Sump pumps/pits, discharge hoses, etc.

[guywhofishes]

I'm giving everything in my two pits a serious inspection/upgrade - and buying necessary spares BEFORE the shelves are bare or it's 3am and nothing's open.

Also installing some interweb-connected texting/emailing monitoring systems so I can travel, get ahead of problems while I have time to react, graphically track the pump cycle just for kicks, etc.

How about you all?

p.s. I am discharging my groundwater into the Red River. You GF guys have my apologies for contributing to the problem.

 

[NodakBob]

I dug a 100’ long drainage path in the snow thru the yard to allow drainage to get away from the house. Took 5 days of shoveling! Bottom 8-12” was frozen slush…nearly wore out my spade shovel ( metal flexing)…thought I was gonna have to rent a jackhammer,
Thanks for your heads up, i better check my sump pump too…

 

[espringers]

guy, we use yo-link sensors. been happy so far. except they occasionally loose contact with the hub or the hub itself goes offline. but, you get alerts when that happens too.

 

[guywhofishes]

guy, we use yo-link sensors. been happy so far. except they occasionally loose contact with the hub or the hub itself goes offline. but, you get alerts when that happens too.

I bought the Level Sense Pro a couple days ago

same - loss of power or issues you can get emails or texts

just installed new carpet - cheap insurance to get best warning possible

I also have several The Watchdog water alarms in corners that got wet in years past.

 

[NDwalleyes]

Great thread. Yep buy those pumps now, all the new homes in the state are built without them so there will be a lot of buying. I buy two so I have a spare.

Bought this guy last week.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MG29HFO/?tag=nodakangler10-20
Sump Alarm WiFi Water Sensor, Wireless Sump Pump Alarm with 10ft Float Switch for Indoor Outdoor Use, Weatherproof Water Detector Alarm with Free Email Alert, Audible Alarm and Server-Side Backup

 

[risingsun]

I'm giving everything in my two pits a serious inspection/upgrade - and buying necessary spares BEFORE the shelves are bare or it's 3am and nothing's open.

Also installing some interweb-connected texting/emailing monitoring systems so I can travel, get ahead of problems while I have time to react, graphically track the pump cycle just for kicks, etc.

How about you all?

p.s. I am discharging my groundwater into the Red River. You GF guys have my apologies for contributing to the problem.

Smart to be pro active. I like to nip shit first, before it hits you in the butt. (No gay comments Johnr ) Don't forget to start your generator, make sure you have some gas on hand should your power go out for some untimely reason.

 

[Trapper62]

We had a sump pump switch go out the day before we got home last spring from vacation. Son was checking the house everyday and told him not to worry about it the last day as we would be home that afternoon. YEP, fully finished basement was flooded with about 2" of ground water, soaked sheetrock up 12"-16", made for a shitty summer.

Just last week we installed D-Link water sensors, got a new pump on standby and am seriously considering a battery backup for the pump.

 

[lunkerslayer]

I have 3 sump pumps 1 inside and 2 outside I went and replaced all my collapsible blue pipe with some nos fire hose I found on Craigslist a website dealt with surplus materials from all over the country much better quality and cheaper to boot

 

[Allen]

I live on a pile of sand. My house doesn't even have a sump, much less one with a pump installed.

Oh, I remember the days though!

 

[espringers]

i am in the same boat allen. knock on wood. no drain tile. no sump. my sensors are for pipe, hot water tank leaks, sewer back up. lucky folks.

 

[johnr]

House is on a hill, and we don't really flood. I believe there is one neighborhood in this entire town that has pumps. Really a rarity here in Gods country.

 

[LBrandt]

Have a brand new back up sitting on a shelf in furnace room. LB

 

[Duckslayer100]

We have our ready to discharge into our main drain (shh, don't tell Fargo).

Also not a bad ideal to get a water/leak sensor. Honeywell Lyric has a wifi option.

 

[guywhofishes]

.

