So, what do you guys do when the sump goes out? In my case, I BAIL&#3 (1 Viewer)

[WampusCat43]

We had an Armageddon storm here, the day of the Home Run Derby, and our power went out for 24 hrs. Sump pump went out with it, and I spent three hours on my knees, scooping water out of the well with a blender top and dumping it into an empty 5-gallon cat litter box, then dumping it outside. I'm too old and fat for that kind of exercise. So, what are my options? Everywhere I look, I get different opinions and prices, ranging from a few hundred for a Watchdog to near $1,000 for an auxiliary, to 10k for a whole-house generator.

I thought we had this crap sorted out a few years ago after spending a fortune on drains and ditches and such, but I guess we hit the saturation point for the ground and it just came in like gangbusters. I managed to save the ranch, but it was a tense experience watching that water level continue to rise no matter what I did, before we finally were able to get our hands on a gas generator. Those little Honda EU2000s are nice, btw.

Anyway, ideas? What's worked for you so far? TIA.

 

[WampusCat43]

Just let the flood happen, file a claim, say you didn't know the pump broke, boom, sweet new carpeting and furniture.

Done that already. I now have a $5,000 deductible.

 

[Neal Cassady]

You better make sure you're covered for this. Most companies have water back up and sump pump coverage as an endorsement and not a standard covered peril.

 

[ghostguy123]

If your sump pump went out during a big rain storm and you were actually able to keep water out of your house the way you did, then you don't have much of a problem IMO.

I would recommend a water powered backup. You can buy a nice one for about 200 bucks, and find someone to install it. I just had one installed a few weeks ago, cost me 450 total. I plumbing service will charge you like $1,400. But you can find someone to do it much cheaper. It should only take a couple hours, plus maybe 50 bucks total for the extra parts.

A battery powered backup would also be nice, just get extra batteries because you would want it to be able to last a few days for an emergency.

 

[mr roboto]

I did that one time from 11pm till 4:30 am. Next day I installed a battery backup.

 

[ghostguy123]

Just let the flood happen, file a claim, say you didn't know the pump broke, boom, sweet new carpeting and furniture.

This just happened for me. I didn't "let" it happen, and fortunately my wife was home when it happened and immediately got some help with some utility pumps, but my flood probably made me like 3-4 grand cause the insurance paid out the full amount which was $10,500. Plus I will be getting ceramic flooring in the two rooms that had vinyl, so making money AND upgrading stuff.

Was still a real crappy experience though.

I have no idea what will happen with my insurance now though. I use Westfield, and have used them for maybe 6-7 years with vehicles, and never filed a claim.

 

[shuke]

Second pump on battery backup. If your basement is finished, I'd also buy a a generator for long outages, because I think our battery is good for maybe a day.

Ours was pretty reasonable, I'll look go who did it although don't know if they service nky

 

[Mr.Pack]

Pray.

I also bought a generator

 

[WampusCat43]

I appreciate the feedback, gentlemen. Has anyone had any experience with a Watchdog? A plumber we've used in the past says they're crap, and is recommending an auxiliary pump. A family member promoted the water-powered one Ghostguy mentions above. How long will those thing keep the water out? I'd like to find a solution we could forget about if we're on vacation or something.

 

[Mister CIA]

Sump, or sumd?

 

[odin33]

Was looking into the water ones as well. Still doing research but in theory it should never need replaced like a battery or require you to be there like a generator. Sure it's wasteful as you're running water to pull the sump water out.

Need to look into whether it can keep up in a bad storm. I swear this weather is just crazy this year.

 

[ghostguy123]

Was looking into the water ones as well. Still doing research but in theory it should never need replaced like a battery or require you to be there like a generator. Sure it's wasteful as you're running water to pull the sump water out.

Need to look into whether it can keep up in a bad storm. I swear this weather is just crazy this year.

For basements (like mine) that need the sump to work very well, when it is time to replace my current sump pump, I am going with a pump that is one of the stronger ones, with battery backup, AND will also have the water powered as an extra backup.

I have tested my current water powered backup and it does work pretty well.

Who gives a damn if it is wasteful or not, since it will rarely if ever even be used. But if it does need to be used, well worth the few bucks worth of water it will use.

 

[UOFI_316]

I appreciate the feedback, gentlemen. Has anyone had any experience with a Watchdog? A plumber we've used in the past says they're crap, and is recommending an auxiliary pump. A family member promoted the water-powered one Ghostguy mentions above. How long will those thing keep the water out? I'd like to find a solution we could forget about if we're on vacation or something.

I have a watchdog battery backup pump. I bought and installed it myself with my dads help after our original sump float broke

The way they had the floats set when we bought it was wrong and I never noticed. It has a backup float for both the main pump and the backup pump (so 4 total floats) which in theory is great incase one float gets stuck or fails. The problem was that they had it set it to go main #1, backup #1, main #2, backup #2. When my main #1 failed, the backup would kick in, and my stupidity thought that if the power was still one the backup would run off the power. Wrong, the backup always runs off the battery, so for almost a year I was really running the sump off the battery. When the low battery alarm started going off I finally figured out what was happening. I bought a replacement #1 float and rearranged the float levels. Of course this happened 13 months after I bought the unit, which came with a 12 month warranty. It has been working fine since then, although when we have power outages I still go down and watch it to make sure it works, with a pitcher in hand in case I have to start bailing.

 

[Rayderr]

Our sump pump died a few weeks ago. Didn't realize it until one of the big storms and the basement carpet got all nice and sloshy. Had the sump pump replaced and a battery back up auxiliary pump added for $1500 (note: we have a radon system built into the sump pump system as well) Learned that the battery backups aren't rated for time but for the amount of water that it can pump before it dies. I think they said ours will pump 20,000 gallons of water before it runs out of juice.

 

[odin33]

That's another thing I wanted to look at. We too have a radon system in our sump. I've got to make sure the water ones seal and maintain pressure.

Ghostguy, happen to know if it works with a radon system that locks got my sump area on lockdown?

 

[James Daulton]

As everyone has said, a battery or water backup is the way to go. I have two watchdogs and think they're good. They test themselves, let you know when they malfunction, the batter needs more distilled water, etc. We went to get a water backup installed but our water pressure sucks and wouldn't push enough water to make the magic work.

 

[msommer]

How about not living in a swamp?

 

[ghostguy123]

How about not living in a swamp?

We wanted a basement. Sump is a must.

I dont know jack about radon