Talk to me about your sump pumps...

[Digger 66 3,478]

This fall I chucked five figures into new drain tile and a sump pump .

House had old clay drain tile that had filled with sediment and I was talked out of having them "jetted" . 

The argument was a good one and I opted to have the entire perimeter busted up and the new drain tile installed with a sump pump .

The house never had a sump pump and just drained into the storm sewer I assume .

Anyway , the work is all done , walls & floor painted and now I'm looking into a sump backup .

Did a little research on the 2 pump systems and the single battery back-up ones .

I'm curious to hear your opinions on which route to take .

Here's some pics of the fabulous work the local contractor did .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2019 by Digger 66

[Digger 66 3,478]

Edited January 22, 2019 by Digger 66

[Digger 66 3,478]

Also had my electric service brought up to code 

 

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,497]

Exact same job my cousin had done at his house 2 years ago. Ended up with 4 pits/pumps. Cost 16 grand. But, so far so good. He actually tied in to the township waste lines (illegal) he did not want to keep pumping all the water onto his yard or run lines to the street. And those pumos run a dam lot everyday.

 

Glenn

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,497]

2 minutes ago, Digger 66 said:

Also had my electric service brought up to code 

 

Ha, funny, he did that to. A new panel / 200 amp service. How ironic, same stuff. Plus he did a generac generator, auto start, natural gas. Like I had at my old home. 

 

Glenn

[WHNJ701 4,165]

my one house has the same type of system installed by the previous owner in 04, works great I had a nice basement there.  I was going to add a battery backup but the one time the power was out for 2 days I just went with a small bucket and emptied the sump pit out every few hours.

as for the  electric does your house run on 4 circuits?   

[KC9KAS 4,741]

@Digger 66 Check this out.

https://www.familyhandyman.com/basement/using-a-water-powered-backup-sump-pump/view-all/

[roadapples 6,983]

You musta' hit the lotto.. 

Seriously, when my parents house was built in 1947 they hit a spring. Sump hole holds 30 gal. and pumps it out every 8 min. No idea how many pumps and or switches we've replaced over the years. We have always used the pedestal type. We now have 2 pumps in at once with check valves and one float set slightly higher and a buzzer in the kitchen if the first one doesn't work. Also have 3 spares in waiting. Dad passed 25 years ago in April. Mother will be 99 in June. When the buzzer goes off my brother and I get the call. But at 70 now I'm just glad I'm still able to help...

[Digger 66 3,478]

7 minutes ago, roadapples said:

You musta' hit the lotto.. 

 

A lot of long hours ..

Thank you for the response an my best to your 99 y/o mom , that's awesome !

[JoeM 7,871]

Looks like a pretty nice job.

I had about the same thing done last June, except I do not have the fancy molding on my drain tile against the wall.

I was lucky with the sump placement, it so happens to be an area that had a old shower drain in the floor. When they busted up the drain the left the end open into the sump. It was about 8 inches from the floor level. I unplugged the sump pump and tested to see if a failure would allow the drain to carry off the water. It worked fine.

I run the pump because it keeps the water level way down. Runs about twice and hour.

My son has the same style pump deal with the exception of two interconnected sumps and two pumps. If one fails the other pick up the overflow. He also has a automatic generator.

He checks his pumps monthly and has had one go bad, but it was original from the last owner.

I like that water pump idea. pretty cool.

[Lane Ranger 10,945]

I had this done about four years ago on the outside perimeter of our house.  Our home was built in 1966 and the fine sediment filled the perimeter drain pipe  (clay tile)  system.     We had a n interior sump pump system but it collected from the perimeter drains.    The basement had a  flooding of about 1/2 inch  in one large rainfall in 2014. 

 

We paid over $13,000 to have new  perimeter drain, exterior wall coating and impervious sheeting, and an exterior sump pump setup with drain to the street surface.    We have had no problems since installing this .   All electric with no battery backup on the system and no generator back up (although I could install one).

 

The key is using a contractor that does this type of work  with good results.

