Help! Sump Pump quit working, basement flooding, what can we do?
- Thread starter Scouzer
- Start date
check the power source
do you have a floor drain to direct the water to?
go buy a submersible pump
GL hope you get it stopped
do you have a floor drain to direct the water to?
go buy a submersible pump
GL hope you get it stopped
- Jun 3, 2001
- 10,358
- 5
- 0
ok this worked. i kicked the shit out of that float switch and it kicked in shortly after
however, the damage is done and its still leaking. this is actually an apartment, im just a tenant, but i was helping my landlord anyway i could.
i think the concrete is surged, the sump pump is not stopping the basement from leaking. there are cracks its leaking from on the sides of the walls and the floor itself.
What is "surged" concrete?
The pump isn't supposed to stop the basement from leaking, it's there to pump out the water that leaks in. Since the water issue wasn't addressed when the basement was built, or whatever mitigation methods that were used have failed, you're pretty much stuck just pumping out the water that flows in. Repairing the problem now will be difficult and expensive.
Jeff7
Lifer
- Jan 4, 2001
- 41,596
- 19
- 81
Check the output pipes. My sump pump refused to work once. It turned on, but I checked the power draw - about 150% of what it should have been. Something seemed to have gotten stuck in the output pipe, though I never did find out what. I just loosened the connection to the pump, a bit of water spewed out from pressure that the pump had put there, and that seemed to clear out whatever the problem was. The pump then went nuts getting rid of what water it could.
The possible solution to the flooding has been this:
1) A hole was cut in the foundation's frost barrier at the back of the house, which leads into a bed of crushed stone. The contractor we hired said that the frost barrier can have the side effect of trapping water underneath the foundation. It flows down underground from the front of the house, seeps underneath the foundation, and is then unable to flow out the back quickly enough. Its solution: push its way up through cracks in the floor as well as through the sump. During heavy rains that persisted for more than a day, the sump pump would run about every 30 seconds for 15 seconds, the water just filled in so quickly.
This hole, which is about 6" below ground level - at least according to the way our particular yard was landscaped, this will vary on your building - has a pipe which directs the water away from the house, so as to drain this subterranean "pond."
2) A trench dug around the front of the house, which is where the water comes from originally. This trench is 8-10' deep at its deepest, about a foot wide, and goes as far down as does the foundation. It runs along the front yard parallel to the house, and then curves around the side. At the bottom is a perforated pipe to allow water in and give it a way to flow easily. Above that is filter fabric, then several feet of crushed stone, and finally topsoil and grass.
The trench works to try to prevent water from even making it as far as the foundation. The water can soak through the dirt until it hits the crushed stone, at which point it simply falls down. It finds the perforated pipe, and flows freely through that, eventually meeting with the pipe from the back of the foundation, and then to the edge of our property.
In previous years when it's rained very hard for a long time, in addition to coming in through the floor and the sump, water also came in through cracks in the front foundation, which made the sump pump slightly useless, as it was only attacking one of the water's many inlets.
It's been there a year at least, but I still don't know if it works, as it's not yet rained enough to let me really say for certain that the trench is doing its job, and that the basement will not ever flood again. But it all looks pretty good in theory, and the sump hasn't been so much as damp since the trench was made.
The possible solution to the flooding has been this:
1) A hole was cut in the foundation's frost barrier at the back of the house, which leads into a bed of crushed stone. The contractor we hired said that the frost barrier can have the side effect of trapping water underneath the foundation. It flows down underground from the front of the house, seeps underneath the foundation, and is then unable to flow out the back quickly enough. Its solution: push its way up through cracks in the floor as well as through the sump. During heavy rains that persisted for more than a day, the sump pump would run about every 30 seconds for 15 seconds, the water just filled in so quickly.
This hole, which is about 6" below ground level - at least according to the way our particular yard was landscaped, this will vary on your building - has a pipe which directs the water away from the house, so as to drain this subterranean "pond."
