Plumbing – PVC Pipes And Pool Solar Heating Advice

PVC is a good choice, provided that it is properly installed and maintained. A proper installation includes shielding the PVC from UV light, which is the primary means of premature aging. UV light will eventually turn PVC into a brittle mess.

ABS on the other hand tends to not become brittle with sun exposure, but to deform and is generally softer. As a result, buried ABS pipe seems to be at a higher risk of crimping, impeding water flow.

In either case, you should paint your exposed pipe, which probably wasn't done, and is the primary reason you are looking to repair it. Personally, I'd go with painted PVC, because after it is protected from UV light, it is less flexible (less pipe collapse) has a wider variety of fittings, and generally has a wider range of temperature distributions. I'm also more familiar with PVC, which might cloud my judgement. I'd love to hear from someone intimately familiar with ABS.

Both types of plastic are generally considered for low pressure applications, if you are having consistent freezing problems, neither pipe is meant to withstand routine freezing of water in-pipe.

PVC UVR is UV light resistant PVC. Buy it and paint it if you want a very long lasting PVC solution. Basically, you will have to worry about the (in my experience) natural enemies of PVC pipe before worrying about aging, that is careless yard crews, people vigorously digging, etc.

If the water is coming up from below into the window wells you have a big problem. That issue means your basement is becoming a reverse swimming pool. Imagine taking a big concrete box and putting in in a lake right up to the edge of the box. Eventually many many problems will crop up that your window well issue is just the first warning of.

You are going need to take that water away from the house.

A sump pump will do it quickest and easiest, as long as the power doesn't go out during a storm (gee, somehow that seems like it might happen, plan on having it happen and take what ever measures you think necessary, like back up power for the sump pump).

Redirecting the gutter downspouts will do even better if the power does go out.

Grading the slope of the land around your house to drain away from your house in every direction will also help without power - possibly with buried plastic under the soil sloping away from the house as well as a sort of 'earth sheltered umbrella'.

Adding new better french drains around the building while performing the grading and redirecting the downspouts and adding a sump pump or two would be best of all.

But in the end, if none of the above work, I would recommend abandoning the basement entirely, filling it in with gravel and a sump pump as the water level in your soil will never allow you to have a safely dry basement.

I know one family who had to do this very thing, and was much happier knowing that their foundation wouldn't become a molding swimming pool slowly being crushed by the outside soil/water pressure. It required moving some of the HVAC and other utilities that were down there, and using the space under the floor only as a crawl space.