 

[LBrandt]

My sump hose is under 3ft of snow and about 150 ft long to the ditch in front of my property. Its 4in solid drain tile. Kind of a pain to mow around in the summer but thats OK because it works. LB

 

[KDM]

I recommend having at least one 12 volt sump pump, a battery, and a solar panel to charge the battery standing by. If the power tanks, it won't matter a tinkers damn how many bells and whistles you have on your sump pump, you're still getting a pool in your basement. Gas generators are useful as well, but if you don't have enough fuel to run the thing before the power goes out, you aren't getting any more after it goes out. Gas pumps don't work without power either. Think Grand Forks in 97. Just a thought.

 

[Zogman]

I recommend having at least one 12 volt sump pump, a battery, and a solar panel to charge the battery standing by. If the power tanks, it won't matter a tinkers damn how many bells and whistles you have on your sump pump, you're still getting a pool in your basement. Gas generators are useful as well, but if you don't have enough fuel to run the thing before the power goes out, you aren't getting any more after it goes out. Gas pumps don't work without power either. Think Grand Forks in 97. Just a thought.

Yup, been there. Way too much fun.

 

[Obi-Wan]

House is on a hill, and we don't really flood. I believe there is one neighborhood in this entire town that has pumps. Really a rarity here in Gods country.

flooding and ground water are two different things. In Bismarck drain tile and sump pit are required by code in all new residential buildings, I believe this started in the 80's . I have witnessed more houses built on high ground in Bismarck that have ground water issues than I have seen houses in the low areas with ground water issues. The ones built on a hill or cut into a hill have to deal with clay and the water will follow the top of the clay instead of soaking in. The area NW of Century and Washington street are a good example of this. We built a building on Calgary N. of Menards which was supposed to have a full basement. During excavation we opened what I call an underground river as you could see the water flowing through on top of the clay layer. We ended up filling the area up with washed sand and the building ended up with a crawl space. To this day anytime I am at that business you can hear the underground water running into the parking lot storm sewer.

 

[SLE]

For us, between the house and the cabin. I have Yo-link sensors at the cabin in the sump and sewage pits, water sensors along the base boards in a few locations in the basement, temp & humidity sensor along with wifi thermostat, and some water sensors under the kitchen sink, behind the fridge and under the dishwasher.

At home, we have a pretty complex system. I have water sensors tied to our security system so I get a phone call if there's an issue, audible float sensors in the sump and seweage ejectors, and an audible and strobe beacon on our exterior control panel for our sewage pump. I also have a spare sump pump on the shelf, basic plumbing stuff to get it up and running, and run a battery backup system on the sump system. I also have an extra sewage pump (just a small cheapy) hanging in the shed for emergecy ground / yard discharge.

In all, we have 5 pumps operating at our house (1 sump, 1 backup sump, 2 basement sewage ejectors, and 1 outside lift station pump for our septic system. Then we have 2 at the cabin, one sump and one sewage ejector. I'm dealing with 2 of the 7 as we speak so it hits home but I take a lot of precaution to keep a pump failure from becoming a major issue.

FYI, I replaced our 3/4 HP commerical waste water pump for the septic system in 2018. Reciept shows $707. That pump recently started drawing to many amps and tripping my thermal breaker in the control panel, so I looked up a new pump this moring, .....$1,550! ouch...........

 

[Slappy]

flooding and ground water are two different things. In Bismarck drain tile and sump pit are required by code in all new residential buildings, I believe this started in the 80's . I have witnessed more houses built on high ground in Bismarck that have ground water issues than I have seen houses in the low areas with ground water issues. The ones built on a hill or cut into a hill have to deal with clay and the water will follow the top of the clay instead of soaking in. The area NW of Century and Washington street are a good example of this. We built a building on Calgary N. of Menards which was supposed to have a full basement. During excavation we opened what I call an underground river as you could see the water flowing through on top of the clay layer. We ended up filling the area up with washed sand and the building ended up with a crawl space. To this day anytime I am at that business you can hear the underground water running into the parking lot storm sewer.

This ^^^. On top of a hill in Mandan and the sump will be running into July this year. Unfortunately, it's not been standard practice to install exterior discharges, so almost everyone discharges into the floor drain which is against the law.

As soon as this starts melting expect to hear news stories with the wastewater treatment plant operators pleading for people to not discharge into floor drains, and rightfully so. Plant capacities and processes are designed to treat wastewater volume and chemistry, not groundwater.