My basement sump pump died at 2am during a thunderstorm

Last Tuesday around 2 in the morning, I woke up to a weird splashing sound. Went downstairs and found about an inch of water creeping across my basement floor. The sump pump just gave up after 8 years of service. I had no backup battery or anything, so I spent the next hour scooping water into buckets with a dustpan. Finally got a shop vac from my neighbor at 3am and sucked up the rest. The next day I had to pay $450 for a new pump and install it myself because every plumber was booked solid. Has anyone else had a pump fail at the worst possible time, and how do you keep it from happening again?

3 comments

3 Comments

corap2129d ago

My buddy had his pump die during a snowmelt last March, water was already halfway up his basement steps when he woke up. Now he's got one of those fancy battery backup systems that kicks in automatically, says it saved him when the power went out during a storm last month.

elliotm5729d ago

Oh man, that's rough. Did you check the float switch when you put the new one in? A buddy of mine had his pump fail during a hurricane a few years back, same deal, middle of the night with water rising. He scooped water for hours too, but his neighbor had an extra battery backup pump he loaned him for the rest of the storm. After that mess, he wired in two separate pumps on different circuits so if one goes, the other kicks on. He also drilled a tiny hole in the discharge pipe to keep air from getting trapped, which seems like a simple fix but it works. I've heard some people put a UPS battery backup on theirs like a computer, but that's only good for a few hours before it dies, so maybe look into a dedicated pump battery system if you don't want to go through that again.

logan52529d ago

Ugh, dude that is BRUTAL. Scooping water for hours in the dark is a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone. I had a similar scare once where my pump decided to quit during a heavy spring rain and I was just staring at the water creeping up the basement wall, felt completely helpless. That dual pump setup your friend did sounds like a lifesaver though, definitely going to remember that trick with the tiny hole in the discharge pipe too.