the pipe to fill completly up and create engough pressure that the water was seeping through a crack in the pipe and making its way down into the sump pit. Now that the pipe flows beter, the problem isnt as bad. Sometime in the near future i'll have someone out to professionally clean the pipe and put a camera down to check the condition of the pipe. I put a little bleach in the pit during the bleach just to be safe, but the water is visually cleaner and the smell is gone.


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## federer (Aug 20, 2010)

chsitko said:


> I opened up the cleanout to the sewer and after removing the cleanout plug the pipe was entirely solid with a black substance. I poked at it and was able to break it up, the material was about an inch or 2 thick. It was very strange, it was almost like sout. I dont know if the previous owner had some type of stove preiously and maybe was wasing the ash down the drain, but it was wierd. After cleaning that material out, i removed some roots from the pipe which increased the flow. I think the pipe was so full of roots and the sout like material that it was causing the pipe to fill completly up and create engough pressure that the water was seeping through a crack in the pipe and making its way down into the sump pit. Now that the pipe flows beter, the problem isnt as bad. Sometime in the near future i'll have someone out to professionally clean the pipe and put a camera down to check the condition of the pipe. I put a little bleach in the pit during the bleach just to be safe, but the water is visually cleaner and the smell is gone.


oh cool thats good to hear. how did you locate the cleanout?


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## chsitko (Aug 27, 2010)

The cleanout i used was inside the house, right before the pipe exits. I dont have an external one (that i'm aware of).


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