disaster yet again

-
needsaresto

needsaresto

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2004
Messages
7,603
Reaction score
265
Im cursed. Or this house is cursed. The basement flooded yet again,worse than the last time. Why? Because the cheap *** chinese made sump pump quit for some reason. Weird because it's now working just fine,so maybe the float got jambed up? Even just the idea of a sump pump is flawed. After all,whatcha gonna do when the power goes out?

I'd like to send all the stripped out basement material to the pump manufacturer...

Anyways,the good news is the damage is covered. The bad news is the deductible is $2500....

Broke again for a long time will be my status. It's no wonder I can never afford more than a hundred bucks here and there for my Dart.....

My thought's are to engineer the pump out of the equation. Fill the trough at the back of the house basement with crushed rock,cap it off and pipe it outside to drainage tile. Gravity never quits,so this will work even if my power kick's out.

Aint life grand ?:blob:
 
They make special battery backup sump pumps to back up your regular pump.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck...
 
I know your pain, we suffered from water problems here at the shop due to runoff from the state road.

penndot poured a blacktop channel and funneled ALL of the water from the road (and properties on the other side) right down our driveway :mumum: It would come down the driveway in such vast amounts (and with force) that it would wash out the driveway around my truck, and the truck would be high centered on the frame, with the tires dangling in the air :prayer: Got pictures of all of that stuff.

we lost tens of thousands of dollars in tools, parts, etc. It didn't matter what we did to try to reroute the water, it'd wash it right out and hit the garage full force (even with a downhill grade from the shop, it still came in too fast for the drainage systems and downhill grade to handle

We finally got most of it rerouted by building the driveway up and angling it off into the woods, and then grading the parking lot downhill an additional 4'
 
They make a water powered sump pump great for power outages. Uses city water pressure to operate.
 
426 Hemi Sump pump? LOL Sorry for your luck, hope it gets better real soon.
 
I hate ta say "Itoljaso" but for the 2500 deductible you could buy a second pump.

I don't remember who makes 'em but someone also makes pumps with a battery backup.

Been there, done that. When I worked in HVAC, I was in more than one basement/ crawl and the reason I was there was to repair/ assess the heating system after a flood.
 
We have a problem with the basement flooding every May when big rains hit and have been looking into these things called Trench Drains.

http://www.zurn.com/operations/flothru/pages/home.asp

After some investigation, it turns out the water was leeching through the floor (stupid home builder idea involving planting cinder blocks in the concrete but not sealing the gap) so they're not going to be needed, but it might work out for you.

Sorry to hear about all the crap Paul but I can sure relate to continuing bad luck. Last Saturday our fridge died ... but all we can do is keep our chins up and hang in there! :-D
 
I found sump pumps sometimes only last 2--3 years max.

If at anytime the pump screws up, replace the pump. Better to spend a $140 every 2 years on a new pump
 
Im back! Thanks for all the advise and kind words,it does help believe me. Well last night the basement flooded yet again. I had just sat down to watch a movie with my wife,and the pump musta quit right then. After the movie I checked in the basement and viola! An inch of water...and yes I checked the pump prior to sitting down for the movie and all was well.

I jiggled the on/off switch arm and it came on after 2-3 try's. This pump is brand new,just bought it about 6 month's ago to replace the old one . Stupid Canadian tire and thier chinese junk..that's where I bought the pump.

Anybody ready to invade china and wipe out the slave labour factory where this pile of crap pump was made?Lol...thanks investor's who thought china was a safe bet...

Anyways I do just want to fill the pump trench and well with drainage rock,cap it off with concrete and just plumb it to the outside drainage tile,of which there is none so I will at least put in enough drainage tile outside to deal with this. Maybe 20 ft? Sooooo easily dealt with yet the p/o never did it and stuck with a sump pump.

This is the first house I ever bought,so inexperienced? Probably would have dealt with the sump system asap if I knew what trouble they were.
 
Just a thought. Do you have a foundation drainage line? If no good investment. Perferated pipe line around your foundation. It will drain alot of that water off.
 
Sorry to hear your situation Paul, I know it cost a bit more but can you stack a pair ?
This way you have a back up pump and it will only turn on if the first one fails.
 
Wet basements suck. We are in the process of planning our home, want to make it a basement home to ease the tax burden as here a basement is not considered living space. In speaking with the architect/engineer about the water problem he claims as long as everything is done right we will not have any water issues.
 
Don't know how I missed this one. Blind I reckon. Sorry for your troubles, Paul. Sendin prayers yalls way.
 
I got my first experience with sump pumps 20 years ago. I kind of learned the hard way also but not not $2,500 in damages, just a big mess from a inch or two of water.

