Most homeowners rarely think about their sump-pumps. But just like other mechanical components in the home, they aren’t made to last forever. It’s important to test them and have them checked annually to ensure you don’t end up with water in your basement.
If you do end up with water in your basement and you think your sump-pump isn’t working, if could be a variety of different things. It might be a valve in the pipe that has some debris and may be stuck, or the sump-pump itself may not be able to handle the load of water coming into your home.
I highly recommend that you check your sump-pump periodically to make sure it’s draining. You can test it by taking a couple buckets of water and pouring it down the sump pit. If you find that the pump isn’t working, it’s time to call a professional to take a look at it.
It’s also important that you get your sump-pump looked at once a year. If you have battery back-ups, those need to be checked out as well to ensure that they’re charging and going to function if you lose power.
Speaking of back-up systems, there are two available: water-power and battery. The advantage to a battery back-up system is that it can pump water out at a fairly high rate. But those batteries will sometimes fail on you. A water-power system uses the water pressure coming into your home to pump the water out of the pit. It won’t remove water at the same rate as a battery back-up, but it will remove enough that you don’t have a catastrophe in your basement, should you lose power.
In any case, you should have a professional check your system annually. When you’re getting a check-up from MoreVent, just ask our technicians to look at your sump-pump. We’ll be happy to do that for you.