I wish my dog had peed on my floor :(

[Dirtebiker]

Good news, only 1800 rounds wet. 1500 shells of .9mm had wet outer box but dry
'
Yes, we have a live in nanny. She's technically an "au pair". It's essentially a work-study program through state department. SheMz from Brazil and yes, I have pictures though it wouldn't be polite to post.

Polite, shmolite!!!!

 

[hoosierdoc]

Is she​ aware you have pictures?

 

[Joe G]

Stories like these make me glad I live on a high ridge.

For sure. Designed and built the house so that the basement perimeter drain had natural downhill drainage under the side yard into the natural valley between my lot and the neighbors. Neighbor, when he built a year later, didn't listen and copy my design and has already had issues. I'll do darn near anything to never rely on a sump again.

 

[yepthatsme]

I don't have a basement, but I do have a crawl space that fills with water if our land becomes too saturated. So, needless to say my sump pump runs quite a bit. Anyway, I took one of the remote style float switches and placed it in the sump pit just a little higher than the pump and connected it to an indicator light. So, if my pump ever fails, the light will come on and warn me of the high water situation. It usually gives me enough warning so I can replace the pump before the water gets too high. (I always have a spare pump on hand.) In my situation, I have found that the pumps fail approximately every two to three years, depending on the rainfall.

Should you ever need to contact your insurance company due to high water damage, do not use the term "flooding". Just tell them that you experienced a pump failure.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

Ouch, been there (sorta) and got some water bugs & relay to trip the well pump should a leak occur. This summer I'll put in an alarm on our newly installed sump pump in the crawl.
Raise that safe up!

Dad had a similar problem (While he was out of town) this past summer that I was left to deal with... basement filled with 6" of water... luckily all good stuff was raised up off the floor. Sucked having to trounce through it all to shut off the main breaker, and replace the sump. He had several breakers (non gfi) that hadn't tripped... discovered by several melted powerstrips on the floor.

 

[actaeon277]

I don't have a sump.
But I grew up with one.
And I work on control systems in a steel mill with thousands of sumps.

First
A battery back up is nice, BUT only a VERY temporary solution, like you're at the store when power fails.

Second.
If you have a back up pump, either battery or wired, you should put some way to alert you that the back up is running. Such as a light or audible alarm.
It needs to alarm where you can see/hear it. Doesn't do any good if the alarm is so far away, no one knows.
The reason you need an alarm, first pump fails, back up kicks on. But then, you don't know the main failed. So the back up runs till it fails so many years later. Then, you have flooding again.
If an alarm goes off, then you know, wow I better replace my main pump.
You can wire the audible/visual alarm in parallel with the pump. Make sure to check voltages, must be compatible.

Third.
If you have a float for the main, and a float for the back up, guess what. You can have a 3rd float, this one for an alarm.
A high alarm. If this one goes off, something is really wrong.

Forth.
You can have a water sensor, with an alarm.
But to tell the truth, I have limited success with these.
Too many failure to detect.
Too many false positives.
etc.

 

[Cameramonkey]

If you have a monitored alarm system, get one of these and have it added to your alarm professionally. It can save your bacon. You will get a phone call from the monitoring company telling you that you have a problem... possibly hours before anyone notices.
Amazon.com: WaterBug® Water Sensor: Home Improvement

If you dont, spend the $12 on one of these...

Battery-Operated Water Alarm-BWD-HWA - The Home Depot

 

[looney2ns]

Any builder that builds a basement that has water issue's, should be tared and feathered. If done right, it won't happen.

 

[BE Mike]

Any builder that builds a basement that has water issue's, should be tared and feathered. If done right, it won't happen.

I couldn't agree more. There are a lot of amateurs out there building homes and have been for quite a while.

 

[hoosierdoc]

The home was built on a former creek. Tons of water all the time. It is what it is. Kent franklin has built a few homes...

water heater was blown out by the fans they put in

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I don't have a sump.
But I grew up with one.
And I work on control systems in a steel mill with thousands of sumps.

First
A battery back up is nice, BUT only a VERY temporary solution, like you're at the store when power fails.