 

 

[Digger 66 3,478]

Thanks for all the input fellas .

It would seem to me the fool proof way would be 2 pumps .

The one set up higher powered by the marine battery .

Just ordered 6 LED light fixtures for the basement ( I like the ones I put in the garage so much ) .

 

[LengerichKA88 1,883]

I’ve never had to deal with them much, but the one thing we’ve always done is have a second on stand by. 

The house we moved from was my step dads childhood home, so he’d known the sump pump procedure since he was little lol. We always had a generator to run ours if need be, and the way we had it set up we could run the neighbor lady’s too. As far as what kind to get and all that, I can’t help, but I will make this suggestion: have it ready to plug in and go, in an area not more than 10 feet from hole. I say this because if it goes out, it’s going to go when you aren’t home and have to talk the misses through how to hook it up. 😂

voice of experience 

 

 

*i just realized you were talking about running two pumps. Always have a spare on the shelf. It’s a couple hundred bucks, but it’ll save a headache later. 

Edited January 25, 2019 by KyleLengerich

[WHNJ701 4,165]

my new house I have to cut a sump pump in.  not looking forward to it.  can't do it til drys out more, I am afraid with the hydraulic pressure right now I will have old faithful in the basement,  I just got a neat little saw I can dry cut with and hook up to vacuum 

[Sarge 3,463]

My mom and stepdad built their house years ago on a less than ideal location - the land across the road is quite a bit higher than theirs, which resulted in almost instant water issues. It didn't help that the foundation/basement contractor didn't really tile the building site properly, either. This has been a problem since day one - multiple pump failures, multiple times over a foot of water in a like-new home. Several times it was a pump that failed, other times were when the power went out. Now, the pit is deeper, they have a standby generator and keep a secondary pump on hand - just in case. For a while, they ran a UPS battery backup system with a very loud alarm if the voltage was dropping too low. While it worked good - it did nothing when a pump failed, and again, water in the basement. Now, at least 3 things have to fail at once before there is a problem, which to date is working flawlessly with no water issues. Over the years, it would have been cheaper at this point to address the drainage issue on the property and this is still a good option - I had tried to talk them into that a long time ago, but they chose to keep fixing the pump problems. If you have a water issue - your best option is to address that problem head-on and be done with it. Over time, it is easy to spend more money on pumps and other remedies to fix a root cause. While it is not cheap even under the ideal conditions, it is the best route to take. 

 

I learned firsthand in dealing with my Dad's house in his final years when we were preparing to sell it. One too many floods, so after he passed I did nothing more than fixing the slope around the house, about an average of 20' away from the foundation. In some areas I had to raise the elevation up 18" to create a slope away from the house, things had sunk that badly over the years and that is common. Water will always run downhill - if the ground is sloped towards your foundation you will lose the battle, you must create a slope away from the structure. That is a basic requirement for a dry basement. Soil conditions are everything as well - properly built homes are set into clay linings to prevent water intrusion under the structure and foundation - if that is not done properly, you'll have problems. Never ignore roof drainage as well - if you don't push that water away from the house at least 10' with most soil types it can and will follow the easiest path back to the basement - that was part of the problem with is particular property. The young couple that bought the house has not had one bit of dampness in the basement or flooding since I fixed that slope and the gutter drains despite having some record rain events and all the neighbors having their basements flooded.

 

There is no excuse in today's knowledge of construction for a new home to have water issues - and in many areas there are rules against contractors that build homes that end up with water issues so they are held accountable. In some places that can go back 10yrs, most times it is limited to 5yrs or less - but improving.

One thing I've learned when watching all these new homes being built and the site preparation - the ground upon which they build is key. Every single home built on sites that are less than ideal will eventually have a problem, some are quite amazingly badly located.

 

Sarge

[LengerichKA88 1,883]

27 minutes ago, Sarge said:

Now, at least 3 things have to fail at once before there is a problem, which to date is working flawlessly with no water issues.

Better go knock on some wood 😂