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writes:

I am consider making offer on a house that has a sump pump (the house
has no basement, just fairly small crawl space; there's a little
creek about 20-30 yards behind a house; also a lake about ¼ mile
away.)

I know nothing about sump pumps, so would appreciate any tips/advise.
Specifically:

1. What are the normal maintenance procedures; annual
operating/maintenance costs?

No maintenance required other than making sure it works.

2. I'd be very afraid of the sump pump becoming an "owner
nightmare." What are the things that could go wrong? Worst case
scenario?

We've got sump pumps all over the place here in the midwest. They're
not that big a deal. I grew up in a place that had 2 large active
sumps that required pumping several times a day. I've had 2 houses
in Chicagoland that have small sumps that are hardly ever active.

Worst case, the pump fails during a heavy rainstorm and the sump
overflows and floods the area around it. You say it's a crawlspace,
so that doesn't sound like it'd be all that bad. If there's living
space on the same level, you're well advised to have a battery backed
redundant pump and, in the event of extended outages, possibly a
generator.

Sump pumps are very simple. The only things that can go wrong a

Pump failure. Easy and pretyt simple to replace. They do
wear out.

Float switch failure. Pumps have vairous ways of activating.
Some have a float switch. If the float floods, that thing
won't ever turn it on.

The check valve (mounted separately from the pump that keeps
water from comimg back down/into the pump) fails closed, pump
activates, and the pipe coupling bursts and sprays water
around the place. This happened once at the home I grew up in
wiht the very active large sumps. Check valves are cheap and
dead simple to replace. I've seen this happen only once in
the home I grew up in. I was like... I dunno, 10 years old
and I replaced it.

3. If, at some point, a new sump pump needs to be put it, how much
would that cost?

A new pump is less than $150 at home depot. They're quite easy to
replace as well.

4. Could the fact that the house needs a sump pump be an indication of
bigger moisture-related problems e.g., mold?

Probably not any indication of mold.

However, it may be an indicator that grading or the area water table
is such that periodically you need to pump that baby out. You're
better off with a seldom-activated sump pump than you are without a
sump that leaves you with a wet basement/crawl when it rains hard.

Ask the owner and neighbors how active their sump pumps are. Many
places around here have, for instance, have sumps that rarely fill,
but the pumps are there in the event of an extraordinary rains.

5. Anything else I should be aware of?

Radon perhaps. When radon is detected in a home, the sump pits get
sealed, and an active vent put on them that vents to the outside.
Simple radon test will eliminate that, and even if you have radon, the
remediation is pretty straightforward.

If the sump is active and on a level with stuff you care about,
consider a redudant battery backed pump to join your main pump in the
pit with it. Basement Watchdog makes a good one. They're pretty
simple to install, esp if PVC pipe is involved. PVC is fun to work
with actually. Like an erector set that actually does something
useful.

I'd also check for evidence of water stains or flooding around the
sump to see if there might have been a backup of some sort, and I'd
quiz the neighbors about their sump experiences if you want additional
peace of mind.

But, no a sump pump isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/