A dreary Sunday with skinned hands

It is gray, cold and threatening rain this Sunday. As a consequence, I don't feel like the usual long run nor any kind of big outdoor project. So, I decided to finally pound a sump-pit into the floor of our basement.

For the first four years in this house, we never got water in the basement from the ground. We had some leaky pipes and a failed hot water heater, but that is another story. I don't know what changed in the last couple of years but now if there is a big thaw or a few days of heavy rain, we get water seeping into the basement.

Lacking a sump-pit, there was no way to use a sump-pump. We live on a steep hill, so I have been able to setup a siphon to drain out the water. This works fine but has two problems: 1) There has to be water on the floor for it to work and I don't want there to be water on the floor. 2) Since there is no collection point below the floor, the siphon sucks air and stops working while there is still a little water left.

A pit should solve all problems. Water will be able to be pumped before it reaches the level of the basement floor. When the siphon fails, the water level will be below the height of the floor. I have even considered that if I dig the pit deep enough then the siphon will never fail because as the head approaches the level of the outlet hose, the flow rate will slow--eventually to zero if the pit is deep enough.

So my hands are skinned since I made the hole in the slab only just wide enough for my hand to fit.