Identifying source of water infiltration in bsement

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I think we can agree that you are putting more water down there than the system can handle.

In older systems they laid 12" long pipes around the house so it could pick up water around the foundation and then they ran the downspouts in there too.
It worked fine when it was new but as the system fills with mud and crap, instead of picking up water it leaks water around the foundation..
In new houses they install 2 pipes, one for the down spouts and one for the perimeter drain.

The old pipe systems were made out of terracotta tile or concrete tile, they can be full or broken and collapsed. So the fix would be to dig around the house and repair and replace or devert the downspout with another system and hope the perimeter drain can still handle the lower stuff or run a system inside the foundation with trench in the floor and a sump pump.

Sorry there is no good news here.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fTLfdZ1cdE[/ame]
 
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All that water is being dumped right next to the foundation, so you might as well disconnect from that cast iron pipe. It is not helping. You could put an elbow on the downspout and a short length of pipe and see if the rain will run off or be absorbed by the lawn, or you can run a longer length of pipe to the street or sidewalk (or any reliable low point)...maybe bury it a few inches below the lawn and call it fixed.
I still think that the holes in the wall are weep holes for the protection of the wall, and probably aren't much of a factor in the basement water problem.
 
Are you certain it drains into the sewer? Sometimes you find that in old houses in old cities, but usually downspouts drain either above-grade downhill (exposed) or into a cistern or dry-well. My guess is that you have the latter as these will fill with silt and dirt over time and lose capacity, the usual symptom of which is what you have. New dry-wells use landscape fabric to prevent this but that wasn't available in the old days so all you got was a gravel-filled hole in the ground. New systems also often have an overflow vent, again too new for your situation. With any of these (including a cistern) when the soil becomes saturated as will happen in a long heavy rain there is nowhere for the downspout water to go so it overflows.

Whatever it is, there is definitely a lack of flow capacity in the drain so that's where you must begin the investigation. You may be able to un-strap the downspouts then lift them to one side to gain access. From there you might discover if the piping heads toward your yard or towards the sewer helping you figure out what you've got. And if it's just a partial clog you might even be able to clear it from the now-exposed pipe.

Phil
 
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