2) A trench dug around the front of the house, which is where the water comes from originally. This trench is 8-10' deep at its deepest, about a foot wide, and goes as far down as does the foundation. It runs along the front yard parallel to the house, and then curves around the side. At the bottom is a perforated pipe to allow water in and give it a way to flow easily. Above that is filter fabric, then several feet of crushed stone, and finally topsoil and grass.
The trench works to try to prevent water from even making it as far as the foundation. The water can soak through the dirt until it hits the crushed stone, at which point it simply falls down. It finds the perforated pipe, and flows freely through that, eventually meeting with the pipe from the back of the foundation, and then to the edge of our property.
In previous years when it's rained very hard for a long time, in addition to coming in through the floor and the sump, water also came in through cracks in the front foundation, which made the sump pump slightly useless, as it was only attacking one of the water's many inlets.
It's been there a year at least, but I still don't know if it works, as it's not yet rained enough to let me really say for certain that the trench is doing its job, and that the basement will not ever flood again. But it all looks pretty good in theory, and the sump hasn't been so much as damp since the trench was made.
- Jun 3, 2001
- 10,358
- 5
- 0
Well, I woke up this morning to discover my unit has flooded during the night. I live in a fourplex of apartments, two upstairs two basement. Initially last night, only the other basement apartment and the common area was flooding. My landlord was up until 5AM cleaning what he could.
Now I wake up and step into water. What a good feeling. The worst thing here is it's coming from the opposite corner of the building, so it's not even related to the initial flooding.
By "surged" concrete, I mean the foundation is woefully uneven. There are places where the concrete has clearly broken due to frost or whatnot, and sticks up from the rest of the floor by 1-2". This place is fooked...
Now I wake up and step into water. What a good feeling. The worst thing here is it's coming from the opposite corner of the building, so it's not even related to the initial flooding.
By "surged" concrete, I mean the foundation is woefully uneven. There are places where the concrete has clearly broken due to frost or whatnot, and sticks up from the rest of the floor by 1-2". This place is fooked...
Fritzo
Lifer
- Jan 3, 2001
- 41,920
- 2,161
- 126
Go to the hardware store and get a water aspirator <sp?>. It's a pump that hooks up to a garden hose and removes about 4 gallons of water for every gallon of water used.
After this gets fixed, get yourself a battery powered backup sump. I installed this one in under an hour and it works VERY well.
After this gets fixed, get yourself a battery powered backup sump. I installed this one in under an hour and it works VERY well.
- Jun 3, 2001
- 10,358
- 5
- 0
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: K1052
There have to be better apartments...</end quote></div>
No. There are not. My town has a 0% vacancy rate (seriously, front page of the paper last week)
It took me THREE MONTHS to get this place and the vacancy rate was 0.5% back then. I only got it because as soon as the paper came around 3:30PM, I called at 4PM and I was the first to visit the next morning. She had 5 or 6 phone calls about it that very evening, and I was the first able to visit.
Anyway, the water has stopped flooding. Now what do I need to get from my landlord to ensure my safety (mould)?
There have to be better apartments...</end quote></div>
No. There are not. My town has a 0% vacancy rate (seriously, front page of the paper last week)
It took me THREE MONTHS to get this place and the vacancy rate was 0.5% back then. I only got it because as soon as the paper came around 3:30PM, I called at 4PM and I was the first to visit the next morning. She had 5 or 6 phone calls about it that very evening, and I was the first able to visit.
Anyway, the water has stopped flooding. Now what do I need to get from my landlord to ensure my safety (mould)?
Is anything of your's damaged? If so, it should be covered under renter's insurance...if you have it. If you don't have it, get it.
This type of thing should be covered under the landlord's insurance as well. Most homeowner policies will cover flooding in the event of a sump pump failure.
This type of thing should be covered under the landlord's insurance as well. Most homeowner policies will cover flooding in the event of a sump pump failure.
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