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[ElectricBlanketFire]

Look at this idiot:

They do just enough work to get by and then when it comes to actual emergencies, they completely disappear on you.

DAMMIT.

How have sump pumps failed you?

 

[Earthstrike]

I don't even know what a sump pump does.

 

[PoweredBySoy]

My parents have a sump pump in their house and, yeah, it always seems to cause drama.

 

[DietRob]

So you would rather have a couple feet of water in your basement? I must have a nice one because mine has never failed me. Has a battery backup too.

 

[jred2k]

Sump is just a dumb word. I'd never trust something with sump in it's name.

 

[giggas]

They need to be paired with a generator to not become useless.

 

[CrankyJay]

I don't even know what a sump pump does.

They pump water our of a basement...basements are below ground level and sometimes when it rains a lot or snow melts, the water table in the ground rises and leaks under the foundation of the basement.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

I don't even know what a sump pump does.

They pump sump.

 

[Agnostic]

I have an emergency backup sump pump so I don't experience the frustration.

 

[GavinGT]

Is this like when you simp a girl so much that it drains your will to live?

 

[Dr.Horrible]

Fortunate to have never had one/needed one in the three homes we've owned.

 

[soul creator]

I ain't a sump pump chump

 

[Stinkles]

They pump water our of a basement...basements are below ground level and sometimes when it rains a lot or snow melts, the water table in the ground rises and leaks under the foundation of the basement.

This is kind of a US phenomenon because of the way we build houses (I.e. cheaply and poorly). Many Euros will be baffled by this.

Mine works as far as I can tell.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Never ever heard of a sump pump.

 

[Willectro]

How have sump pumps failed you?

The one at my parents house is installed and maintained properly. Never had an issue, and it's easy to test.

 

[Oppo]

This is kind of a US phenomenon because of the way we build houses (I.e. cheaply and poorly). Many Euros will be baffled by this.

Mine works as far as I can tell.

No it's not. It's just a geography thing. Depends on what the water table is doing.

Even well formed bricks will leak water if there's enough hydrostatic pressure. Sump pump takes care of that. Although they do need the whole gravel bed to be set up properly.

OP are you in Chicago?

 

[Tek]

Wish I could get my sump pumped...

sigh...

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

Yeah we have one of those and it's been mostly helpful, but ever since we had a few hurricanes pass over and knock the power out we had some water damage in the basement since it couldn't keep going. We've got a new one that is hooked to a battery in case the power does shit the bed on us, but dear god you don't want to get near that thing when the power is low. The noise it makes is like a slaughterhouse of pigs all squealing the chorus to halleluiah at once.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

So you would rather have a couple feet of water in your basement?

Yes. Yes I would.

OP are you in Chicago?

Yeash.

 

[Tacitus_]

They pump water our of a basement...basements are below ground level and sometimes when it rains a lot or snow melts, the water table in the ground rises and leaks under the foundation of the basement.

What? How? Do they just dig a hole in the ground and call it the basement?

 

[zephervack]

Mine broke 2 months ago during a pretty bad storm, my basement was completely soaked, lost a bunch of stuff and had to pay like $1k between replacing the pump and paying some carpet cleaner company to dry the carpet, took them like 5 days of constant vacuuming and 24/7 industrial fans.


Worst appliance ever, I still dont even understand why architects make the outside water go inside the house, doesnt make a lick of goddamn sense

 

[KibblesBits]

The problem with these is usually user related. Meaning people simply don't take care of the item properly and then become screwed when a situation arises where it would be useful.

I knew a person who did not have a sump bucket in their basement floor and would simply sit the device on the ground. Obviously you're not going to get all the water out of the basement that way.

I knew of another person who had some erosion with their flooding. They would never clean out their pumps after use and the particles would get inside the machines and destroy them.

And I am fully aware that some of the brands out there are in fact garbage and can't do what they are purported to do, but more than half the time the owner is the one making a critical error.

 

[big_z]

My parents have one. Has worked fine for 15+ years except one time where the power went out for most of the night during a storm.

Worst appliance ever, I still dont even understand why architects make the outside water go inside the house, doesnt make a lick of goddamn sense

Concrete soaks up water which means damp basements. the pump is there to collect excess water and move it away from the house. Some homes have drainage into the sewers but it seems like most don't these days. Why I'm not sure, cost savings I imagine.

 

[dionysus]

What? How? Do they just dig a hole in the ground and call it the basement?

Concrete, brick, and pretty much every construction material used in residential construction is not watertight. If your water table is higher than the basement, it will leak into the basement no matter what.

The real question is why people build basements in areas with a high water table or houses in flood plains?

 

[CrankyJay]

What? How? Do they just dig a hole in the ground and call it the basement?

Usually in the corner of the basement there is a circular hole that goes down about about 3 or 4 feet. That's called the sump. There are pvc pipes under the the level of the foundation that direct the water towards the sump.

 

[aparisi2274]

Look at this idiot:

They do just enough work to get by and then when it comes to actual emergencies, they completely disappear on you.

DAMMIT.

How have sump pumps failed you?

Actually, I have nothing but praise for my sump pump!

My house is about 40yrs old, and there are cracks in the foundation, so every time there was a heavy rain or a lot of snow that would melt and saturate the ground, my den would get water in it!

finally I decided to fix it the right way, so I had a crew come in, and install french drains around the perimeter of my den, and it all empties out into a well they created in the floor that houses my sump pump! I also have a battery backup, so when the power goes out (as it did during Hurricane Sandy) my sump pump would still work!

yeah, so I have nothing bad to say about them.

