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I'm looking at a brand new house and it has a sump pump in the basement. All ground moisture from outside the foundation is piped into this 30 gallon buckut mounted in the basement floor. The moisture is then pumped up and out through the sewer. Is this a good design? Should I stay away from houses that use this method for ground moisture. I'm personally leary of any house that is designed to bring external moisture into the house. Any thoughts?
It is a pretty common set up in areas that have high water tables. In our old town probably 90% of the homes had them. You just lived with them. I guess I don't know of another system to keep water out of your basement other then a sump pump system.
I would be careful of one set up to drain into the sewer system, many towns have ordinances against that so it doesn't overtax the system in heavy rains.
I can't help with the design of the sump but I can tell you it's pretty common in my town as well (just like golfgal said areas that have high water tables). I recommend purchasing a generator for your sump and an alarm as well (the alarm goes off when water hits the tip of it) and the alarm is pretty cheap ($25.00 maybe less). i would check with the town hall the make sure it's to code.
embrace it or you may eventually have to pay to remove water in the basement....everyone in my town has one our neighbors didn't until about a year ago (after they had to replace carpeting three times ....) they have not had water since....
just make sure that the water softener brine tank doesn't drain into your sump pump pit. if it does, the salt will corrode the dickens out of your sump pump and send it to an early grave.
I'm looking at a brand new house and it has a sump pump in the basement. All ground moisture from outside the foundation is piped into this 30 gallon buckut mounted in the basement floor. The moisture is then pumped up and out through the sewer. Is this a good design? Should I stay away from houses that use this method for ground moisture. I'm personally leary of any house that is designed to bring external moisture into the house. Any thoughts?
I have one in my house. Learned the hard way that they have a limited life span. My pump failed years ago after a couple of weeks of heavy rain. We woke up to 3-4 inches of water in our basement. Went to the local plumbing supply and they recommended that we replace the pump every two years. First I thought it was a sales gimmick then I realized it's a hundred dollar insurance policy. I would also recommend a pump with battery backup because if you loose power you will also loose your pump. I installed a battery backup pump and also purchased a generator for some extra peace of mind.
I have one in my house. Learned the hard way that they have a limited life span. My pump failed years ago after a couple of weeks of heavy rain. We woke up to 3-4 inches of water in our basement. Went to the local plumbing supply and they recommended that we replace the pump every two years. First I thought it was a sales gimmick then I realized it's a hundred dollar insurance policy. I would also recommend a pump with battery backup because if you loose power you will also loose your pump. I installed a battery backup pump and also purchased a generator for some extra peace of mind.
that's exactly how i learned to have a genarator for the pump. it's just a small one specifically for the pump but it does give peace of mind.
We had a pump for 10 years with no problem and I am sure the pump had been there since it was built in 1991. We did put on a battery back up with an alarm when we lost electricity for 4 days due to a hurricane.
Ditto what everyone said. I don't know where you are, but in Ohio, everyone has them. Do get the alarm and backup battery.
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