Help with downspout drainage issues

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Blivit

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Hello. I recently found this forum. I have posted in several other forums like this as I really need to get to the bottom of my issue and do so as cost effectively as I can. If you have seen me post on other forums I do apologize but I am trying to gather as much information as possible.

This may be long, so please bear with me.

Purchased home last year and this is the first "rainy season" in central florida for us in this house. In heavy rains, which is almost every day, I get pooling on the side of my back patio. This includes in the yard and on the patio itself.

Setup: Covered/screened patio with a pool. There is a channel drain in the patio that exits on either side. Also on either side there is a downspout. Both sides flood but this one is the worse and what I want to tackle first. I set out to figure out the problem and discovered a few things. There was an existing "system" there but it is not functioning as intended as far as I can tell.

Pictures: (file names correspond to numbers below)

1. Overall view of what I am working with. Roof area here calculated to be around 700 sq ft This includes the main roof and the roof of the patio. This produces a lot of water runoff, especially being in central florida. You cannot see the channel drain but it runs the entire length of the patio and exits on both sides. There are two 4" downspouts (one seen here, the other on the other side of the patio.) The green extender was temporary while I worked.

2. Closeup of "system" that was there when I started. The channel drain can be seen near the top above the drain basin. That basin I didn't even know was there as it was buried under those rocks. It is very small with a single output in front. The output is connected to a y-pipe where the gutter downspout fed into as well (using only the dark green tube just shoved inside) From there is goes out to black corrugated pipe.

3. Where the current drain pipe terminated. It does slope down and appears to be designed as a french drain. Closer to the end there were a lot of rocks and the pipe is socked. Where I stopped digging is where it just ends. No pop up, just ends underground covered in the fabric material surrounded by rocks.

I dug up the existing system and discovered the pipe was clogged and was not installed well anyway. Most of it was connected with duct tape and I have no idea if it ever functioned as intended as this is our first rainy season here.

This is on the side of my house bordered by my home on one side and a fence then the neighbors yard and house on the other. To continue the existing trench out to the front yard would be 100+ feet of pipe plus it would run into the start of my irrigation system and the city water line before needing to go under a sidewalk. I realize this may be the best route but it will be very expensive and time consuming and is something I would like to avoid right now.

I instead, did the following:

1. Removed existing system.
2. Put in a larger basin at the front under the channel drain. Downspout directed into basin. Output of basin to 4" pipe
3. Dug new trench toward the tree in the back
4. Ran new 4" solid pipe back to the tree, terminated with a "t" and a pop up

The idea was the water would fill the basin then excess would go back to the tree where it would exit out of the pop up if it was too much. Well, that doesn't work. I discovered the water gets to the t but then has no place to go. Because of the depth of the basin and the slope of the pipe, the pop up is too high for the water to escape. So, it sits there then backs up and I have a flooded patio again.

The idea of a drywell was brought up...possibly with a submersible pump in it should the water be too much. Some said putting in a drywell at either end would not be recommended as it would either be close to the house or close to the pool. There is also no electrical back there so I would have to put in a GFCI outlet or wire up the pump somehow.

I am not sure what to do. My patio flooding is causing me to lose sleep lol.

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2.jpg

3.jpg
 
Welcome to the forum.

You have a limited number of options with water you have to let gravity take it away or you have to pump it someplace. Hard to tell from photos but is there a natural grade to the land and is the lowest point an area where water can be absorbed. The problem is we cover so much of our land with buildings and hard surfaces and all that rain water has no place to go. All new planning’s require retention areas and calculate that based around how much land you are covering up. Running your water over to a neighbor is not a good solution. Is there a storm drain system and are you allowed to connect to it?
Using your eye to look for fall is not always the best. Get a string level and some cord and do a little survey of the land. Keep in mind the area you are hoping will soak up the extra water is also getting the same amount of rain as the roof and deck. For those pop up things to work you need a good deal of fall to make some pressure.
 
Welcome to the forum.

You have a limited number of options with water you have to let gravity take it away or you have to pump it someplace. Hard to tell from photos but is there a natural grade to the land and is the lowest point an area where water can be absorbed. The problem is we cover so much of our land with buildings and hard surfaces and all that rain water has no place to go. All new planning’s require retention areas and calculate that based around how much land you are covering up. Running your water over to a neighbor is not a good solution. Is there a storm drain system and are you allowed to connect to it?
Using your eye to look for fall is not always the best. Get a string level and some cord and do a little survey of the land. Keep in mind the area you are hoping will soak up the extra water is also getting the same amount of rain as the roof and deck. For those pop up things to work you need a good deal of fall to make some pressure.

Thanks. The temp pipe was only for 1 day while I was working, it has been moved already.

There is a slight grade down from back to front. The issue is, getting the line out to the front will be a lot of work.

There is no storm system that I can tie into...that I know of. The home was built in 1990, I am not sure what was planned in at that time. I did have the yard marked before I started any digging and a storm system was not marked.

The issue currently with the pop up is that the pipe leading to it is roughly 2' below grade. That means the water has to travel up that far to escape...yeah, we know that isn't going to work lol. Hindsight, yes I messed up and should have surveyed before digging.

