Came home to a little basement flood

[Spoonerism]

I came home from work this morning after an aweful shift at the hospital to find that the condensate removal pump on my air conditioner failed and let about a gallon of water flow in to the floor. All of it around my wife's soap making supplies. I'm going to try and fix the pump but if I can't I'll have to buy a new one. Owning my first home is teaching me alot about how much can go wrong over night. At least I'm off tonight to try and fix the problem.

[OS OK]

They oughta send every first time buyer to some kind of maintenance school as part of escrow...that's what you are now

Just wait until you start remodeling . . . :bigsmyl2:

[Handloader109]

You need to spend the money to eliminate the pump.... There is a zero chance that it won't failed again... And while a gallon isn't much, it will cause damage.

[CastingFool]

Wait till the sump pump gets clogged up with a sock or a toy while the clothes washer is running. one gallon of condensate won't look like much. on the condensate pump, did it actually stop pumping, or is the drain (outlet) line clogged up? One of my daughters had that problem once. Pump was fine, plastic drain line had shifted very close to the water heater exhaust vent and melted the line shut.

[farmerjim]

Put a AC shut off float on the pump sump.

[OS OK]

Put an audible alarm in the sump....'fecies occurs', no matter what the quality or size of the equipment...get an early warning when things are going south...just spitwadding here as I never had a basement to deal with...thank GOD!

[Spoonerism]

The pump quit working from what I can tell, I'll take a look at it when I get up this evening. The float switch works as best I can tell but it could be the issue. I'll start from the top down. To try and find the primary issue before I buy a new pump.

I did have my sump pump fail a few months ago during some very heavy rain. It took me 3 hours with a shop vac to get the water out. The float got stuck on the wall of the pit and wouldn't turn on. It works fine now and I haven't had any trouble with rain sence.

[FISH4BUGS]

I came home from work this morning after an aweful shift at the hospital to find that the condensate removal pump on my air conditioner failed and let about a gallon of water flow in to the floor. All of it around my wife's soap making supplies. I'm going to try and fix the pump but if I can't I'll have to buy a new one. Owning my first home is teaching me alot about how much can go wrong over night. At least I'm off tonight to try and fix the problem.

Ah.....the joys of home ownership.
Wait until you wake up one morning and you don't have water. With an 880 foot deep well with the pump at 550 feet, the pump either works or it doesn't. Period. The well guys had to subcontract to a derrick truck to get the pump up to the surface....and the 550 feet of 3 wire heavy copper wire that replaced the 2 strand wire wasn't cheap either.
$2500 later we had water. It was a failed well pump. 40 years old so I guess we got the money's worth. This one will last until after I am gone.
What's next? Oh...let's see....driveway repair, new roof, and general maintenance.
Sometimes I think it's better to rent! :)

[DerekP Houston]

wow that stinks....welcome to the home owner club! I've only had ours for 3 years now and every year I find some new maintenance I was 'supposed' to be doing each quarter! While our pump didn't fail, the line did back up and flood the bathroom with water. Makes me appreciate the ol' landlord I had before a bit more. Don't forget to clean the coils on your AC unit outside and them gutters!

[DerekP Houston]

They oughta send every first time buyer to some kind of maintenance school as part of escrow...that's what you are now

Just wait until you start remodeling . . . :bigsmyl2:

LMAO ain't that the truth, I could've used it! Remodeling has been a nightmare so far....everything we want do fix just uncovered more repairs needed. Ended up down to the studs and replacing everything!

[funnyjim014]

2 weeks ago we had a record amount of rain and after a 12hr shift I came home to 6in threw out the whole basement. I have natural drainage and it couldn't keep up. Last Monday I spent the day putting in a sump pump. 22in hole threw 4in concrete and 22in down into the shale bedrock.... I'm still sore lol. Sometimes I envy those who rent

[jdfoxinc]

"The Money Pit" lived it. Started on the bathroom. Noted the floor under the throne was sagging. The joists were hidden by the converted gravity coal burner. There had been a fire sometime in the past. Wound up with a hole into the basement. Had to reframe the floor, rough plumb everything. Then finish plumb drywall tile etc. The Texaco station attendant got to the point of just throwing the restroom keys to me when I walked up. Took two weeks of evenings and weekend's.

[MT Gianni]

Cardinal rule is to store nothing flamable or damageable by water within 6 feet of the furnace. Condensate pump should be in or under a container.

[runfiverun]

everything in the basement is off the ground except the cement floor. [water softener, water heater, furnace]
in the food storage room the floor is elevated.
and anything stored down there is on a shelf and/or in water resistant or water proof containers.

we don't normally have water problems, but stuff happens and i would rather have to carry stuff upstairs and store it somewhere else for a bit rather than throw it all away or try to make an insurance claim.

[Spoonerism]

The wife woke me up and made me call for the HVAC man to pay us a visit. Good thing it's pay day. I wanted to wait untill my electrical engineer buddy got off work, but 90 in the house and climbing is just too much for the wife and the little animals.

[DerekP Houston]

The wife woke me up and made me call for the HVAC man to pay us a visit. Good thing it's pay day. I wanted to wait untill my electrical engineer buddy got off work, but 90 in the house and climbing is just too much for the wife and the little animals.

