Mar 20

Written by: David Heffner
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 and I would install a relief discharge. I returned this past week and got the discharge lines for the sump pump and back-up system pieced back together and the relief discharge installed. If the line ever freezes up again in the future, now the water will be able to go up the relief discharge and dump onto the ground versus having the pumps run continuously, burn up and flood the basement.

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