Having a SPARE Sump Pump

[larryinnewyork]

Growing up, preventing water (flooding) in the basement was always a concern.
As kids, my Father had my Brothers and I garbage pick any used Sump Pumps and he would fix them up.
I still have an older pedestal that my father restored / its a back-up if ever needed.
But Sump Pumps are like Oil, you can never have enough.
-------------------------------------------------------
Was looking thru Craigs List yesterday.
Ended up buying an 'older' (pedestal) Sump Pump.
This will be a back-up to my other back-up.

Made by Liberty Pumps (USA Made)
1/3 HP
Motor by General Electric
Cast Iron Base with very little rust

My plan is to give it a good cleaning, install Check Valve and PVC Pipe so it's all set to install.
In an Emergency, install time is 5 minutes or less.

I have never had water in my basement / some neighbors have.

Question: Anybody have basement flooding and what did you do so it won't happen again ? ? ?

I also made a Sump Pump Alarm that will also notify me of a power failure if I'm sleeping.

 

[bioburner]

Got gutters installed with the down spout extended more than ten feet away from the house. Helped a lot. Having the pump run a bit is a good thing where I am as it means the soil at least in the spring is at a crop supporting level.

 

[supton]

Makes sense, anything that is critical, have a spare. We keep a new coffee maker in the basement for that reason.

Been lucky, no flooding--but if I did, I'd just open the door and let it run out. One positive to buying a house on slopped ground. No sump as you can imagine. But if I did have a drain, I'd probably do as you have done.

 

[seanf]

direct all your down spouts away from the house, I had a problematic one in my backyard, ended up burying some corrugated weeping pipe under the backyard so the downspout drains under the yard into the gravel part of my driveway, the sump pump runs half the time now.

 

[Quattro Pete]

In our old house, I had a Basement Watchdog backup pump sitting in the same sump pit as the primary pump. It had its own battery so it could run even if we lost power. It could also run in parallel with the primary pump if rainfall was so heavy that the primary pump couldn't keep up, but that never happened.

All our down spouts were already directed away from the house, but the location was such that my sump pit would still fill quickly with water when it rained.

 

[NibbanaBanana]

I had a lot of basement water problems in both my houses. I have a Rigid oil filled sealed submersible sump pump in the house now. It's almost 15 years old. My experience is that they are going to fail after sitting unused for an extended period. Like after a 4 month draught when they never come on. This is exactly what happened with the pedestal type that I have in my outdoor pump house. They're in a high moisture environment and the bearings seize up because of this and lack of use. So if it hasn't rained much, I will test them by hand to make sure they aren't locked up. Since the Rigid is oil filled, hopefully this won't happen (though nothing lasts forever.) As long as they haven't been sitting, they're probably going to work.

Also, Drylock brand masonary waterproofing paint is excellent. I have used the oil based a number of times, even when the block wall was slightly damp, and it completely stopped the leakage and I never had a problem again. And the water was pouring through the block after a heavy rain. They now have latex based too. Haven't tried the latex but my experience with latex paints in general is that they are excellent. Many times better than oil based.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

When we built, the foundation was waterproofed and drainage was installed around the outer perimeter. Code requires we have a sump pit, but we don't have a sump pump and in 20 years (and some significantly wet years) we've never had the slightest bit of moisture in the lower level and the sump pit is completely dry. The grade around the house was set to shed everything away as well-the back of the house has around 50' of slope away from the house, the sides are well over 100' of slope away from the house, and the front slopes down some 400' or so all the way to the road. Front gutters drain underground to the ditch out next to the road, the back gutters drain underground about 100' to a natural runoff area that is lower than the foundation of the house. My shop building gutters also drain to the runoff.

I'm confident that the lower level of our home will never have water in it.

 

[tomcat27]

I've always kept a spare. two times I've had friends call when their failed and ask for my spare. mine stuck on once at 2am and I happened to be awake. took no time at all to change.

I have one friends who's basement has flooded 2X. very large finished basement (a 50's style diner setup in once room, home theater in another, massive train setup in one) after the first flood, he got a battery backup, but once the battery ran down he still got water. so next was a double pump setup with an automatic whole house generator that runs on NG.

