I have recently bought a home with a sump pump in the basement. We also have had radon mitigation done.
2 questions: Is it customary for a sump pump to turn on every minute or so to pump out water? Would this lead to burn out of the motor?
Also because of the radon mitigation, the sump hole is now sealed over with plexiglass......if the basement should flood I will not be able to get the water into the sump hole because of the cover. Is there a better way for all of this to be set up?
Is there a preferred type of sump pump?
Thanks for your help and suggestions with this. All of this is new to me and would like to get things squared away before spring and any real problems.
On 11/30/2004 10:41 AM US(ET), snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com took fingers to keys, and typed the following:
If the pump is pumping water when it is running, then it is working as it should. A sump pump turns on when the water reaches a 'trigger' level, and then turns off when the water is below the low limit of the pump. If it keeps cycling like you say it is doing and it is pumping water out, then when the pump has pumped out the water down to the lower limit and shuts off, within a minute, more water has entered the hole and has reached the 'trigger' level, turning the pump back on. These continuous short cycles will certainly not add to the lifespan of the pump. You say water cannot get into the hole with the plexiglass cover over it. Then where is the water coming from? If your pump is actually pumping water out every minute or so, and there is no floor water flowing into the pump hole, I would assume that ground water is perculating up into the hole almost as fast as the pump is pumping it out. This seems like a "Catch 22" arrangement. The hole is needed for the sump pump to pump the water out of the hole, but the hole is allowing ground water in at almost the same rate. In that case, something to plug up the hole under the pump makes even more sense. You can use a hydraulic cement (like Drylok's 'Fast Plug') to form a 1" or
2" plug for the ground water. Hydraulic cement works even under water pressure and expands as it dries (5 minutes), forming a tight bond in the hole. This will also take care of the radon problem. After it dries, sit the pump on top of the plug to allow it to do what it was intended to do.
It sounds like maybe the check valve is defective. That part is available separately and is not expensive. Yes it will damage the motor and other parts.
I don't know how they have this set up. I would think that it would not be too hard to arrange something that would both block the air and still allow for drainage. They may have already set up something.
How frequently the pump runs is a function of how much water is coming into the sump pump hole. After a period of very heavy rain, having it come on frequently can be normal. However, if it's been relatively dry, it is unusual for it to come on that frequently, unless you have a very high water table.
I would take off the cover and see what's going on. Make sure the water is not running back in from the discharge line. There should be a check valve to prevent backflow. If there isn't or it's stuck, a lot of the water could be flowing back after the pump shuts off. Also, watch at what point the pump turns on. It should come on as the hole fills up, then shut off when it's near bottom. Check where the discharge goes outside. Further is better, I'd go at least 10 ft and make sure it slopes away from there.
As for getting water from a flooded basement into the sump hole, that's a good question. In newer homes it's common to have a drain channel around the basement floor where it meets the wall. That drain then leads into the sump hole. Since you have a radon issue, I would discuss it with whoever did the radon elimination. I would think there must be some way to have an opening in the sump hole cover so that water from the floor could get in, but water could not get out. Sort of like a scupper flap device they use on the sides of some boats to let water out from the deck.
And finally, if your pump is running that much and the settup is OK, then I would definitely consider at least a battery backup, if not generator solution. At some point, you know you'll lose power and need it.
This seems awfully frequent. Can you watch the water level in the sump? The pump should turn on when the water is fairly high, and run until the water is almost all gone. In my sump, when I test it with a garden hose, it takes several minutes of the hose running full-on to fill the sump, from empty, to the point that the pump begins to run, then maybe a minute or two of pumping to empty it again. The sump is about 3' square and maybe 3' deep; the rise and fall of the water from empty to "full" (ie, pump cuts in) is about 2' or 2.5'. Hard to know exactly, looking down into a dark hole, so these are ballpark.
My sump is (for now) fed only by a few drains in the basement floor, plus the condensate drain from the boiler and, seasonally, a dehumidifier. At worst, on humid summer days, the sump runs maybe once every couple of hours, tops.
One or more of the following is therefore true:
- your sump is a lot smaller than mine
- your sump is collecting water a lot faster than mine
- your pump is set to come on at a very low water level, and/or cut off at a very high level.
My pump has no visible float, so I assume it's a pressure-switch type, and I have not had to adjust it. Does yours have a visible float that controls it?
Are there no drains leading into the sump from the basement? If not, then do you know where it's collecting water from? The only other use for a sump that I know of is to drain an external weeping-tile system. I am told (being not quite yet the owner of such a scheme) that the actual volume of water that the drains will put into the sump is very small, except at times of heavy rain and high water table. Perhaps you are in such a mode at the moment? ...one hopes, not for very many days of the year.
Dunno. I'll watch for answers to this question, for when mine breaks!
A sump pumps main purpose is to pump ground water out of the sump pump hole, not water off the basement floor, when it's already too late. Sure, flood water from the basement floor can also go into the sump pump hole, but that's a secondary purpose.
Plug up the sump pump hole with cement? What's up with that? The sump pump hole is there for the sump pump to sit in and pump water that makes it into the hole out. Even if it were deeper than it needed to be, which I doubt as it just makes installing it harder, it's not going to hurt anything. Ground water will only rise as high as it normally would anyway. That's why if you dig a well, you still neeed a pump to lift the water.
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