On Oct 1, 10:09*am, "Joe J" wrote:
wrote in message

...





On Sep 30, 10:51 pm, "Bob F" wrote:
Joe J wrote:
Pre-existing home, Wisconsin basement, poured walls and floor, 6
years old.
Lots of rain the last week or two and the sump pump has been turning
on about every 3 minutes. *Last night we had a power failure and the
back-up Generac didn't start and I assumed I'd have water in the
basement, but bone dry.

Here is what I found: *The water pours into the crock when it is
below the inlet pipe, but once filled, never rises above it. *I guess
from a physics standpoint that makes sense but, where is that water
going if it's not being pumped out? *I have no clue about how the
drain tiles etc are laid out.

You can probably raise the level at which the pump turns on and off and
save
some power. All it needs to do is keep the water table below the floor..
It may
be that natural flows are carrying the water away at somewhat below the
floor
level until the rain hits really hard.

Agree that it's possible that raising the turn-on point for
the pump might result in it running less and still having
a dry basement. * For example, if the natural water level
is just above the current float turn-on, it will run all the
time. *But if you raise it by a couple inches, it will not
run at all, unless water starts arriving from a recent
rain, etc. *The risk is that as you raise it you run some
risk that water may start to come it somewhere in
the basement, either now or with a future rain. *The
consequences depend on if it's finished or what's
there on the floor. *And you definitely want to keep
the water level well below the floor level.

For the sump pump switch, as others have said
you can either replace the switch on the current
pump if that;s possible by getting the correct one
or else use a seperately available one.

Basement is 80% finished. *family room, gym area, two extra bedrooms, all
carpeted, drywalled, baseboard etc. *So the risk of water coming in scares
the hell out of me.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I would try raising the float turn-on point about one inch and wait to
see what happens. Do that repeatedly until the pump does not turn on
in normal weather. The chances of getting a wet floor are not
increased if you raise the float unless the pump actually fails to
turn on, or unless the water level is within a couple of inches of the
floor level. Then you will get dampness, but no actual water. This
assumes that the perimiter floor drainage system is not blocked so
that the water level is equal in all parts of the drainage system and
in the sump itself.