Sump Pumps
Best Sump Pump Check Valves: Two Things Are Sold as Quiet and Only One Works
A spring closes against the flow and kills the bang. An angled seat only shortens the travel. Both…
Category: Sump Pumps
Every published troubleshooting guide, buying guide and how-to in this category, newest first.
Sump Pumps
How Deep Should a Sump Pit Be? Depth Is a Stack, and Only One Layer Is Yours
The bottom seven inches belong to the pump. What is left is the drawdown, and at a 6.6…
Sump Pumps
Orange Slime in the Sump Pit: Your Drainage System Is Where It Forms, Not Where It Landed
Iron bacteria dissolve iron out in the oxygen-starved soil and put it back down wherever there is air.…
Sump Pumps
Sump Pump Discharge Near a Well: Your Town’s Rule Measures From the Wrong Thing
A sump discharge is a listed item on well separation tables, as a building foundation drain. Ten feet…
Sump Pumps
Draining a Dehumidifier Into a Sump Pit: How Much of That Water Actually Comes Back?
Between 4% and 19%, and a sealed lid takes it to nearly zero. The real surprise is the…
Sump Pumps
Sump Pump Alarm Going Off With No Water: It Is Telling You What Already Happened
The pit is dry because the backup already emptied it. The manual says the alarm stays on deliberately,…
Sump Pumps
Sump Pump Banging When It Shuts Off: The Noise Is the Water, Not the Valve
A quiet check valve is quiet because it shuts faster, not gentler. It closes against the flow before…
Sump Pumps
Best Battery Backup Sump Pumps: Buy on Runtime, Not Gallons Per Hour
Flow at 10 feet varies by 10% across these. What varies is the battery, the controller, and what…
Sump Pumps
Sump Pump on an Extension Cord: The Code Answer and the Arithmetic
No, and the gauge is not the reason. The electrical code does not permit a cord to take…
Sump Pumps
Can One Check Valve Serve Two Pumps? No — and Where It Sits Matters More Than How Many
No — each pump needs its own. But the more useful answer is the one nobody gives: those…