My house is in a low area, and at this time of year when all of the snow is melting at an incredible rate, my sump pump goes absolutely nuts. It sits in a cast concrete well 22" square x 36" deep in the corner of my basement, and comes on every 4 minutes for about 3 weeks every spring. Then it might only come on 5 or 6 times the whole rest of the year. I have lived here for 14 years, and every spring there is considerable tension around my house until the "big melt" ends. This past Friday we got a fairly bad ice storm in our area. Power was out in surrounding areas, but not at my place. I figured we had dodged a bullet, and then at 3:00 in the afternnoon "POP" no--hydro!!! Wife got on the phone to our local electricity distibutor and was told that they expected to have electricity back on by 7:00 PM. I went downstairs and checked, and sure enough, it looked like twin versions of Niagara Falls pouring into the sump hole, and no electric power to pump it out----and the water was rising fast. I quickly drove up the hill to my nearest HomeHardware store and asked if they had a water pump with a gasoline engine on it. Ahhh---No, we don't sell nothing like that.--Then I drive down to the Midhurst small engines guy who sells chainsaws, weed whackers, etc.---Same question----nope---No Pumps, but they rent them across the street at a "Rentall" place. I rush to the rentall place----They have one.--The guy wants to talk and talk and talk--Told him "Damn, son--This is an emergency!! Quit yacking and get that damn pump out and start it for me!!!"---The pump is seized up--Won't start--and its the only one they have. I rush home to see if the electricity has come back on---No Luck. Oh, by the way, did I mention that my basement is fully carpeted, drywalled, etc., and that I have $1000 deductible on my house insurance?
I tell the wife--"Quick--Get on your cell phone (The other phone is out with the hydro) and start calling rentall places and find me a pump with a gas engine on it!!!" First call she finds one, on the other side of Barrie, but they are just about to close for the day.--Hang on guys--we are getting flooded out here and my husband is on the way to pick it up!!! Away I go driving like a maniac now, to get there before the rentall joint closes. They have a pump, hose, etcetera, none of which I have ever ran before, and here I am, a fat old 66 year old geezer---thinking---Holy %$#@ ---this is what gives old farts like me heart attacks.---So---I offer $50 to anybody that will come out to my place and help get all of this stuff hooked up and pumping water. But #1 guy has to be at a birthday party for his mother in law. #2 guy has to pick up his kids from somewhere. Sorry---They can't help. Then somebody remembers the kid out back who cleans up returned rentall stuff, and they ask him if he can come.---HE CAN!!! Load up pumps and hoses and kid and drive like maniac back to my house. Basement is blacker than Hell, (no electric lights, very feeble flashlight). We set engine and pump up in garage, bash a hole thru the drywall right abobe the sump well, and stumble around in the dark to get the sucker hose down the sump well. The water is now 1/4" from running out the top of the sump well into the basement proper. It works---It works---Hallelujah---The water is cascading out in a flood from the discharge hose into the driveway. 7:00 PM comes and still no electricity.--Wife calls again---is told "Electricity will be restored by 9:00. I check and see that I have enough gas in a can to run the engine all night if I have to. Wife takes kid home with $50 and I decide I will stay up all night to babysit the pump. Wife comes back, and I have a sudden horrible thought. --The electric column style sump pump was only 36" tall, and the flood water had come right up over the electric motor. Even if the electricity does come back on, the pump will short out and not run. Its Friday night, and the stores are open until 9:00. I leave wife to babysit pump and I drive back up to hardware store I started at hours ago, and buy their last electric sump pump. Then I rush home----And the power has come back on!!! Praise God---I go downstairs and check the flooded electric sump pump and it still does run, even though it has just been completely immersed in water until 30 minutes ago. I leave the gas engine running for half an hour, just to make certain the electricity is going to stay on, then shut the gas engine off and watch the drowned sump pump go thru a couple of cycles without shorting out. By this time, I'm wore right to a frazzle from all the excitement and running around, so I fall into bed, hoping that I won't wake up Saturday morning with an indoor swimming pool in my basement.--I get up Saturday and all is still well, so back I go to the hardware store, return the column style sump pump I had bought the night before but not used, and buy a Red Lion submersible pump and a high water alarm that shrieks like a Banshee if the water gets within 11" of the top of the sump well. I think the panic is over for this year. I sure hope so!!! Before next years flood time arrives, I will have bought a gen set with a gas engine on it, or a battery powered sump pump back up, or something. My heart won't stand another rodeo like this one!!!----Brian
I tell the wife--"Quick--Get on your cell phone (The other phone is out with the hydro) and start calling rentall places and find me a pump with a gas engine on it!!!" First call she finds one, on the other side of Barrie, but they are just about to close for the day.--Hang on guys--we are getting flooded out here and my husband is on the way to pick it up!!! Away I go driving like a maniac now, to get there before the rentall joint closes. They have a pump, hose, etcetera, none of which I have ever ran before, and here I am, a fat old 66 year old geezer---thinking---Holy %$#@ ---this is what gives old farts like me heart attacks.---So---I offer $50 to anybody that will come out to my place and help get all of this stuff hooked up and pumping water. But #1 guy has to be at a birthday party for his mother in law. #2 guy has to pick up his kids from somewhere. Sorry---They can't help. Then somebody remembers the kid out back who cleans up returned rentall stuff, and they ask him if he can come.---HE CAN!!! Load up pumps and hoses and kid and drive like maniac back to my house. Basement is blacker than Hell, (no electric lights, very feeble flashlight). We set engine and pump up in garage, bash a hole thru the drywall right abobe the sump well, and stumble around in the dark to get the sucker hose down the sump well. The water is now 1/4" from running out the top of the sump well into the basement proper. It works---It works---Hallelujah---The water is cascading out in a flood from the discharge hose into the driveway. 7:00 PM comes and still no electricity.--Wife calls again---is told "Electricity will be restored by 9:00. I check and see that I have enough gas in a can to run the engine all night if I have to. Wife takes kid home with $50 and I decide I will stay up all night to babysit the pump. Wife comes back, and I have a sudden horrible thought. --The electric column style sump pump was only 36" tall, and the flood water had come right up over the electric motor. Even if the electricity does come back on, the pump will short out and not run. Its Friday night, and the stores are open until 9:00. I leave wife to babysit pump and I drive back up to hardware store I started at hours ago, and buy their last electric sump pump. Then I rush home----And the power has come back on!!! Praise God---I go downstairs and check the flooded electric sump pump and it still does run, even though it has just been completely immersed in water until 30 minutes ago. I leave the gas engine running for half an hour, just to make certain the electricity is going to stay on, then shut the gas engine off and watch the drowned sump pump go thru a couple of cycles without shorting out. By this time, I'm wore right to a frazzle from all the excitement and running around, so I fall into bed, hoping that I won't wake up Saturday morning with an indoor swimming pool in my basement.--I get up Saturday and all is still well, so back I go to the hardware store, return the column style sump pump I had bought the night before but not used, and buy a Red Lion submersible pump and a high water alarm that shrieks like a Banshee if the water gets within 11" of the top of the sump well. I think the panic is over for this year. I sure hope so!!! Before next years flood time arrives, I will have bought a gen set with a gas engine on it, or a battery powered sump pump back up, or something. My heart won't stand another rodeo like this one!!!----Brian
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