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RR_58 | 10-17-2006 02:34 AM
sump pump question I am pretty well prepared in most area but I see one weak spot...water in the basement.If all power is out & I run out of fuel for the generator what would be a good set up to remove excess water from a storm? I have no run off problem except for heavy storms.

RossL | 10-17-2006 05:20 AM
Re: sump pump question Quote:
Originally Posted by RR_58 (Post 389039) I am pretty well prepared in most area but I see one weak spot...water in the basement.If all power is out & I run out of fuel for the generator what would be a good set up to remove excess water from a storm? I have no run off problem except for heavy storms.
I have a backup sump pump that uses water pressure from the city water supply. It needs no electricity. It is called a "HomeGuard" from the Zoeller Pump company. http://www.zoeller.com/zcopump/produ.../homeguard.htm It's not as powerful as the 50gpm electric.

Tn...Andy | 10-17-2006 07:08 AM
Re: sump pump question Quote:
Originally Posted by RossL (Post 389110) It's not as powerful as the 50gpm electric.
50 gallons per minute on a sump pump ? Wow...you must have a creek running thru your basement ! RR58: I'd consider a couple of deep cycle batteries, a trickle charger to keep them charged during normal conditions and either an inverter for the regular pump or 12v backup pump.

RossL | 10-17-2006 07:35 AM
Re: sump pump question Quote:
Originally Posted by Tn...Andy (Post 389139) 50 gallons per minute on a sump pump ? Wow...you must have a creek running thru your basement !
That is almost a true statement. I'm sitting on a spring! I have come to the conclusion that when my home was built in 1964, the water had to fill the hole when the basement was dug out. The builder should have filled the basement back in and built a slab home. On labor day weekend 2003 we had five inches on rain in a few hours. I had two inches of water in the basement, even with the pump running 50gpm. It took six or seven hours to pump all the water out. 50gpm= 3000 gph. 7 hours= 21000 gallons. A battery powered pump may not have had enough juice to pump all that water if the power had failed. I didn't comment on the "investing in water" thread...:eek:

Tn...Andy | 10-17-2006 08:06 AM
Re: sump pump question ahahaaaaa....no comment, huh ! I looked at this house some local guy was building here for some trim work he was wanting done.....didn't do it, decided the guy was a nutcase, but he had built a totally underground basement, which is fairly unusual here.....( not up north, I know ).....most basements here are what we call 'daylight' basements, as flat ground is sort of premium, when you build into a slope, one side or corner of the basement is almost always fully open to 'daylight'. But anyway, this guy has built this basement.....and he built a concrete driveway about 10' wide and maybe 50-60'' long sloping down to a set of double doors that opened into the basement......I guess to drive stuff down there like a riding mower, although WHY he didn't put a regular garage door is beyond me....the concrete 'ramp' was REALLY long to keep the slope reasonable, and he'd built a 10' tall basement to boot..... So, having already decided I was not working for this guy, I was just having fun.....I was looking at the surface area of that ramp, and figuring if we get a 'gully washer' of a rain, there is gonna be ONE HECK of a lot of water aimed right at that basement. Guy see me looking and askes what I'm looking at..... "Well, have you got 3 phase power in this house ? " ( Already knowing he doesn't...ahahahaha) "No.....why would I need that ? " "Well, I figure it's gonna take a 10 or 15hp pump to keep up with the water coming down that ramp when it really sets in raining...and 3 phase pumps are a lot cheaper......ahahahahahaaaaa" He just scouls and mutters....... Builders are a hoot sometimes the stuff they do.....

REV127 | 10-17-2006 09:48 AM
Re: sump pump question Tough situation. Sailboaters and other cruisers often keep manual bilge pumps on hand in case they take on water or spring a leak and their electric pump goes out. The best models are double action, they pump water out with each stroke, some have a fairly decent capacity but you'll be at it a long time for 21,000 gallons! Still, with several such units and some helpers you should eventually be able to get it clear. Below is a link to a page full of such units. Some are dinky bicycle pump-like affairs, others cost a couple hundred bucks but can almost keep up with an electric pump as long as the pumper can. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...man/asc/0/grid This model can do 28 gallons per minute and costs $200. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...0001/168/75/11 If I were to use one of these units I would attach a much longer handle, maybe a couple feet long. The added leverage ought to make it easier for you to pump for extended periods of time.

JCarvingblock | 10-17-2006 10:07 AM
Re: sump pump question This is an impossible situation. Do not consider your basement a refuge. You need to build your tornado shelter - bomb shelter - whatever on higher dryer ground. If you don't have higher ground, shore up the floor with whatever it takes and build a safe room inside the home and above the present basement - or put an addition on the side of your home that is a concrete walled enclosure. Re: Andy's story about the long driveway rain collector... I worked on a prestressed concrete building that had EPS (expanded polystyrene) and stainless steel standing seam roofing on top of the prestressed double tees. This roof was BIG. Like maybe 120 feet wide and one side of the slope 60 feet. The architect was from an area that seldom saw snow, and this building was in an area that would get snow dumps measured in FEET per snowfall. The slope of the roof was just about right to where the snow would set until conditions were just right and then all slide just like an avalanche. Where the roof would dump - there was a driveway going into a door into a "L" shaped section of the building. I always wondered how long it would be before somebody got buried in a snow slide on the side of that building. With about a 16 foot fall, a couple ton of snow would damage even the small trucks going into that door. Oh well... More taxpayer money to solve the unexpected problem. Carver

RossL | 10-17-2006 07:41 PM
Re: sump pump question Quote:
Originally Posted by JCarvingblock (Post 389272) This is an impossible situation. Do not consider your basement a refuge. You need to build your tornado shelter - bomb shelter - whatever on higher dryer ground. If you don't have higher ground, shore up the floor with whatever it takes and build a safe room inside the home and above the present basement - or put an addition on the side of your home that is a concrete walled enclosure.
It's OK for a tornado shelter. Fortunatly, five inch rains only happen once every five to ten years. Tornados happen fast. If a tornado is coming, I'm going to the basement and it won't bother me to stand in an inch of water. For a long term bomb shelter: if the city power is out, the city water is out and the generator is out, a house in the city isn't a safe place to be.

RR_58 | 10-19-2006 02:34 AM
Re: sump pump question REV127, I checked that one site out,they have a pump that runs on 3 D cell batteries... Looks like what I could use..Thanks

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