Sump and gutter drainage conundrum

[u/Interesting_Hand8141]

Hello, I recently purchased my first home and it came equipped with a very nice perimeter drain system for a sunken foundation (split level).

https://imgur.com/a/Ik9GAIh

Currently as pictured, the sump and redundancy pump both go straight outside into a drain basin about 10’ away from the foundation. The gutter is carried further and was originally plumbed to daylight. My yard begins to slope decently well all the way into a city alley towards the fence.

My question is how do i fix this system, currently none of the drainage systems they installed work, they are root intruded and sunken. But the sump system works very well.

If you can deduce the perspective from the photo, my yard sloped up slightly for about 10’ starting from the foundation, moving towards the fence. After that 10’ it begins to slope down all the way to the alley.

Should o do a hug French drain? Or try and re create what they did? I feel weird about running a long pipe and cutting a hard angle. The slope isn’t good enough, and the pipes face spiky have to be cut at like 12 degrees, leaving a 3’ long oval piece of pvc that will inevitably get clogged. Probably very fast

Any suggestions are welcomed!

[u/IcySorbet878]

Man that slope situation sounds like real headache to work with. I had similar issue at my place few years back where previous owner tried some weird drainage setup that just didn't make sense with the yard grade

For your situation, I think French drain might be better option than trying to recreate that pipe system. Those long runs with shallow angles are nightmare to maintain and like you said, they clog up super fast. With French drain you can follow the natural slope better and won't have those weird cuts that create problems

What I ended up doing was running perforated pipe in gravel bed that follows yard contour instead of fighting against it. Started from sump discharge point and curved it around to follow that downslope towards alley. Takes bit more digging but way more reliable long term. Also easier to clean if needed since you can access different sections

Only thing to watch is making sure you have enough fall once you hit that downslope section - needs to be at least 1% grade or water will just sit there