‘Tis the Season to Make Sure Your Sump Pump is in Top Shape
I had quite the scare yesterday as I was sitting up in our living room and I heard this super loud beep coming from our basement, one I had never heard before.
As I bounded down our basement steps I checked the smoke detector, and the carbon monoxide detector and it was not either of those. I slowly turned towards our sump pump and sure enough it was the high water alarm screeching! Oh oh not a good sign. As I grabbed a wrench and quickly pried off the bolts on the sump pump cover I discovered the horror of ice cold water all the way to the top of the sump pit.
I immediately grabbed whatever I could find to start bailing out the well, but the water was coming in faster than I could scoop it out. I tried doing a quick visual to see if something had become unplugged from the pipes below the water but I could not tell, so I yelled for my son to come help me. He is tall and lanky and so I asked him to reach down in the water and see if he could feel if any of the fittings were loose.
He barely touched the descending pipe when all of a sudden I noticed the water start to go down. I don't know what he did or If a guardian angel touched his arm, but it was truly a miracle and that whoosh and flub flub sound was music to my ears.
I have no idea how old our sump pump is, this summer we will have been in the house for 11 years, so a scare like that definitely made me think that I should invest in a new sump pump just to be on the safe side. Yes it started working and was going like crazy all day, but if the pump would not have kicked in our whole basement would have been flooded.
Before we get another downpour or the big thaw happens make sure your connections are all nice and tight and that your sump pump is working, because once the water is in that tank and keeps pouring in time is of the essence and it is a horrible feeling.