Can/should I put a drywell at either end? (picture 1 or 3) That would put it next to the house or next to the pool. I have been advised this would not be a good idea and the only real solution is to continue the existing trench out to the front all the way to the curb.
 
install a dry well/ sump pump

because you do not have the room to run drain lines.

out from a tank

use 50 gallon blue barrell, drill holes in it
set into a hole, with 3' of 1 1/2 '' rock surrounding it

pipe a 2'' pvc pipe to the curb from barrel
install a float activated pump in barell with check valve [very important]

your yard is to small for the water to disapate, or perc

a good storm will over power a simple dry well

120vac40a_rev.jpg
 
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can you install a 4'' drain line out to the curb on the street?

my thought, is a combination dry well with over flow to daylight at street

because you have limited space to perc your well.

Could that be done? It can but it will be very difficult. I do understand that this is probably the best solution but I am really trying to avoid it if at all possible lol.

Your illustration is spot on location wise. To do this would require 100'+ of pipe. This would require me to go through where my irrigation system starts so I am sure there is a lot of obstacles there. This would also go right where the city water line to the house comes in so again, another obstacle. It would also need to go under a sidewalk before traveling another 8' to the curb.
 
Could you run the pipe along the base of the house from a sump like Frodo described and out to the driveway. Assuming the driveway slopes to the road. Discharge the water like it was a gutter drain line and let it run down the drive and out to the road. The only reason I said use a pump as that will also collect the water off the pool deck. If roof water is your only concern just pipe it down hill to the front of the house and let it go down the driveway.
 
your line from the tanks, does not have to be deep at all

peel the grass back, dig a 4'' deep trench put grass back

a 2'' line will be good, its being pumped
 
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Could you run the pipe along the base of the house from a sump like Frodo described and out to the driveway. Assuming the driveway slopes to the road. Discharge the water like it was a gutter drain line and let it run down the drive and out to the road. The only reason I said use a pump as that will also collect the water off the pool deck. If roof water is your only concern just pipe it down hill to the front of the house and let it go down the driveway.

Driveway is on the other side unfortunately. If this were all on the same side it it would be much easier. You are correct, part of the reason I see so much water is the combination of deck run-off from the channel drain and the gutter downspout.
 
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your line from the tanks, does not have to be deep at all

peel the grass back, dig a 4'' deep trench put grass back

a 2'' line will be good, its being pumped

The digging would be no problem both for the barrel and a smaller 2" discharge. This is actually exactly what was recommended on a different board so thank you.

My biggest hurdle with having a pump is electrical. There is an outlet on my patio and with my pool equipment there is a separate panel in my backyard (on the other side of the house though) where I could install a breaker and run power for a pump; but what would be the best way to get power to a pump?
 
under ground conduit..

mount a box on the wall,,run conduit down under ground to the tank

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Welcome to Florida. You should check with your city for any laws regarding handling of storm water runoff. A couple of things to consider. We get a lot of rain in the summer and your house has probably had its drainage issue for a very long time, so don't lose any more sleep over it.
Check with your neighbors and see how they're handling it. I have friends that have the same type of issue but they learned to just live with it. Their water drains off pretty quickly after the storm.
 
under ground conduit..

mount a box on the wall,,run conduit down under ground to the tank

I suppose I have 2 options:

1. On the wall where you are suggesting I mount a box, there is an outlet already. This outlet is more to the left next to the door. It is a GFCI outlet (I think, I need to verify as I never use it.) Could I put the new outlet on the wall with the source coming from the existing outlet? Or better yet just move the existing outlet to this new location through conduit along the bottom edge of the house? Or am I mis-interpreting this and I would basically just be putting in a junction box and hard wiring the pump in?)

2. On the other side of the house is where all of my pool equipment is located. There is a separate breaker panel there with space in it. I could install a breaker here and run wire/conduit from there around the pool and either add an outlet or just have the pump hard wired.

#2 would be more difficult but possibly safer?
 
Welcome to Florida. You should check with your city for any laws regarding handling of storm water runoff. A couple of things to consider. We get a lot of rain in the summer and your house has probably had its drainage issue for a very long time, so don't lose any more sleep over it.
Check with your neighbors and see how they're handling it. I have friends that have the same type of issue but they learned to just live with it. Their water drains off pretty quickly after the storm.


It probably has always been there. It does all typically dissipate rather quickly.

I do intend to speak to neighbors as almost every house around me has a pool and patio setup much like mine so I am sure others either have the same issue or have something in place to handle it. The reason I lose sleep is because when the patio does flood it occasionally reaches the house edge. Granted, it would have to be 3"+ of standing water to actually make it into the house but I get uncomfortable when it is that close.
 
Side question, if I do set up the dry well and pump, does the well need to be as large as the 55 gallon drum? Could it be smaller since I will be pumping the water out? If so, how much smaller could I get away with?
 
the pump needs [i believe by code] its own circuit



would not advise to go less than 30 gallons, 50 is bettter
 
I'm just curious. Given that your downspouts are directed away from the patio, is that water flowing out of them and back flooding the patio, or is coming from somewhere else? Such as out of the roof gutter.
 
I'm just curious. Given that your downspouts are directed away from the patio, is that water flowing out of them and back flooding the patio, or is coming from somewhere else? Such as out of the roof gutter.

It is a combination of things. The channel drain collects water from the pool area as it is sloped to do so. That means it also collects rain water from the patio from the area that is not covered. Then the downspout feeds into the basin and that downspout is responsible for all run off from the entire roof area you see in picture 1 (main house sloped down to the flatter patio roof.) There are 2 downspouts, one on each side but still only the two. Overall it is just a lot of water to handle. I have noticed too that the gutter itself is leaking on that end and that is falling directly down to the catch basin as well.
 
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