The pump is only part of your sump pump system

The Sump Liner

You don’t want your pump to clog up in a muddy hole in the floor. And you don’t want it in a 5-gallon bucket that doesn’t hold a lot of water and will cause the pump to “short cycle” (go on and off very quickly). Instead, you should have a sturdy liner or housing for your sump pump with holes in it to accept water directly from the ground as well as a larger inelet hole to allow your perimeter drainage systems to empty into it. There should be about 100 3/8-inch holes in it. The liner should be about 2 feet deep and about 18 inches wide, and should have a rim that accepts a sealed cover.

Lifetime Warranty?

No pump manufacturer gives a lifetime warranty on their pumps – and there is a good reason why. A lifetime warranty doesn’t make a pump better. Some irresponsible contractors will tell you there is a lifetime warranty (or many years) on their pump – “free replacements forever” – to seduce you to buy their whole solution. This is irresponsible. Ask yourself, “How do I know when to call to get my free replacement?” The answer is when your basement is flooded, which is exactly what you spent your money on in the first place to stop from happening. The damage will be done, and the 10 year, 20 year, or lifetime warranty won’t help you.

Airtight Sump Lid

The sump should have an airtight lid on it to prevent water from evaporating out of the sump hole into your basement, to stop stuff from falling in that can clog the pump or switch, and to quiet the system. Depending on the cover, it can also make the installation look good too. Instead of a necessary evil in your home, you have a thoughtfully engineered system. On top of the sump lid you should have a floor drain. Not if, but when you have a plumbing leak and the water floods out onto the basement floor, you’ll want to use your sump hole to drain the water away. With an airtight lid, the water will fill up your basement. (Unlike groundwater leaks, plumbing leaks and the damage they cause might be covered by your homeowner’s insurance.) Putting a floor drain in the sump lid is the answer. But wait, won’t a sump drain allow water vapor to evaporate into my basement? Not with Basement Systems’ airtight floor drain. This places a specially designed cup and ball underneath the floor drain which allows water to go down, but doesn’t allow air to come up.

A Stand for the Pump

A “CleanPump Stand” will elevate the pump off the bottom of the sump liner a bit, allowing for some sediment, mud, debris, or gravel that washes into the sump liner to settle to the bottom of the sump liner without clogging or otherwise affecting the pump. It also keeps the check valve and discharge pipe clean. A check valve (one-way valve) should be installed on all sump pump discharge lines, so when the pump shuts off, the water in the pipe doesn’t flow back into the sump hole, which would then have to be pumped again on the next cycle.

Pump Alarms

How would you know if your sump pump has failed and you were in danger of being flooded? Unless you have an alarm, the answer is, when your basement floods, which is just what you are trying to avoid. A battery powered alarm that sounds off automatically when the water reaches a level above the point where the pump(s) should normally turn on is essential. The patented WaterWatch alarm does just that, telling you there is a problem before the floor gets we, so you have a chance to do something about it.