By David Heffner on 3/20/2010 7:09 AM

Having a functioning sump pump and battery back-up system isn't necessarily enough to guarantee that your basement won't flood from water coming into the sump pit. I have seen basements flood with both items in place because the sump pump discharge line was either frozen up or obstructed going out to the storm drain. The job pictured below had the discharge line almost completely frozen over close to where it goes into the ground. I heard the alarm for the battery back-up system going off while in the basement working on the water heater. I looked into the sump pit and saw the water swirling around, but not going down. I have seen this many times over the years and this was an indication that the pump(s) were running, but the water couldn't get out. I quickly ran outside and cut the discharge line. I got soaked in the process, but got the was able to allow the water to get out of the house. I found the problem with the discharge line over the winter and asked the customer to contact me when the weather got warmer...

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By David Heffner on 3/16/2010 6:16 PM

I received a call on a Tuesday morning from the wife of a deployed Colonel in the Indiana National Guard to tell me that she had a leaking water heater that had flooded the basement. She had been told by her heating and air company who had looked at the water heater that it needed to be replaced. The husband typically makes all of these types of decisions regarding home repairs, but he is presently in Afghanistan and won't be home until November. It was up to the wife to get the water heater taken care of. The catch to all of this was that the husband had his heart set on a tankless water heater. I arrived at the Greenwood home at 7:30 PM after running all of my scheduled calls. 

The challenge to installing a tankless water heater in this house was that the mechanical room was located right in the middle of a finished basement. With the help of one of the family's sons that works in construction, we were able to determine how to run the flue pipe for the tankless heater through the...

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By David Heffner on 3/15/2010 7:33 PM

Spring is not here yet officially, but the rainy season for the year has started. I received a call from a neighbor at 7:15 this morning telling me that his sump pump would not shut off. When I got to the house, I determined that the pump switch was bad and that the pump needed to be replaced. What caught me off guard was the fact that I found tree roots in the sump pit coming from the perimeter tile. I found a White Birch located right on the corner of the house, close to where the sump pit is inside. I'm not sure how the roots will be removed, but the tree definitely has to go. Along with the tree will be the stump and the entire root system to make sure that the perimeter tile is never compromised by roots again. The complicating factor with the tree removal is the gas meter. Given the close proximity of the tree, the gas company will have to be contacted first before anything else is done. The average life of a sump pump is 3-5 years on average. The same is true of batteries for battery back-up sump pump systems....

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