A sump pump is the only moving part in a basement waterproofing system. Everything else is pipe, stone and plastic that will outlive you. The pump is the piece that fails, and it fails during the storm, which is exactly when you find out.
Here is how to size one, what backup it needs in Akron, and the 5 things that actually go wrong.
What a sump pump does and does not do
It removes water that the drainage system has already collected. That is all.
A pump dropped into a hole with no perimeter drain feeding it does almost nothing. Water still travels through the slab and the wall, because nothing gave it an easier route. We get called to that install about once a month.
Sizing one for an Akron basement
Three numbers set the size:
- Lift height. How far up the pump must push, from the pit to where the pipe leaves the house. Most Akron basements are 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 m).
- Run length. How far the discharge pipe travels once it is outside.
- Inflow. How fast the pit fills during the worst hour you have seen.
For a typical house here, a 1/3 horsepower pump handles it. Go to 1/2 horsepower where the water table sits high, which is common in North Hill and the low ground near the rivers.
Bigger is not automatically better. An oversized pump short-cycles, and short-cycling is what burns motors out.
The battery backup is not optional here
Akron’s worst water comes with spring storms. Spring storms take the power out. A pump on house current alone is off at the exact hour you need it.
A backup unit runs 6 to 12 hours on its own battery, which covers most outages in this area. It should be tested with the primary pump, not assumed to work.
The 5 things that actually fail
- The float switch sticks. The most common failure by far. The float snags on the pit wall or the discharge pipe and the pump never starts.
- The check valve fails. Water that was pushed out runs back into the pit, so the pump cycles again and again until the motor dies.
- The discharge line freezes. A January thaw with a frozen outlet means the pump runs against a plug of ice.
- The pit fills with silt. Fine soil comes in with the water, builds up, and jams the impeller.
- The power goes out. Covered above, and the only one on this list you cannot fix with maintenance.
Four of those 5 are cheap to prevent. That is the point of servicing it.
The 10-minute test, twice a year
Do this in October and again in March.
- Pour 5 gallons (19 litres) of water into the pit slowly and watch the pump start on its own.
- Watch the float travel. It should not touch the pit wall or the pipe anywhere.
- Listen when it shuts off. One clunk is the check valve seating. Repeated cycling means it is not.
- Walk outside and confirm water is leaving the discharge, well away from the foundation.
- Unplug the primary and repeat the test on the backup.
If any of that fails, it fails now in your kitchen slippers rather than at 2am in March. The rest of the seasonal walkthrough takes another half hour and prevents most of the emergencies we get called to.
When a pump running constantly is not the pump’s fault
A sump that runs on dry days usually means a high water table (opens in a new tab) , not a faulty pump. That is normal in parts of Akron and it is one of the early signs worth checking before it becomes a wet floor.
Every system we install includes a free annual service on the pump and the drain, for as long as you own the house. Book a check if yours has never had one.
