Basement Shop and Water Don't Mix

[James Rowe]

We had some heavy spring rains here in the Northeast. My "always has been dry" basement flooded. I have a small basement shop that I am slowly filling with tools. Thankfully my new Powermatic 8" jointer had not arrived yet. You can guess what my next purchase will be...you guessed it a brand new sump pump with battery backup. You never know your tools so well as when you have to clean and dry every one...including taking many of them apart.

On the bright side. My shop has never been this clean or organized. I have been fairly lucky and so far most of the tools are working fine. Even after being submerged in water for a few hours. If anyone wants to know how their tool will stand up to being submerged in water I am your man. Festool, Porter Cable, Fein, Senco, Rigid etc.



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[Rennie Heuer]

We had some heavy spring rains here in the Northeast. My "always has been dry" basement flooded.
Wow, did my heart sink when I looked at those pictures. I'm happy to hear that everything was salvageable. I hope your new pump works well and you never have to face this again!

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I live in the northeast too. And that storm was bad. My sump, which runs maybe twice a year, was cycling every 5 minutes for two days. Your pictures are very disturbing.

I too have a basement shop. But the rest of my basement is finished. The worst part was that the city sewage was backing up into my house, and the toilet in the basement was the first access point. A sand bag in the toilet, a small aquarium pump skimming off seepage into the backyard, and a shop vac running every 10 minutes for 8 hours kept me from total disaster.

One word of caution about the battery backup sump. The 'float' charger that is built into these unit will evaporate the water out of a deep cycle battery. You must inspect the battery's water level and top off with distilled water every month. If I was to buy another battery again, I'd get a regular car battery which doesn't have this problem. Since the backup pump would run only intermittent, a car battery would work well for me and be more reliable.

Also, buy yourself an electronic water sensor and put it in your sump just above the trigger point of your main sump. Even though you have battery backup which also has an audible alarm, a second audible alarm is nice and the units are fairly cheap.

Jeff :)

[Al Navas]

I feel your pain - and it IS painful to see your basement flooded. Our thoughts will be with you and with everyone in your part of the country for a good outcome.


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[Lou Ferrarini]

Sorry to hear about your situation. My son lives in Buffalo and had a similar problem last year when the power went out for over a day. Luckily he haen't finised the basement yet.

When I visited him in March, I installed one of these for him:

http://www.amazon.com/Basepump-HB-1000-Powered-Backup/dp/B000GE81W4/sr=8-3/qid=1171311186/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/104-9580542-3987932?ie=UTF8&s=hi


It doesn't require any electricity or maintenace maintenance and works like a champ. I highly recommend one of these over a batter powered pump.

[Joe Chritz]

Mine got 1/4" of water from a sump failure a couple weeks ago.

No shop down there anymore but there is more than a couple hundred square feet of pergo. Everything on top of the pergo stayed dry but the floor is dead.

I am installing a second crock with another pump set to trigger on just past the point of the first one.

The water sensor is a good idea, especially if set to go off with the second pump since it won't do much good by itself if you are gone for the day.

Early spring mine would have 3 inches or more in a hour or two.

Joe

[Tom Ruflin]

We had an ice storm a few years ago and my basement shop almost flooded. Me and LOML set the alarm for every 2 hours to go bail the sump with a pan into a bucket. A friend showed up after 2 days with a generator so we could get some rest. After that I installed a water powered backup sump pump (yes, it is water powered). It runs off the water pressure from the house water, has a float switch/valve to turn it on and off as needed and works quite well. Now I don't have to worry if I lose power or the electric sump pump breaks. I got the pump from a local plumbing supply store.

[Greg Peterson]

I saw the water powered sump pump on Ask This Old House. Good fall back for city folks on a municipal water supply. Rural folks on well water might have problems, especially if they lose their power.

Sorry to hear about your flooded basement. Hope you are able to recover quickly and with minimal lose or inconvenience.

[Larry Fox]

Aw man - I am REALLY sorry that happened but glad you are able to keep your spirts up.