Jack M Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 Hopefully someone here can benefit from my mistake... As you may have noticed, the east coast got a wicked nor'easter last week. Here in Maine it was the worst storm since the '95 ice storm they said. I lost power for about 24 hours and ended up with about 2 FEET of water in my basement. My homeowner's insurance did NOT cover this. Why? Because I did not have flood insurance, nor did I have the "sump pump endorsement" on my policy. The bastards pointed out that I was offered this several times in writing on my policy renewal offer each year. However I never read those things because I thought I had all the coverage I needed. And I know I was never told about this in person or over the phone, because I certainly would have taken it - our house depends on our sump pump big time. I told my folks about this because they have the same insurance company, and lo and behold they did not have the endorsement either. I imagine there are other people who have not realized this either. So.... if you have a sump pump that your home depends on, make sure you have flood insurance and/or a sump pump endorsement on your insurance policy!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin A. Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 Ouch. Good luck. Pump sales are up in the northeast now, the local hardware store gets shipments every 2 days and sells out within 3 hours . Wait, there was a flood? wouldn't know it by watching national news... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 I'm gonna check my policy. My sump pump is dying. Every time it switches on it makes this godawful groaning and screaming noise, and it wakes me up at night. I'll have to get a new one before the new roomie moves in, as the racket is awful... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted April 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 Allee, one thing I did right when we bought the house was purchase a <i>submersible</i> sump pump. A regular stand-up non-submersible pump would have had its motor under water by the time the power came back on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 Yep, the one I have now is a submersible. I just checked Canadian Tire and they have a 1/4 horse sub for $99. It only has to pump about three feet to the outlet so I don't need anything too grunty, luckily. I had a close call the summer before last, when we had substantial flooding in Calgary - I just had a random thought that I hadn't heard it turn on for a while, and when I checked it the water level was within a inch of the floor. I don't know why it stopped, but I gave it a jiggle and it burst into life and started pumping. However, it is well past it's use by date, it looks like it came off the ark. Sorry to hear about your basement. Cleaning up after something like that bites, and to find your insurance doesn't cover it is a kick in the pants you so DON'T need ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted April 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 man, I wouldn't go below 1/2hp at least. Even though you don't have to push the water up very high, you want good volume to be able to recover quickly after an outage, or just to keep up with a heavy storm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 JACK! you live in ME and you have a basement?????? the water table is high in most of that state unless you live on the side of a mountain, I kind of wonder why people build houses with basements in places that the power will go out and it will rain and snow for days while the basement will fill with water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinecure Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 People put in basements because the ground freezes and if they didn't frost heaves would move their houses/foundations. Plus its a good place to store stuff. I hate CA houses with no basements and just little slabs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 Jack: get a battery back up. Allee: Check out Gould's pumps. 90% of the time we spec their products for use in our projects. They have a lot of bigger capacity stuff you wouldn't need, but they have small submersible drain pumps as well. You can call, explain what you're looking for and they'll tell you if they have it, don't have it, and where to get what you do need ( in most cases). Not sure if they distribute in Canda. Or, you can rent like I do so you don't have to worry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted April 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 My neighbor has a battery backup on his sump pump. It lasted for 5 hours in this storm. That didn't cut the mustard. We both just bought generators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 Yeah I guess a 24 hour storm is a little long, good thinking on the generator. I assume you checked the "we want flood/pump coverage" box on your insurance now also? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted April 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 what did the civil engineer say to the mechanical engineer? "you want fries with that?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 did it take you to find that one on the internet :p I am, for some reason, reminded of a cheer we used to do during college football games (where there were normally 50 people in the stands), when we were outscored by our opponents on home turf: "that's alright, that's ok, you're gonna work for us someday." Geeks at their best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derf Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 Jack: get a battery back up.Allee: Check out Gould's pumps. 