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Sump pump questions
I recently sold my house and bought another that has a sump pit and pump. This is new to me.....I've never owened a house with a pit and pump and have a few questions. Keep in mind we haven't had any significant rainfall in a month. My pit fills every 15-20 minutes with clean clear water, no muddy stuff, and then empties. After talking to my neighbor who lives 50 feet beside me on the same elevation I discovered that their pit is almost always dry and currently has no water in it.....the same goes for my other neighbors. Do I have an issue? Maybe a leak in the water line from the street to the indoor meter? Just a FYI, I live in town on a hill with no low wet areas. Any ideas on this matter would be great!!!
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1995 Toyota Pickup 2003 Suzuki Burgmann 400 2002 VW Passat 4Motion V6 1957 Aristocraft Torpedo Boat |
#2
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if you suspect your water main .. monitor your water bill
you live up north so maybe your sitting on an aquifer(dp) |
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Yes, wouldn't a comparison of the metter reading inside your house with the one at the street give you a good idea of a leak of that size?
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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century OBK #55 1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles 2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles 2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles |
#4
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20 Feet can be a huge difference if a water vein is near your house it will fill, his tile maybe draining or seeping elsewhere. I live in the sump pump capital of the world so let me know if you need any other advice.
the real trick is to make sure you have a back up sump pump because the ALWAYS fail sometimes months sometimes years,,,,like the Oil Pressure guage on a W124, it just a matter of time. |
#5
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You're probably on top of an aquifer or vein but monitoring your water bill wouldn't hurt.
If your pump is an AC unit it's not a bad idea to rig up a 12V battery/trickle charger/DC to AC converter to plug it into since oftentimes heavy rainfall coincides with the loss of power.
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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15 '06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod) |
#6
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If I pop the cap off at the sidewalk is there a meter inside? If so, should that reading match the one for the inside meter?
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1995 Toyota Pickup 2003 Suzuki Burgmann 400 2002 VW Passat 4Motion V6 1957 Aristocraft Torpedo Boat |
#7
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their usually is a meter on the ones outside down here...
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Quote:
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1995 Toyota Pickup 2003 Suzuki Burgmann 400 2002 VW Passat 4Motion V6 1957 Aristocraft Torpedo Boat |
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I'll check it out tonight.
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1995 Toyota Pickup 2003 Suzuki Burgmann 400 2002 VW Passat 4Motion V6 1957 Aristocraft Torpedo Boat |
#10
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Quote:
I'm not a plumbing expert, but I sometimes pretend to be.
__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century OBK #55 1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles 2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles 2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles |
#11
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It is not a leaking water main if it were water would be bubbling out of the ground. Personally the best sump pumps are the submersable with the upright as a back-up.
A back up pump with battery power is the key. |
#12
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More later gotta golf.
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#13
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Quote:
If the pump fails, water will continue to accumulate until it finds the path of least resistance, which would probably be the caulking around the edge of the sump pit cover. As far as back-up sump pumps, I use the Basement WatchDog "Big Dog". This has a 12 volt battery to provide pumping in the event of power failure, but the pump can also run off 120 volts if the power has not failed. I find this feature important because if the main pump fails (as in jams or burns out), you are not running down the battery while 120 volts is still available. http://www.basementwatchdog.com/basement_watchdog_bigdog.htm Last edited by thorsen; 06-12-2007 at 04:11 PM. Reason: Forgot link |
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I have my HVAC units in the basement and the evaporator drainage goes into a small sump for each unit that pumps up into a drain. It sounds like your sump is processing more water than can be attributed to A/C condensate (unless you have a big house and it's really humid) though so this probably isn't the case but just a thought. Is there anything else in the house that might drain there? I guess I'm steering the opposite direction from the other posters in thinking that it's not coming from the ground.
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1983 M-B 240D-Gone too. 1976 M-B 300D-Departed. "Good" is the worst enemy of "Great". |
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Quote:
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1995 Toyota Pickup 2003 Suzuki Burgmann 400 2002 VW Passat 4Motion V6 1957 Aristocraft Torpedo Boat |
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