Sump pumps
Water on the basement floor after a long rain. The pump and everything around it, installed and tested as one system, for a basement that would rather be wet.
What it covers
The pump that sits in a pit at the lowest point of the basement and lifts groundwater out of the building before it reaches the floor. Replacing one that has failed or is about to, installing one where the basement needs it, and the parts around it that often fail before the pump does: the pit, the switch that tells it when to run, the pipe that carries the water out, and the power it depends on.
It covers the question of a backup, which is not a product question but a what-is-in-the-basement question, and it covers the version of that question that comes with a private well. Many houses around here, especially in Sherborn, are on one, and on a well the water supply runs on electricity. When a storm takes the power, it takes the well pump and the sump pump at the same time, and the kind of backup that runs on town water pressure is not an option in a house that has no town water. That house needs a different answer, and it needs it before the storm.
It does not cover a basement floor that is wet because the main drain has backed up. Water coming up out of a floor drain is a drainage problem and belongs on sewer and drain lines. A sump pump deals with groundwater arriving from outside the walls, which is a different source with a different fix.
What the job involves
- Sizing for the wet weeks. The pump is chosen for how fast water comes in on the worst stretch of the year, not on an average day.
- The pit. A pit that is too small fills in seconds, so the pump starts and stops over and over, and that is what wears pumps out. The pit should let each run move a real amount of water.
- Setting the pump so it can work. Up off the silt at the bottom, with the switch free to move. A switch that snags is a pump that never starts or never stops.
- A one way valve on the pipe. Without one, the water in the pipe falls back into the pit each time the pump stops, and gets pumped out twice.
- Where the water goes. Out to a spot away from the house, not beside the foundation where it soaks straight back in, and set up so a frozen outlet does not block it.
- The power, and what happens without it. On a suitable circuit and, where the basement or the house calls for it, a battery backup.
- Tested with real water. The pit filled from a hose and the pump run through several full cycles, watching it start, empty the pit and stop cleanly.
When you need it
- Water on the basement floor after a long rain or a fast thaw
- The pit is full, the pump is silent, and you are not sure it ever ran
- The pump starts and stops every minute or two on a wet week
- You lost power in a storm and found out what the pump does without it
- A private well, with the well pump and the sump pump on the same panel
- The pit is dry in August and nobody has heard the pump run since spring
- A switch that rubs against the wall of the pit or catches on the pipe
- A discharge that dumps beside the foundation, or that froze solid last winter
- A basement that has just been finished, over a pump that has not
Why it matters
A sump pump is the only appliance in the house that does nothing visible for months and then has one job on one night. It is also, for the same reason, the appliance nobody notices has failed until the failure and the demand arrive together.
The cost when it does is not a plumbing cost. It is the finished basement, the boiler and the water heater standing in it, the boxes on the floor and the insulation in the walls, and it usually lands during a storm.
The good news is that this is one of the cheapest failures in the house to prevent, because almost everything about a sump pump can be tested on a dry day with a garden hose. A pump checked before the season is a pump given the chance to fail on a day when it does not matter.
How Connerney handles it
- Licensed and insured. Licensed and insured in Massachusetts.
- The whole system, not only the pump. The pit, the switch, the valve, where the water goes and the power all get looked at, because the fault is often there.
- Run before we leave. A hose in the pit and several full cycles watched, not a switch lifted by hand.
- Owner run. Bill Connerney owns the business, answers the phone and books the jobs, and our team of experienced plumbers does the work. Rated 5.0 on Google across 20 reviews, and BBB accredited since 2018.
Questions people ask
- We are on a private well. Does that change what sump pump we need?
- It changes the backup. A standard sump pump runs on electricity, but on a well so does the water supply, so a storm that cuts the power stops the sump pump and the well pump at the same time. A backup pump that runs on town water pressure needs town water, and a well house does not have it. That leaves a battery backup, sized for the kind of outage the house actually sees, as the answer worth planning around.
- Why does the pump run every couple of minutes?
- Either it is moving very little water each time, or it is moving the same water twice. A pit that is too small, or a switch set too tight, makes the pump start on a cupful. A failed one way valve lets the water in the pipe fall back into the pit every time the pump stops, so the next run pumps it again. And sometimes the water is simply coming in that fast, in which case the pump and the pit were sized for a drier house than this one.
- How do I test the pump myself on a dry day?
- Run a garden hose into the pit until the switch lifts and watch what happens. The pump should start without hesitation, the water level should drop quickly, and when it stops you may hear a thump as the valve in the pipe closes, with no water trickling back. Then go outside and confirm water came out of the pipe, away from the house. Do it before the spring thaw, and again after any long dry spell, because a pump that has sat for months can seize in the pit.
- Do we really need a backup pump?
- Depends on what is downstairs. An unfinished basement with a floor drain can take a wet night. A finished basement, a boiler, a water heater, or anything you would mind losing cannot, and the one night the primary pump fails will be the night the water is highest and the power is least reliable. If the house is on a private well, the answer is a battery backup. On town water there are more options, and the right one depends on how the house is plumbed.
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Plus the surrounding MetroWest towns. If you are nearby, call and ask.
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