Articles By Syndicated Columnist
Dan Thomas
© Copyright Home
Improvement Inside And Out
Installing
A Sump Pump
It is a well known fact that 80% of homes that have basements will
experience some form of a wet basement or water problem in their
lifetime. There are places now that insurance companies demand that a sump
pump be installed before they will give you insurance.
Installing a sump pump is a good idea even if
it just keeps the water
from getting knee deep.
Sump pumps for basements come in different horse power. There is 1/4 ,
1/3, and 1/2 horsepower pumps. Horse power is good but you will want to
know the GPH or the gallons per hour that the pump is capable of plumping.
There are 1/2 horse power pumps that will pump 3,000 gallons per hour and
then again there are other 1/2 horsepower sump pumps that can pump over
7,500 gallons per hour.
I recommend that you purchase a bigger pump than you think will be
necessary as that way it will not have to work as hard and will last
longer for you.
The switch tells the pump when to turn on and when to turn off. It is
very important. There are 2 pole switches, mercury switches and a
diaphragm switch. The 2 pole switches have a better track record as they
have proven themselves to be the most reliable over time.
There are many different wells that you can buy at your local home
hardware store. You can get 5 gal, 20 gal, or even
30 gal wells. A well is
the container that the pump sits in under floor level. Most people opt in
for the 5 gal bucket or
well but that means your sump pump is just going
to be coming on more often and will burn out faster.
If you are going to be renting an electric jack hammer ask for a
shovel bit. This will make it easier to dig out the hole in where
you will install your sump pump. The lip of the well must be slightly
lower than the floor of the basement. This will make for a better drain
for your sump pump. Well you are at the hardware store pick up a bag of
sand mix cement as you will need to cement the floor around the sump
well and broken concrete.
You will also need an adapter that converts to 1 1/2" schedule 40
pipe. 1 1/2" schedule pipe is more universal and a lot easier to find
fittings for. Attach a check valve to your piping. The check valve will
stop water already pumped up from draining back down into the sump pump
well.
Pipe cleaner will soften up the plastic on the pipe and will allow the
pipe glue to bond together better.
It is important to make sure you have a grounded electrical outlet to
plug your sum pump into.