90% of the time we spec their products for use in our projects. They have a lot of bigger capacity stuff you wouldn't need, but they have small submersible drain pumps as well. You can call, explain what you're looking for and they'll tell you if they have it, don't have it, and where to get what you do need ( in most cases). Not sure if they distribute in Canda. Or, you can rent like I do so you don't have to worry Were I work, we use some Gould pumps for some applications, so I guess they are available here. I rent a second floor, so no wate here, but my father has a sump pump and I don'T know about his insurrance though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 Cut the concrete between the the sump pump pit and the floor drain. Run a 2" pipe just below the surface with slight slope to the floor drain. Provided the sewers don't back up, you'll have peace of mind if the power goes out. BobD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik J Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 Damn Jack, I feel your pain. Last week was pretty interesting down here as well. My business was puking water all day last Sun. By Sun. night I had 4 submersible sump pumps going while bailing water in 5 gallon buckets - and all we were doing was keeping the water from rising more, it didn't really go down until my Farmer friend showed up with an 80 lb. pump with a 3" hose. Then I get home to find my furnace sitting in 14" of water. Two days later I'm coming home late at night, roads are closed eveywhere - all I want to do is go to bed, so I ignore the "road closed" barriers and drive across a 1/2 mile section of road that's underwater. I actually saw fish swimming across the road, gleaming in the headlights of my truck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastcoasticerider Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 WOW, I I thought we got hit bad...till I read this thread.......My basement took water (4") when all the snow melted att once and it rained for three days at the end of the season. I feel for you guys up in Maine. The news didnt talk much about that kind of damage. I guess Erie isnt so bad after all. Im digging a sump pit this summer and getting ready.....the dehumidifier just kicked on......hope everybody dries out real soon....move all your carving videos upstairs ebven if the wife protests........the beer will stay cold though........keep on truckin, :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neuffy Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 Cut the concrete between the the sump pump pit and the floor drain. Run a 2" pipe just below the surface with slight slope to the floor drain. Provided the sewers don't back up, you'll have peace of mind if the power goes out.BobD That's a pretty big "provided"... In my neighbourhood, the primary concern is the sewer backing up. When the river rises (as it is wont to due after heavy rains or mountain snowmelt...it's currently a bit into the trees on either side) our sewers have this wee tendency to ... cause problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted April 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 move all your carving videos upstairs even if the wife protests I lost Scream of Consciousness, and Hear No Evil. Fortunately Ch!ll was upstairs. BobD, I'm trying to imagine why one would have a sump <i>and</i> a floor drain. I have a sump but no drain. Erik, the burner and blower (it's forced hot air) on my furnace were both completely submerged. Apparently electric motors are waterproof as long as they're not powered when they get wet. My furnace was able to be repaired at minimal cost. Hope yours was too. (Also a freezer, sawzall, and a drill all took a bath and survived unscathed ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebu Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 We have a sump and multiple drains, but that's because we're planning on putting a bathroom, sauna, shower and a place for washer and dryer in the basement. The outlet of the septic tank is roughly head-level when you're down there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 It's common to have a floor drain in a basement laundry/utility area. Often the sump pit will be close to this area. While this fix doesn't mean you dump your sump into the sewer all the time, it does offer a little peace of mind. BobD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derf Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 Erik, the burner and blower (it's forced hot air) on my furnace were both completely submerged. Apparently electric motors are waterproof as long as they're not powered when they get wet. My furnace was able to be repaired at minimal cost. Hope yours was too. (Also a freezer, sawzall, and a drill all took a bath and survived unscathed ) On July 14th, 1987, at my parent's previous house, we had about 12" of water downstairs, which ment the burner was in water. My father waited for it to dry, then press the reset button until it worked OK (only took a couple of times), 0$ repairs. We didn't have sump pump at that house. This house wasn't even up to code the way it was built. When my father did some renovations, the city inspecor closed his eyes on some things because it was so horrible the way it was built. The way my father fixed the house, we stayed there 7 years and it was quite nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modifiede30 Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 I had a bad week when the rains hit, but nothing as bad as 4+ inches of basement water. I ended up with an inch in the worst places, puddles mainly, but the sump didn't kick on. The sump in our home is powered by a ceiling mounted outlet which just happened to be a GFCI and for some reason it was switched off. Not until I saw the big puddles did I realize this. Once it switched it on, it pumped for 3 days because the water tables are so high in my area. We bought the home this past fall after a ton of rain and never saw any water so we assumed it was okay - wrong. Our sump worked very well once on, so I assume the water table probably wouldn't have been a problem had it kicked on at the right time. Since it was delayed, the table just came through the foundation slab faster than the water could be pumped out. Never again though - I'm going to a backup system but worst case scenario is an inch at most so we're probably okay. The only problem we had was that since we just moved, we had all sorts of stuff in boxes in teh basement that were soaked. I hate wet cardboard smell and mildew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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