Were you able to come up with a solution to this issue? I have a similar problem and would appreciate your thoughts.

From a practical standpoint, once outside would your sump pump have enough power to expel most of the water up into a barrel? While I'm sure some of the water could reach that high, I am concerned that I couldn't get all of the water up to the barrel and don't know what would happen to the water that remained in the piping between the sump pump and the barrel?

It probably will depending on how much vertical distance (head) you have from the pump and barrel. It is better to push water than pull it. I use a small impeller pump to push water 50' with about 10 feet of head into the top of a barrel On the issue of "flow back" you could use a check valve to prevent backflow.

How do you get the water out of the barrel and make sure its reasonable clean? I'm assuming it might be fine for an open hose, but not clean enough for sprinkler use unless you filtered it a lot and then ran an expensive pump to create the pressure. Even then I'd go through a rain barrel full of water in 10 minutes flat.

Yes you can do that. It's just ground water and there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. Your pump shouldn't have any problems pumping it up another 5 feet or so. Just make sure you guys have check valves comming off the pump in the house (about 2 feet above the floor and the flow arrow facing out of the house). My only suggestion would be to have a second pipe comming out of your barrel so any extra water after it's filled and also air can flow out of the barrel. Then connect that pipe to where ever you want the extra water to go.

You might have to treat it somehow but I don't think that you would. It sounds like a great idea. If you get a lot of water you can pipe more then one barrel to each other. Kinda like series lighting.

What great information, fmart and fishboy. Thanks so much. I didn't realize it until now, but the hose coming out of my sump pump already had a check valve installed by the plumber who put it in in the beginning. Fmart, I like your idea of more than one barrel. Thanks again, both of you.

It really sounds like, to me at least, that your problem will be easier then you think. good luck with it and let us know how it went.

Our 20-year old sump pump has no problem pumping the water another five feet into a rain barrel. We have a raised ranch, so we are only pumping the water out about six feet to begin with. The sump pump water doesn't seem to get stagnant and I believe is much cleaner than roof water. The connection to the rain barrel is only temporary and once the barrel fills, I direct the sump water back to the lawn.

Here is a link that might be useful: Running Sump Pump Into Rain Barrel

I have been trying to figure out the same problem. My sump runs for quite awhile after a good rain and probably a few times a day during the dry periods. My thought was to connect 3 barrels together and bury them along the foundation right below the sump line. I already have an underground drain that takes water to the back of the yard. I major concern is using the proper connections to hook the barrels together.I feel I need to use at least 2 inch connectors so water travels easily thru each barrel. When I decide to use the water I can toss a little pump in the first barrel and hook up a garden hose. I think this setup will allow me to water the garden for the whole season.

I routed our sump pump outputs to our rain barrels and so far the system has worked well over the last two summers. It really extends the watering capacity of the rain barrels. The soil is mostly clay around our house and does not drain well so the sump pumps will run for days after a storm, keeping the barrels topped off.

In my opinion the sump pump water is cleaner than the roof run off when you consider the roof water is open to bird droppings and the sump pump water is at least filtered through the soil.

Anyway if your interested in what my system looks like I put together a web page on about it (see attached link on dual feed rain barrels).

Here is a link that might be useful: dual feed rainbarrel system (roof water and sump pump)

What specs would a pump need to drip irrigate a 10 x 20 hillside community garden plot from a storage barrel on the plot? What lift/head, etc do I need to look for in a pump? I will power it with batteries, and use a timer to cycle it off and on. It need not move much water��"as little as 1 to 2 gallons per minute would be o.k.

Worst dry and hot conditions scenario, the maximum amount or water that the pump would need to move would be perhaps 26 to 40 gallons of water per day. This is a guess, of course.

The barrel must be placed no closer than 2 feet from the top of the plot, or from any of the boarders around the plot, and it cannot exceed five feet. This rules out gravity drip, which needs to be elevated 3 feet (according to a Chapin Living Waters person that I contacted), which would cause the barrel and pedestal to exceed the community garden's height limitations.)

We're in a drought, the climate is dry and the soil is sandy, and I want to save water.

I am working on a water catchment system to catch the sump pump discharge outside that will then pump the water into a 250 gal container that is in front of my greenhouse. This is solving my backyard flooding and it will save me a ton of money on water! Suburban Chicken Homestead

Tired of a flooded back yard and water waste, my husband and i put in a french drain that off this large cattle watering container.

If our experiment wworks our plan is to cover it all up with decking and the pit with a grate, pretty rocks and a hand pump to draw water for our garden.

We have the water pumping into the large container first, as you can see its full already, as it overflows it seeps into to the gravel bed around it before channeling away along our network of french drain.

The blue hose is the collapse kind and did not freeze!!!!

Im in Canada.

Could catching sump pump water be used to refill pool water after backwashing?