 

[Pagusas]

My subpump has been going strong for years. Also I ofset it with sewage and sump backup insurance that covers me if it does fail. I highly recommend it to home owners that have a basement in a non-flood zone that still can have water issues (Actual flood insurance is INSANELY expensive even when you live no where near a flood plain or river).

 

[Aurongel]

My only memories of the sump pump were from my friend's house where he had one in his basement. It was this open square hole in the concrete that was always half filled with water. We (mostly him) used to use it as a urinal during long gaming sessions so we didn't have to run all the way back upstairs to take a leak. He did however have one rule: "You don't dump in the sump".

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

We (mostly him) used to use it as a urinal during long gaming sessions so we didn't have to run all the way back upstairs to take a leak. He did however have one rule: "You don't dump in the sump".

 

[Iksenpets]

This is the first I've ever heard of a sump pump, but it's name sounds super gross. We don't really have basements where I am in Texas; something about the soil prevents their construction. They sound like a huge hassle, apparently.

 

[TedNindo]

No it's not. It's just a geography thing. Depends on what the water table is doing.

Even well formed bricks will leak water if there's enough hydrostatic pressure. Sump pump takes care of that. Although they do need the whole gravel bed to be set up properly.

OP are you in Chicago?

I live in Belgium in a house that's over 200 years old. Our basement has never leaked. It's been a bit moist at most. During the fall I wouldn't need to dig a pit deeper then a meter before it starts filling itself with water. This place is pretty swampy and is practically a suburb at this point.

 

[Tacitus_]

Concrete, brick, and pretty much every construction material used in residential construction is not watertight. If your water table is higher than the basement, it will leak into the basement no matter what.

The real question is why people build basements in areas with a high water table or houses in flood plains?

I've never heard of basements flooding spontaneously, is all. Here they only flood if the rivers are flooding when spring comes and all the ice and snow starts to melt.

 

[RumblingRosco]

In central Illinois, but I am on one of the only small hills in the area so my sump pump is shitting on these storms.

 

[CrankyJay]

I've never heard of basements flooding spontaneously, is all. Here they only flood if the rivers are flooding when spring comes and all the ice and snow starts to melt.

They don't flood spontaneously, there's always water below ground level...

 

[Tacitus_]

They don't flood spontaneously, there's always water below ground level...

Let me rephrase, without the water leaking in from above the basement. I've never heard of it just trickling through the basement walls or floor.

 

[GodofWine]

A 'sump' is any low space intended to collect liquid. The oil pan on your car is a sump. It only sounds funny cause it rhymes with pump.

I have a sump pump but it has never needed to run despite hurricanes and blizzards so I've never installed a back up. I just test it before HUGE storms.

 

[jstripes]

We had one of those. Our house was 100 years old and its basement was leaky as hell. Every spring we'd get a foot of water in it. None of our neighbours had that problem.

 

[GavinGT]

Let me rephrase, without the water leaking in from above the basement. I've never heard of it just trickling through the basement walls or floor.

You probably live in an area with a consistently low water table.

 

[BobTheFork]

Do they have sump pumps you don't have to kick?

That's all I remember about them from childhood. Once a day I had to go into the basement and kick the pipe on the pump gently. Everyone else in the area seemingly had to do that as well. I was never sure why.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Do they have sump pumps you don't have to kick?

That's all I remember about them from childhood. Once a day I had to go into the basement and kick the pipe on the pump gently. Everyone else in the area seemingly had to do that as well. I was never sure why.

I vaguely remember doing this as a kid too.

 

[GavinGT]

I hate getting kicked in the sump pump.

 

[theepicoftyler]

Our neighborhood is flooding pretty badly right now, so I imagine our sump pumps will fail sometime over the next 24 hours.

Seems to be how it usually goes.

 

[Jasup]

You probably live in an area with a consistently low water table.

I looked this up, and around here the water table is on average 2 meters below ground level. At the moment the snow is melting at fast pace and it's raining. Where the gound has melted it's basically just mud. I'd say there's a bit of moisture in the ground.

Still I haven't heard of sump pumps, or flooded basements. The floor and walls might be damp (with older houses more so) but flooding is very rare. On old houses the basements were built above ground (inside a mount) to prevent flooding, but after the 50's that wasn't really necessary because we had proper drainage infrastructure in place - apart from rural settlements almost every house has their french drains connected to communal drains. And it works.

How do you do things?

 

[HammerOfThor]

Yeah, we have some bad storms in the Chicago area right now and I had to make sure mine was still running.

I remember the one time I didn't check it my basement got flooded pretty bad.

Now I never don't check it.


Edit: How long do they last for?

 

[RiZ III]

About 5 years ago the sump pump in my parents basement failed. The whole basement got flooded. Fucking sucked.

 

[SolsticeZero]

We don't have basements where I live, so the need to ever own a sump pump is foreign to me.

 

[roddur]

i had 3 sump pump failures last 7/8 years. every time the basement was flooded.

 

[Shambles]

I grew up in a house with one. Didn't have huge problems with it but the idea of building a house on a swamp is pretty idiotic and I would never buy a property now that would need one.

 

[ToxicAdam]

My big appliance pet peeve are ice makers. I've had 3 different Fridge/Freezers and the ice maker has shit the bed in all three.

 

[see5harp]

To me it's weird that they build basements in so many areas where it would flood like Chicago and then they don't build them in places that are traditionally dry like California. Why don't they just build up?