Wacker pump as a sump solution?

[jtpr]

I have a house that is built on solid ledge and I'm getting a lot of water lately with all these storms in the northeast. Putting in sump pump will be very difficult to say the least. I can break up he concrete, but then I'm at the ledge so I only can go down about 4 in. I just rented a Wacker PS400 pump from HD and it worked great to get rid of the bulk of the water. This is not a finished basement so I'm not after total protection. Can something like this be used in lieu of a sump pump? I can't tell if it is auto sensing or not and if it will come on automatically, or if a switch could be rigged up somehow..

-Jim

[Mikepier]

All I can tell you is I had water in the basement too yesterday, and I don't care how big of a pump you have. If the water table is rising all around you, there' not much you can do. I was using my pump yesterday and as fast as I sucked water out of one corner of my basement, the water came back in. Finally this morning, the water receded.

[jamesgangnc]

You can get independent float switches. They usually have an outlet on the back of their plug. Check to make sure the wacker pump doesn't have anything on the tag that says it has a duty cycle of less than

100% and you're good to go.

[ransley]

You think you can only go down 4", rent an electric demolition hammer it will go through the Ledge so you can go deper and put in a sump, you only need to go deep enough to make the float work, maybe a foot. A Pedistal pump should work with a 6" depth, then its all automatic. You dont need an inserted plastic pit liner or a hole much bigger than the pump and float clearance, a pedistal pump would take the smallest diameter and depth of hole, I have 6 in an apt building I put in. HD wont have a quality unit but for now it should get you by, mine are maybe 50 yrs old, brass base commercial grade and fine. HD rents demo hammers im sure, probably a mornings work to do the whole job.

[trader4]

I tend to agree with Ransley. The problem I see with no basin or one that is only 4" deep, is that unless you have a real flood, whatever pump you use, it's going to turn on and off very frequently. That uses more electricity and shortens the pump life.

[jtpr]

Yeah, I'm going to rent the jackhammer and give it a go on Friday, get it as deep as I can and put a homer bucket in there. You think I can get through ledge with a jackhammer?

-Jim

[hrhofmann]

Pleae let us know how things work out.

[aemeijers]

Nobody else said it, so I will- where is the water coming in? Through/under the basement walls, or perking up through the concrete floor all over? Sounds like it is coming in along the outside of foundation, if the leak starts almost as soon as the rain does. If it starts hours or days later, it is a plume flowing downstream on top of the ledge. As with almost all basement leaks, proper cure is to stop or divert it outside the wall, with footer drains, proper waterproof membranes, and some sort of drainage swale on the upstream side of the house to divert the flow around the house. Stuff like this can get real expensive real fast. Other alternative if budget makes a proper drain a non-starter is an interior french drain along the walls to collect it as it seeps through, if that is where it is coming in.

If the ledge is that wide and that solid, they shoulda dug all the way down to it, and used it as the footings and basement floor...:^/

[ransley]

A pit is best, but I dont know how hard a rock slab he is on.

[ransley]

They go through concrete easy enough, but there are big big heavy hammers and small ones about as big as a sawsall, call rental places and ask what they recommend, ive used the small electric ones.