 

[pandus13]

i saved one of my friends(i was fish-sitting) basement, because i heard the sump-pump running non-stop.
the outside ejection pipe was too long, so the landscapers hit it and broke the angle, so it froze over night.
pump was running on a loop trying to pressurize a pipe....
took the long pipe out, tested the sump pit with 2-3 buckets worth of water. all well
he was happy. they just finished their basement after a flood because the first sump-pump given the ghost after some big rains....

later sent the friend a weblink from "this old house" where they where advertising backup pumps based on city water pressure. no power/gas needed. just city water pressure and a floater....

Chicago area experienced high rains in '07-'09 and some storms that took some power out. the batteries where not enough for many basements.....

 

[ShotGun429]

Home was built here in 1990's in the middle of a 21 acre cornfield, large basement, so far always dry as a bone. and yes a spare sump pump is always on the shelf nearby in basement.

 

[JTK]

Water powered backup pumps are nice in the event of an electrical outage. They're just a venturi pump. As long as you've got city water pressure you're pumping water out of your basement.

 

[earlyre]

We always have a spare ready to slot right in.( Riser already installed) sitting right next to the pit.
We used to have a emergency battery unit installed, but it proved beyond useless. Out in the country on a well, so no water powered backup( relatives with city water have those)

So we had a automatic whole house generator installed, to eliminate the power outage basement flood worries. (As long as the pump doesn't die)

 

[dlundblad]

If I bought a used one, I'd run it in some RV antifreeze to fill it up and prevent water from sitting in it.

 

[larryinnewyork]

Originally Posted By: dlundblad
If I bought a used one, I'd run it in some RV antifreeze to fill it up and prevent water from sitting in it.


OP here,

To me it looks like you can tip the Pump to remove any excess water.
No place for it to really pond.

Once dry, I spray inside the Base with Fluid Film using the 'atomizer' hose.

Every 5 years, I take any spare Sump Pumps outside and Pump some water.

 

[Danno]

No issues here, I built on top of a granite hill, it would take Noah's flood to get my basement wet.

As added insurance I have the roof gutters draining into corrugated weeping tiles, exiting 75 feet from the house, and when I put the grass in, I put 4" of clay and then the top soil , just to keep surface water on the surface.

The sump pump has never gone off in 25 years.

 

[Andrew1972]

If my basement floods so be it. It's not living space.....

My boiler is up a few feet.

 

[knerml]

I've had 2 go out, about 10 years apart.

They just rusted away and shorted.

I now have a water alarm, and replace the pump every 8 years.

 

[zzyzzx]

Question: Anybody have basement flooding and what did you do so it won't happen again ? ? ?

Fix dirt around house so that it slopes away from the house. Then installed some big pavers against the house, so the built up dirt doesn't wash away (stuff dripping from roof was creating small ditches against the house, which caused ponding against the house which is probably what caused the water in the first place. In the back of the house my roof drainage had issues whereby the roof drain went into a crack in the cement about 1 foot from the house. Once that was fixed I never got water in the back again.

 

[eljefino]

My house is on a hill with 1/2 basement. Water trickles in the "high side" into a sump on the "low side" where it either settles through the dirt (mostly) or gets pumped out (occasionally.)

The best fix though is strategic snow removal and banking before Spring, so runoff uphill from me chooses an easier path around my house. It otherwise makes a beeline for my basement.

And I have a spare pump, just in case.

 

[Delta]

The house I live in now has a sump pit in the basement concrete, but there's no pump in there. I'm pretty sure there's never been one in there from the look of it. Grandmothers house next door (built by the same person) is the same set-up. Previous owners installed a pump and have it plumbed up. Not sure when the last time they used it, I doubt it even works anymore. Both basements remain dry. There's a little seepage on her house, but it needs the gutter drain re-routed. Even during the wettest weeks that pit remains dry. My house is Drylocked, but there is one corner that seems to be seeping. I know it's a cracked flex elbow on the downspout. It all needs hardpiped. Talking to my neighbors across from me, which are downhill, remain dry as well.