Inspecting Your Sump Pump
Spring arrives in 13 days, 4 hours and counting – have you begun your “honey-do” list yet?
Procrastinating can and will cost you a lot of money in the end. Your basement flooding is most often caused by water build up in the soil that makes its way into your basement. There are many ways for water to enter your home and many ways to prevent it from entering. A sump pump is a your last defense against flooding because it pumps out water from the lowest section of your basement before the water level reaches the basement floor. As groundwater levels rise, it is diverted into the sump hole and when the water reaches what is called ‘the critical level’, the sump pump begins to pump it out through a pipe that leads outside and away from your foundation.
Inspecting your sump pump should be a task that you put on your calendar twice a year: once during the spring and once during the fall when Daylight Savings Time comes around. It is a very simple task: you fill a pail with water and pour the water into your sump pit and repeat until the pump turns on or the water level is at the top of the pit. If your pump does not turn on, make sure it is plugged in. If it is plugged in and has not turned on, call the Plumb Magic team of licensed plumbers as soon as you can. If you wait and we get a severe thunderstorm it may be too late to save your basement and all your valuables.
Sump pumps don’t last a lifetime and they may not always function at their optimal capacity. Your pump could become clogged, the float can get stuck and stop the motor from working or someone may have inadvertently unplugged the pump without you knowing. There are simply too many variables to allow it to go without at least bi-yearly maintenance. There is however some protection for your home and valuables that you may not know exists.
How will YOU know that your sump pump has failed? You usually find out when your basement is flooded and all the furniture you were saving to give your kids when they go off to college is floating in 2 feet of water. But by the time your basement is flooded it's too late. Wouldn't it be great if there were some way you could be warned BEFORE the basement flooded? Wouldn't it be great if there were an alarm to sound an alarm warning you of the impending catastrophe?
Simply stated, having a sump pump is not enough to make your home secure and flood free when heavy rains and floods occur. The sump pump can break down and go unnoticed until the water destroys the entire basement. That is why it is advisable to add a sump pump alarm. You will never have to worry about your basement flooding again. The alarms have water detectors that are designed to go off when it comes in contact with water. When the water detector senses the presence of water at its tip, the alarm sounds and you are alerted that your sump pump is malfunctioning or has stopped working altogether. Using this simple and cost effective device enables you to save your home in time before real damage occurs.
Source: Plumbing Tips For Your Home