On mine we had clay with the water draining out, were the switch is it needs to stay away from the water draining down or the clay-dirt will work its way in to the switch housing. Also on the discharge pipe coming off the pump, a tiny hole about 1 foot above the pump should be drilled--forgot why but since I been doing it, had less problems. Just a tiny hole, maybe .070 big, angled it downward back to the water .

You should also change the one way check valve each time the pump is replaced. Yes, try to find a good plumbing shop-one that the pro;s use. Mine is a fancy kitchen-bath store and towards the back of the showroom there is a outside door for the parts counter and all the handyman self employed guys go to--not Home Depot or Lowes. They sold me a brand I never heard of, ah its down in that dirty freaken pump well right now and it was brought in late August--maybe its not too dirty, I try to remember to look what the name is this weekend--then again its only 6 months old--I hope its a good pump, they claimed they were.

Those guys are the ones that told me some pumps only last 1 year--it depends on how dirty the water is and how often the pump runs each day

The switch area needs to stay dry, if the water runs on top of it, they will fail sooner--same if the water splashes up on it

If that happens the water level is too far down from where the water drains out. You need to raise the pump up--maybe on some bricks. The water doesn't fall as far and doesn't splash around as it flows out of the drain.

On mime I needed to run a garden hose wit the water running and shove it through the drain lines to help clean all the clay-water out. But that was cause the drain pipes needed to be replaced-which we ended up doing years later/ got by for years just cleaning the pipes out twice a year/ hope I'm not losing you, lol
 
Sorry to hear Paul, floods suck plain and frickin simple!! I have 2 sumps as memike said, they are simply side by side. If on the chance one fails, the 2nd one will work. I have owned this house for almost 10 years and have never had either one of them fail. Go with one standard sump pump, and one with the battery backup. Good luck!
 
how is water getting in basement? I have dealt with several but first have to determine the source and if possible to dig around the outside to a level below floor level and put in french drain and water proof wall. This is the best way but sometimes is not possible because of porches or other obstacles. I have gouged out cracks on inside and used hydraulic cement. A product called Waterplug works well and can be used evem in water. Hope this helps, Joe
 
Hey guys. I spent yesterday plumbing the pump drain line into my new 2" line from the washing machine/laundry sink. The original setup had the pump draining into a hole in the basement floor,hole being connected to the sewer. So every time the pump operated it was too much at once, all the water would overflow.

I bought a new pump as well. It has a tether float,and a switch inside the float. Nifty,but I still need to fine tune it as the float get's caught up on the well wall a little bit. I'll just zip tie the tether to the pump so it cant move towards the wall and done!

The basement is now on it's way to drying out.

Today we will move everything out of the basement with the help of my wifes family and put it in storage. No room here,so it's all going in a unit. Yahoo another bill I cant afford!


To answere some questions regarding drainage. The house is on the side of a mountain,lot's of bedrock at the back of the house where the trough is. The original owner would have been an Italian,and they use a weeping wall at the back to allow the water to collect in a trough. Cant stop it or change it without rebuilding the entire back of the house and digging out all that bedrock,so it stay's how it is. There is likely zero drainage tile around this house,it's just how the italians did things in the 30's and I cant expect better from them ,lol! Lot's of bedrock there,even some visible at the high end of the trench,and that is where most of the water comes in.

I took some pics yesterday. I know they aint car pics but when I have time I'll post em up. It might help explain this better.

Like I said I'll cap off the trench eventually and completely eliminate the fickle pump arrangement. I feel like I should be babysitting this pump all the time,and I cant.
 
search a product called Radonseal and see if it might be something you could use from inside. I now understand about it being bedrock with no drain around footing. Maybe after seeing some pics may be able to suggest something. Good luck,Joe
 
Will do. Just waiting on the arrival of our helper's. I'll work on those pics now.
 
O.K a few pics for my Fabo peeps! Not car stuff,but wth.

Original flowtek pump which occasionally takes the night off.

IMG_2839-1.jpg


New pump

IMG_2841.jpg


Thinking of adding another pump,battery back-up and new 8" trough. Cap everything off except the pump access. Still have it pumped to the sewer as well. Might not work trying to put drainage tile around here. Waaaaay too much bedrock!

My plumbing job...had to neck it down from 1 1/2 abs to 1" pvc ,so it took a few unique pieces. This would change with a dual pump system. Go to 1 1/2 line etc..

Thats all the pics I have for now,still super busy with various issues around here.

99% of the basement is empty,my in-laws helped us move our junk into a storage unit.

Contractor is submitting his bid to the ins company. I hope they approve it. Super guy who came highly reccomended!

More pics later!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top