I have been dealing with the same plumbing issue for the past nearly 2 months. After a heavy rainstorm, I noticed that water was continuously flowing into my sump pump and sometimes it smelled like rotten eggs, and sometimes the smell subsided, but the water never stopped flowing into the sump. I've had a plumber out several times as well as the city and have paid $1200 to have him snake the storm drain and also run the hydro jet through. After having both the city and the plumber having come out twice each over the course of a couple weeks, the water that was backed up in the storm cleanout finally cleared out. I thought my nightmare was over.... until I noticed that every time I shower or wash dishes, water flows into the sump again and it smells like sewer/rotten eggs. There has been no rain since the cleanout was cleared out, so I know the water is coming from my household use.

I have not noticed any telltale signs of a sewer line break, such as slow drains or backups or gurgling in the drains or toilets. But, I am certain water is flowing from the shower and drains and somehow into my sump. I have lived in the house for 2.5 years, and have not previously had this problem. The house is 100 years old.


Can anyone help determine why this may be? And what kind of cost I am looking at if I have sewer line break under my basement foundation?

absolutely no way to tell without a lot more information than you have now.

Well, I don’t know if this helps, but after my washer ran, I took a video of water pouring into my sump pit and you can see soap suds in the sump. My washer is in the basement and drains into the floor drain that is a few feet away from the sump pit. It seemed like it took the water a few minutes after the washer drained before it came pouring into the sump. When the water from the house (shower, washer, kitchen sink) comes into the sump, it smells like rotten eggs. When no water is coming in, the smell subsides.

Before the plumber snaked the storm sewer, water was constantly flowing into the sump, but after snaking out some roots, that water flowed out towards the street. Now, the water is only flowing in when I use water in the house, and then stops after that water has all gone to the sump, apparently.



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some areas allow "gray water" to be discharged into the ground. some don't...
if you can seal the cover on the sump tank and then vent it to prevent air lock you can leave it the way it is.
otherwise you need to do some digging to reroute the drains.