Our Sump Pump is always running?

So we recently noticed that where the sump pump that drains to our backyard is really soaked. We were out there yesterday and watched the water being pumped out although we have not had any rain for days. We have not had any sprinklers running and the water is being dumped a few feet away from the house on a down slope so it drains away from the house. We have not seen any water in the basement at all, so at least the sump pump is doing its job. However, I am a bit curious and concerned that we are seeing so much water even when there has not been any rain for a while. Is this typical? I read on another post about underwater streams. Would this be an issue? We never had any water in the basement not even during Sandy or Irene. We do have french drains and a sump pump. 

Look at your water meter and make sure you're not 'sumping' out a leak.

When this happened to us last year, it turned out that our neighbors' underground water pipe had sprung a leak. They replaced the pipe, and the sump pump frequency returned to normal.

ETA: Cross-posted with Sir_Dave. Just to note, even if your water meter offers no clue, it could be something from another property.

Or possibly an underground stream has changed course?

Thanks. I will check the water meter!

sac said:

Or possibly an underground stream has changed course?

 I found this solution via Google to change the course of those pesky underground streams.

http://www.dowsers.com/dowsing-techniques-diverting-underground-streams-of-water/

A friend of ours had a situation with the ground around her house's foundation being constantly wet/soggy and some water affecting her basement. It turned out to be a leak in the pipes for the sprinkler system of the house next to her (houses are on a hill, so this was the house uphill from her). It took a while for various people to figure out exactly where the water was coming from, but it was definitely from a leak under the lawn of the neighboring house.

Super ideas above, however, do not discount ground water.  The water tables can be very close to the surface around here, and I had one house in Maplewood that I found out was build over a very old stream (see maps from 1910).  The stream was covered over.  So, we had cycles of very heavy sump pump actions.  And we were glad for it, next door was a older lady and her basement flooded several times a year.  She could not understand the reason.

Later,

Da

The UPS Store

George

Once you rule out any leaking water lines you may try having the pump raised by shortening the discharge line and placing another cement block under the pump.  If the natural water table is too high the pump can run all the time.

Thanks everyone. We are investigating if there is a leak. None of the neighbors near us have a sprinkler system and we are on top of a hill. Just odd because we don't see other people's sump pumps going off since most have them going out to the street. 

I'll second Plungy's comment.  We recently had a full french drain and sump pump installed in the home we recently purchased.  The pump was running entirely too often for my liking.  After some discussion with the neighbors and a consult with Right One Plumbing I've come to learn:

1) The water table can be very high in Maplewood.  Mine is naturally about 6" below the basement floor slab.

2)  The pump was installed too low, almost into the water table itself.  Right One bricked it up about 4" for me and it's firing less often now.

Leak has been found. Right by the water meter so that was easy. Now to find someone to fix the spigot that goes outside and which seems may have been damaged by the brutal winter we had.