When I bought a hm recently the sellers never told me anything about the basement flooding. When the electrican came over and the power was off only at the outlet of the sump pump for an hour after a storm the basement started to receive water seepage. The sump pump has no known problems and the electrician made a direct route or power to the breaker box but is there anything else I can do to make sure this basement absolutely doesn't flood even in the case of an outage Please help.!!!!!!!!!!!!.
2007-07-15 16:29:28 · 7 answers · asked by JenniferE 3 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
If the sump pump is your only concern, a backup pump may work for you. Two varieties, one uses a battery (or batteries), the other uses water pressure from a municipal water supply for power.
I had a battery operated unit in a house I used to have and it worked great. The longest outage I can remember was a little over two hours in a downpour, it operated nearly continuously with battery to spare. I had a Basement Watchdog BWD12, see http://www.basementwatchdog.com/basement_watchdog_bigdog.htm
There are other battery powered units available, so check around. Important things to look at are the "head" or the height that the pump can pump water, the gallons per minute (or hour) it can pump at a given head, and the continuous run time on the battery.
I have never had one of the water powered units, but I know others that have. They can go through a fair amount of water which does hurt on the water bill, but better than a flooded basement.
You should check around on both options, as it has been some time since I was shopping for one.
I would prefer a backup pump instead of or in addition to the generator option. The generator is nice, but they can fail as well. I think the backup pump would be more reliable.
2007-07-15 17:49:37 · answer #1 · answered by be_a_lert 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hello..when it comes to sump pumps I have lived the nightmares. I know how you are feeling right now. Paranoid...everytime it rains or storms..Am I correct? Back up pumps that run off of water pressure will only work on municpal water pressure. If you are on a well system ..forget about this solution. Another downfall to these sysytems are it low volume ability to keep up with a large influx of water. A portable generator is great but what does it do when you are not home? A very handy piece to have is a self charging back up system. I live in Canada and NOMA makes a 800 watt emergency back up system. It would be capable of running a 1/2 horse pump continuously for 3 hours. Every thing is automatic..you plug sump into unit and when power goes out..it suppliespower to pump and it is self charging. It is odour less and compact enough to fit nicely beside sump pit. Also it can be used to power other items in home or on camping trips. If you sell your house you take this with you..unlike other leadacid battery backups. They are quite pricey...$600-800 CAnadian...but I look at the risk vs cost. $500 deductable on basement flooding plus pain in the *** factor plus a good night's sleep all the time vs $600. Seems like good math to me. Good luck and choose wisely...if you are a miser on this one..it could cost you thousands..plus your health.
2007-07-16 08:26:46 · answer #2 · answered by KARMA_KAZE 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not really unless you go into an expensive battery backed up pump. You may pay hundreds if not thousands for one of these.
Did you not look at the place when you bought it? what you should have done was set up an escrow account for the reservations of the basement, for the former owner to take care of it or, to fix it before the sale.
In this case he would be responsible for it if anything went wrong or, they would have had to repair the basement before the sale. This leak may cost you thousands of dollars to completely take care of. It not only has leaks but, I'm sure mold too, these are bad.
You'd better think of repairing that basement now that it's yours. They'll have to dig it out all the Way around it, replace the drain tile and seal the walls, then back fill with standard fill and you'll have to seal the inside walls after cleaning them.
You have a "white elephant" here.
2007-07-16 05:36:55 · answer #3 · answered by cowboydoc 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are several kinds of back up generators that you can hardwire to your house, that will provide power to several circuits in the event of a power blackout (real handy if you have a deep freeze, or need electricity to heat a home in cold weather). However - these machines can cost several thousands of dollars.
Another option would be the smaller 'portable' generator, which you would drag out of storage, fuel up, and start manually, to provide electricity to one or two items usually. These generators have gotten more expensive since Hurricane Katrina - you can expect to pay between $500 to $2500 for one of these, depending on how big you get.
One idea you might want to try... if you don't have too many power outages, would be an uninteruptible power supply (UPS) similar to what you would find on a computer. There are several models to choose from which can supply power for a range of half hour to several hours, again, depending on just how big of a unit you purchase. A small one might run about $25, and supply power to a computer up to a half hour... WalMart carries some of these, but for the larger ones, you would need to goto the manufacturer, an electronics supplier, or computer parts provider. APC is a popular brand, and they offer a wide range of these battery back up units.
Good Luck
2007-07-16 00:53:12 · answer #4 · answered by thewrangler_sw 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have a dual voltage syatem. It works on normal household voltage until the power goes out then it will work on a 12 volt battery. It's all automatic and it's way cheaper than the back up generator and a transfer switch. Call your local plumbing supply and ask about it or ask the folks at home depot.
2007-07-16 12:29:06 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Buy an emergency generator is the only thing you can do.
They are gas powered and kick on during a power outage to supply power to whatever appliances or lights you want. A big one will power your whole home.
2007-07-16 00:18:16 · answer #6 · answered by jason m 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, you need a back up generator with a transfer switch, so that if and when power goes out, the generator goes on automatically and supplies power to some of the house but not all. but its a tad costly.
2007-07-16 00:14:13 · answer #7 · answered by patrick m 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