how tdrain lowlying water, too low for a sump pump

[jlkin]

My yard and driveway floods when we have big rain storms. We don't have them often here in CA, but when it rains it rains hard. And they say El Nino is coming so...

The water gets about 3 inches deep across 20 square feet of driveway and yard. A sump pump won't work, because the water isn't deep enough to prime the pump. There's no place to sink a sump pump either. (I've done that in another part of my yard.)

I want a pump that has a snake-like, screened surface intake hose that lies on the ground/driveway and sucks up this water. Does this type of pump exist? If so, what is it called?

I have searched for a long time, and I'm stunned that I can't find a pump like this. It's the obvious tool to use in this situation.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[mjr6550]

I am not aware of such a pump. Some swimming pool pumps do not need much water to function. Can't you put a pit adjacent to the driveway.

How about a channel drain?

[Jim Katen]

You don't need a snake-like pump because sump pumps are generally installed in "sumps." AKA, holes.

You find the low spot on your driveway/yard, and dig a nice deep hole there. Put the sump pump in the hole and direct it's discharge somewhere safe - ideally to a storm sewer. Be sure to install a backwater valve and plug the thing into a nicely installed GFCI-protected circuit.

Voila! No more flooding.

[jlkin]

Thanks for your replies. There's really nowhere to dig a hole and sink a pump in the part of the yard in question. There is only pavement and expensive artificial lawn there. (I have sunk a pump in a hole elsewhere.) It must be true that no "Snake" pump exists, but I can see a lot of uses for one.

[Neal Lewis]

As mentioned, the pool pump is what you need. The intake is flush with the bottom and will pump down to an inch of standing water on a flat surface.

[kurt]

Just a WAG, but what if you determined the absolute low point in the paving and perforated it with a half dozen small holes, or maybe core it and put a flush floor drain cover over the hole.

Would the water drain and percolate down into the soil?

[Tom Raymond]

Those little pumps designed for dewatering pool covers typically discharge through a garden house. It'll take about a week to dewater a lawn.

[Jim Katen]

Thanks for your replies. There's really nowhere to dig a hole and sink a pump in the part of the yard in question. There is only pavement and expensive artificial lawn there. (I have sunk a pump in a hole elsewhere.) It must be true that no "Snake" pump exists, but I can see a lot of uses for one.

It's actually relatively easy to install a sump in an artificial lawn or a paved driveway and it would provide a real solution to your problem rather than a makeshift trailer-park style solution.

If you really don't want to bother, just run out there with a shop vac when it rains.

[Garry Sorrells]

T.... There is only pavement and expensive artificial lawn there. ...

Remove some of the turf. Install sump pit with perforated cover reset turf over cover. Water should drain through turf???

[Tom Breslawski]

Sump would work, but an even better solution would be to install a French drain with buried tile to the nearest ditch/swale.

Sumps require electric, gravity doesn't.

It's a little bit of work, but it'll always work.