Clean the Window Well If you don’t have a window well cover, your window well might have some debris left in there from the fall and winter months. This debris can build up and clog the drain causing water to fill up in your window well.
If you window well has a drain try to cover it will drain rock to keep other debris away. In any drain situation, sprinklers or light rain will soak in easily, but heavy rain can accumulate water faster than the gravel can drain it.
I've about reached the end of my rope. i have a window well (fire excape) that until just recently began taking on water and leaking into my finished basement. It doesn't flow over the side but slowly seeps in. Frustrated i consulted with a friend and he told me that somtimes the ground in the well becomes packed and dosen't allow water to filter through. he sugested to create a dozen or so holes about 18' deep and see if that worked. it didn't! I decide to dig down to the gravel backfill wishing, and hoping the water would drain. Shortly after i began digging, I noticed a piece of screen sticking out of the ground about 2' down. I uncovered it and it turned out to be a drain. i can't tell you how excited i was. All i needed to do is clean the drain and my problems would be solved. Not so! Last night it rained again and again i found myself battleing mother nature's gift of water in my basement. Don't laugh because i should know the answer to this but this is one of those things i never paid much attention to until now. Can anyone explain to me how the drainage system works around the foundation of the house. Are the window well drains suppose to connect to the drainage pipe installed around the house or is it supppose to allow drainage only to the gravel backfill and filter into the drainage pipe? Do those same drainage pipes drain into the sump in the basement, then pumped out? The method i used to clean the drain was a wet vac, i removed a lot of mud and some gravel then used a stick to feel what might be at the bottom. It felt clean, i felt the corrigated piping but not sure if it was the top of the pipe or the inside of the pipe. What do i need to do?