John wakes up in the morning.
Stumbles out of bed.
Looking forward to that morning cup of coffee.
He stumbles across the floor towards the steps to the kitchen.
He hears a squish, squish sound as he walks but it doesn't really register.
Up the steps and in the kitchen he finds a pot of coffee waiting for him.
Ah, the smell of fresh brewed coffee in the morning.
As he takes his first few sips he realizes his feet are wet.
That's strange he thinks.
"Did I go outside without my shoes to get the paper?" he wonders.
Then he remembers the squish, squish sound.
He runs back down to his newly finished basement only to find that the carpet is soaked.
His furniture is wet and that newly hung drywall that he just painted last week is ruined.
Over to his sump pump he runs only to find that the sump pit is flooded and the pump isn't pumping.
If only John would have done a little more research before he bought that pump at the hardware store down the street.
He would have learned that cheaper isn't better with a sump pump.
He also would have learned that some pumps with plastic housings are prone to cracking.
Once the housing cracks water can get inside and burn up the motor.
If only, could have saved John thousands of dollars.
Here are a few things John should have considered when he bought his sump pump: 1.
Casing Material: for a little more he could have purchased a higher quality pump with a cast iron case.
These pumps do not crack and rarely will anything go wrong other than the switch (after many years of service).
The switches are also easily replaced.
2.
Capacity: how much water will his pump need to evacuate from the sump pit? Did you know that just one inch of rain falling on a 1,500 square foot roof can produce 1,000 gallons of water? If you have a leaky basemen how much of that is going to find it's way inside? 3.
Consider a backup pump: backup pumps are a great idea.
If your main pump gives out the backup pump takes over.
This can literally save you thousands of dollars in repairs.
For extra protection get a backup pump that runs from a battery.
If the storm knocks out your power you're still covered.