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Maintaining your sump pump

Posted Mar 31, 2021 in Waterproofing, Sump Pump Solutions

The sump pump is one of those appli­ances that you depend upon to be there when you need it. And the time you need a sump pump is when the heavy rains come. Some homes are locat­ed where water tables are high, have poor­ly drain­ing soils or are prone to heavy rains. Oth­er homes have prob­lems with their foun­da­tion drains or base­ment wall con­struc­tion. All these con­di­tions call for a sump pump to remove excess water from a base­ment. In addi­tion, many homes have a sump pump installed ​“just in case” a flood­ing sit­u­a­tion hap­pens such as from an abnor­mal rain­fall or if a pipe bursts in the base­ment. Sump pumps come in sub­mersible and pedestal styles.

The sump pump should dis­charge the water to the home’s yard and not be hooked up to the san­i­tary sew­er or dis­charge into a sink or oth­er drain.

Sump pumps often sit for months with­out use and it is a good idea to do some sim­ple main­te­nance as out­lined below, to keep your sump pump in tip-top shape so it is there when you need it most.

Plan on doing these items every 3 – 4 months:

1. Clean the pump inlet screen.
2. Check the pow­er cord and make sure the cord is con­nect­ed to power.
3. Dump a buck­et of water into the sump to raise the float and make sure the pump turns on.

Plan on doing these items once a year:

1. Remove the pump from the sump and clean it and inspect it.
2. Clean out the sump.
3. Check the Owner’s Man­u­al to see if the pump bear­ings require grease or oil. If you do not have the man­u­al, look it up on the Inter­net using the man­u­fac­tur­er and mod­el num­ber of your pump or con­tact the manufacturer.
4. Replace the pump in the sump if it doesn’t turn on.
5. Check the pow­er cord and make sure the cord is con­nect­ed to power.
6. Dump a buck­et of water into the sump to raise the float and make sure the pump turns on, adjust­ing the float if required.

Look­ing to have a new sump pump installed in your home, or have an issue with your cur­rent one? Let Fam­i­ly Water­proof­ing Solu­tions take care of your sump pump and water­proof­ing needs. Call us today (708) 330‑4466 or sched­ule an appoint­ment online.