Sump Pump Recommendations
 

Entering the first wet spring period of our home-ownership, we had the basement flood as the water-table came way up & the ground was super-saturated. Sparing extra details, woke up to 6" of water in the basement after an inch of rain coupled with the snow melt.

So who has a sump-pump in their basement to handle this type of situation, what is the make/model? If you installed it yourself, what was the approximate cost?

zoller or hydromatic pumps.

look into SJE vertical master switches.

Put it on it's own circuit.

make sure your pit is big enough short cycles shorten pump life.

Check valve and unions/(removable joints) are a must. I have seen plenty of hard piped sumps, not good when the pump has an issue and you need to get at it like a lodged impeller.

weep hole use your own judgment on that. 1/2 my backyard is wet land, no weep hole on my system. but my sump runs maybe once a year if that.. now..

25' of 10/2 romex
2 gang boxes 4x4 and 2x4 with covers
15amp breaker what the sump mfg recommended.
GFI outlet
sump
switch
10' of 1/2" conduit
3-4 bags of river rock
2 bricks
sump bin of your choice make one with buckets or buy one.
5 sections of schedule-40 1-1/2" PVC pipe, fittings, hangers.
check valve/union some check valves are built into a fernco style fitting for non pressure applications.

That was to take it outside where i had it hooked up to a 100' section of 2" lay flat type hose that I had to move everytime i cut the grass, had company or the kids played.

cost me about $550ish in 07, hose was given to me by a friend would have added another $100.


Personally i would go with 2 pumps since you got 6" of water in the basement. Redundancy is a great insurance plan.


I invested in some landscaping and sealing the foundation walls.
After the big flood of 2010 I found a huge problem where i live and invested about $1600 on some landscaping, but first I dug the foundation down to the footing and coated it with fibered roofing cement, let it sit for a day then carefully backfilled. bandaid #1... second bandaid was spending the money on the landscaping. I was working 6 days a week 10-12hr days so for me to do this was out of the question. I hired a local guy and he built up my front yard added a drain in the low spot. He ran 100' of 6" drain pipe and ran another 50' for my sump dry well. tied in my down spouts on the upper corners of the house to the 100' run. Before that my pump would run with every heavy rain storm.

find the low spot in the basement and break through for a pit.I use a 1/2 hp pedestal pump with an 1.5" discharge and plumbed in schedule 40 pvc. I do not use a check valve nor would I recommend it due to the possibility of water freezing inside causing an obstruction.Good Luck,I hope the basement was not finished. Isn't home ownership fun?

Are you sure it was just groundwater? That's a lot of water to suddenly move up unless there was evidence it had happened previously.

-spence

My dad always had 2 pumps in the same hole. One higher than the other in case the lower one failed. Make sure that they are different circuits.

Thanks for very good and specific info guys.

Spence, the half-finished 1950s (9x9 asbestos tile floors w/ fake wood paneling mock walls) basement shows signs of water damage on the bottom 8" of framing.

Leptar, the house does need landscaping as there are several problem areas/issues. I foresee a mini excavator with a grading bucket rental in my future...

We just bought a house this past December. Unfortunately, our house is one of the lowest (if not *the* lowest) in the neighborhood. Our sump has been constantly since the big melt a couple weeks ago. A couple days ago is the first time the pump was off for more than 4-5 minutes - I think we're up to 6 minute off cycles now.

When the weather warms, I really need to do some work figuring out ways to get more water away from the house. Looks like they made a lot of poor decisions with regards to how they routed the gutters/downspouts.

Also, need to install a second pump, along with a backup system. Probably going to require a larger pit as well. Our basement is completely finished so I definitely want some redundancy.

good luck ,
We also have issues with water in the basement , drives the wife crazy
we have french drains that brings water from the outside , inside to our basement ... who the heck ever thought of this should be shot in the head I have put caps on the drains but it still comes in at a good rate with only a few over flows over the years , and many SS pumps.
late 50's construction

New England basements.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Consider a portable generator as well & have a few extra gallons of gasoline. IF you lose electricity, the pumps WILL not work. Run the generator for your sump & refrigerator as need. Over the past couple of years we have lost power for a week in the due to sever storms & stuff. Get a generator !!

Ideally, separate circuit for EACH pump just in case. Better safe than sorry. Wiring in my home is from 1950s and when we had the kitchen redone few yrs back, it was a no brainer to have another outlet put in.

Sump pump I use is green cast iron model (forget make) it is much better quality & less likely to break. It was well worth the $180! Those $80 just didn't cut it and they died after a few yrs. My sump runs a LOT this time of year! Doesn't help my neighbor aims his hoses straight at my house. :P

YMMV.

Little Giant Bronze body sump pump with a diaphram switch. lasts 20 years easily and even then its the switch that goes and it can be rebuilt. Best sump pump available anywhere.

Little Giant Auto. Bronze Sump Pump 54 GPM 4/10 HP # 8-CBA, 508357

Same company also makes a plastic coated cast iron one foir less money but I don't know how long it will last. In 48 years at my house I have had only 2 of the bronze ones and the second one is like new.

I also would try to set it up without a check valve as often they get stuck closed then you have a mess.

Biggest problem is if you have a power failure though.

i had a terrible water problem after I put an addition on the house. Water started coming in under my metal bulkhead. I hired a professional company and the jack hammered a trench from the bottom of the bulkhead into a hole where they put crushed stone and 2 sump pumps, one at the bottom and 1 2 feet up. We put in a dedicated circuit, have a generator and had the whole house wired into a panel for the generator. End of problem. No water in the basement in 2 years. Best money I ever spent.