Second.
If you have a back up pump, either battery or wired, you should put some way to alert you that the back up is running. Such as a light or audible alarm.
It needs to alarm where you can see/hear it. Doesn't do any good if the alarm is so far away, no one knows.
The reason you need an alarm, first pump fails, back up kicks on. But then, you don't know the main failed. So the back up runs till it fails so many years later. Then, you have flooding again.
If an alarm goes off, then you know, wow I better replace my main pump.
You can wire the audible/visual alarm in parallel with the pump. Make sure to check voltages, must be compatible.

Third.
If you have a float for the main, and a float for the back up, guess what. You can have a 3rd float, this one for an alarm.
A high alarm. If this one goes off, something is really wrong.

Forth.
You can have a water sensor, with an alarm.
But to tell the truth, I have limited success with these.
Too many failure to detect.
Too many false positives.
etc.

It's also nice to have the two pumps set up with a relay that alternates pumps each time the float comes up. That evens out the hours on the pumps and better assures that the alternate pump is ready to go when it's needed. That way, you also can set it up to alarm when one of the pumps doesn't start, but in the meantime, the other pump will still run.

I couldn't agree more. There are a lot of amateurs out there building homes and have been for quite a while.

They're not amateurs, they just know that home builders can get away with stuff that commercial builders could never get away with. For a brief time after I graduated from college, I was a materials tester. I remember we rejected a load of concrete on a project because it was past the time limit and the guy with me said, "that concrete will be used in somebody's basement or driveway".

 

[Fargo]

It's also nice to have the two pumps set up with a relay that alternates pumps each time the float comes up. That evens out the hours on the pumps and better assures that the alternate pump is ready to go when it's needed. That way, you also can set it up to alarm when one of the pumps doesn't start, but in the meantime, the other pump will still run.



They're not amateurs, they just know that home builders can get away with stuff that commercial builders could never get away with. For a brief time after I graduated from college, I was a materials tester. I remember we rejected a load of concrete on a project because it was past the time limit and the guy with me said, "that concrete will be used in somebody's basement or driveway".

IME it is usually a combination of a bigger general contractor who likes to design stuff right up against the limits to save money, coupled with a subcontractor who either lacks the skill or is unwilling to put in the effort to do it right. It's kinda like tolerance stacking...

 

[BE Mike]

It's also nice to have the two pumps set up with a relay that alternates pumps each time the float comes up. That evens out the hours on the pumps and better assures that the alternate pump is ready to go when it's needed. That way, you also can set it up to alarm when one of the pumps doesn't start, but in the meantime, the other pump will still run.



They're not amateurs, they just know that home builders can get away with stuff that commercial builders could never get away with. For a brief time after I graduated from college, I was a materials tester. I remember we rejected a load of concrete on a project because it was past the time limit and the guy with me said, "that concrete will be used in somebody's basement or driveway".

I stand corrected. There are a lot of shady builders out there who get away with slip shod construction. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Hoosierkav]

Not a single person offered to take the wet rounds off his hands... I would have taken good care of them for you, checking them for rust and functionality for months and months.

Our pump has failed once--fortunately, it was during a drier period so the water just backed up into the drains; unfortunately, the builder assembled the pipe such that I had to cut out the pump to get the new one in (versus simply unscrewing it).

 

[hoosierdoc]

We were leaving for dinner when I noticed hot water issue. They came over and fixed it while we were out. Very helpful.

 

[Tactically Fat]

Wanna go grab a beer, Doc?

 

[hoosierdoc]

Wanna go grab a beer, Doc?

Perhaps later in the week.

It was six degrees out this morning. My house is 72 and the heat is set at 68. Fans and dehumidifiers are very inefficient ways to hear your home.

 

[tmschuller]

Not a single person offered to take the wet rounds off his hands... I would have taken good care of them for you, checking them for rust and functionality for months and months.

Our pump has failed once--fortunately, it was during a drier period so the water just backed up into the drains; unfortunately, the builder assembled the pipe such that I had to cut out the pump to get the new one in (versus simply unscrewing it).

You need to put a rubber coupler in the plastic line. 2 hose clamps the coupler slides down and out comes the pump. Hope this helps.

 

[bigus_D]

High water alarm in the sump pit.

Notice the failure before it overflows.

(Mine is on the home security system... So I'll get alerted even if I'm not home.)

 

[hoosierdoc]

No one commented on my "shells of .9mm" either