Back story: I have an issue with water coming up from the ground into my crawlspace. This is a common issue in my rural neighborhood despite being in the high desert where we get zero measurable rain from April through October. It's seasonal in the sense it dries up in late March or early April, however it restarts once the neighbor across the street starts running his wheel line irrigation. Dries up again in the fall once hay season is over and since I put a French drain in it stays dry until January when the ground water starts coming up from below.

Looking at my crawl space there is a good 6" or more of the footing exposed in the low spot I'm putting the pump. Right now the low spot is the only place that has any water in it. I had to pump it out while I was digging the pit. I'm not sure why this is as there is zero soil in my crawl space; it's a few inches of crushed rocks (bigger than gravel) on top of bedrock. The rest of the crawl space is pretty much crushed rock up to the top of the footing. Started digging and got 3" down to hit solid basalt bedrock. Couple hours with a hammer drill I was able to get the pit deep enough to accept the sump basin and be flush with the top of the footings. Pit is about 4 feet from the footing and is basically a hole in solid basalt (well, mostly solid as it has natural fractures in it that water seeps through). I'll have about 3" of gravel around the basin. Figure I'd fill the low area in with 3/4" gravel and call it good.

Any input would be much appreciated. Figure worst case I can go at it for a while with the hammer drill. Space is too tight for a jack hammer unfortunately.

Can you measure the quantity of water discharged during one cycle?

If the sump pit is too narrow (like the inside of a 5 gallon bucket) the float switch and motor could frequently run short cycles with many starts and short run times. Habitual short cycles will burn out the float switch with time.

So the wider the sump pit, the better because it allows less frequent starts and longer run times. Better for durability and a lower electric bill.

Good info. Not sure yet on how much water. Basin is 18" wide.

If the sump basin has an 18” diameter then longevity of your float switch and the motor should be good.

Thanks!

I'll keep monitoring it but for now it's only running a few times per day even with the irrigation going.