I feel you there, we paid the extra charge for a late night visit when our AC went out. Turned out to be a fortunate event as the repair wasn't as bad as feared and uncovered a lot of 'shade tree' installation that WASNT safe! I try to find the silver lining when things break....it's a tough pill to swallow though.

[Thundarstick]

You can drain the condensate into a bucket temporarily for heavens sake! Then put that pump in a bucket with a moisture alarm if you can't do the shut off switch during the repair!

[dragon813gt]

Put a AC shut off float on the pump sump.

Almost all condensate pumps have a kill switch in them anymore. But the installer has to wire it in and wire it in correctly. Easy to do if the only water maker you have is an air conditioner. Just need to break the condenser call. You have to make some concessions if you have other water makers like a condensing furnace and/or humidifier. Do you want to heat to stay running in the winter if the pump fails? Most people say yes but I've had plenty of people tell me no. Seen a few houses break water lines because of this.

Be glad it was only a gallon. I spent thirty minutes removing rain water from my basement last night. No way to stop it coming in through a 117yo stone foundation. Doesn't happen often but when it does it takes time to clean up. And the dehumidifier never shuts off so my electric bill goes up along w/ the temp in the basement.

[Spoonerism]

It looks like I got it partially working now. It's not blowing as cold as it did yesterday but it's blowing. I don't know if the pump is going to work or not so I will have to keep an eye on it and see if the HVAC tech can get it back in full working order. One day I might set up a gravity drain to the sump but that will be a long time off.

[XDROB]

I'v owned my house for 23 years. When I bought it the previous owner told me never to unplug the sump pump. Don't know what would make you unplug it but apparently they did and paid for it. After owning the house for about 2 years and never hearing the pump come on. I was watching TV late one night and heard this strange noise. Turned out to be the sump pump running. In early spring and ground still frozen but starting to thaw and hard rain the sump pump would start to run. After a few years it was getting worse the two pumps that were in the hole could not keep up with the water coming in. Had a hurricane come in about 10 years ago and ended up flooding the basement. 15 inches of water in the basement. It put out the pilot light for the water heater that's how deep it got. I eventually had a gravity drain installed in the French drain system in the cellar. I was always worried about running out of power in the situation like this because what do you do if the sump pump isn't working you just watched the water come and can't stop it. At this point when it rains I don't care because I don't even have the sump pumps plugged in anymore. the water drains out down into the sewer drain. luckily my house is above the street system. So when it rains the water does fill up the French drain but then the gravity drain starts to work. Out into the storm drain. It goes. Never do I ever worry about running out of power now. It has been the best money I have spent on this even after putting in a 26 by 30 garage and getting the new roof and siding. The drain was the best money.

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[popper]

we paid the extra charge for a late night visit when our AC went out yea, did my AC repair this morning, new run cap - 15 yrs on the old one isn't bad. Granger wants 2x the Amazon price but $50 fix is OK with me. Unfortunately, it was 100 + yesterday and 2 GKs came to visit. Woke them this morning, they were under blankets! Tough little buggers. Real pain (sore back) was carrying the freon jug from the garage to the other side of the house. Be safe and get a spare cap for yours - AC usually quits when the store is closed and EM calls aren't cheap.
Yes, the movie 'money pit' with Chevy Chase was pretty correct.

[dragon813gt]

I know it's different in the South. But AC isn't a necessity here. Heat in the winter absolutely is. I hated late night no AC calls. Window units are cheap and everyone should have them for your bedroom at a minimum. If you have make sure you have units for their rooms as well. W/ them costing less than $100 per unit it's cheap insurance. I'm beyond glad that I no longer deal w/ residential on call. People expected way to much and always complained about the price.

[JWT]

I'll take a condensate or sump failure over this any day. Had 2ft of sewage in my basement in 2014.

200546 200547 200548

[GhostHawk]

A gallon!

Try 18" deep in the whole basement because the power went out in the middle of a downpour.

2 years later I was still cutting out bad sheet rock. Good news is all the electrical was above that, way above it. Mostly the real stuff we wanted to not get damaged was in rubbermaid tubs and was all fine. A few cardboard boxes of junk to throw away.

You got a very light easy first lesson.

[Remiel]

Believe me I understand, with all the rain this last weekend in NY I woke up to this, I have owned my home for 3 months.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170727/0169236cbac1e87bf1e49da345fc7bf0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170727/fcb547565a2bc003982c857bd90a5dff.jpg

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[MaryB]

Remodeling, once you start you never finish...

[jimlj]

I'll take a condensate or sump failure over this any day. Had 2ft of sewage in my basement in 2014.

200546 200547 200548

Had the same thing Dec 2014. I have pictures that look just like yours. $30,000 later I have a re-finished basement and truck loads of less stuff I learned didn't matter. Before the first piece of sheet rock went in, I put a back flow valve in to prevent it in the future. A few gallons of your own mess is nothing compared to thousands of gallons of city sewer.

[mold maker]

That kind of disaster is more common than you might think. Back flow valves should be required with city sewer. The added cost is trivial considering what it can protect from.
When my both homes were built it was common to have basement floor drains empty into the sanitary sewer which can be a recipe for disaster. A large pill bottle that (a child played with) got into an uncovered floor drain and there was over 5'' of muddy water in what had always been a dry basement.
It was caused by a 100-year record storm.
Guess what happened a week later. This time, in the other house, a floor drain allowed 4" of sewer to back up from a clogged city sewer. There were water proof tote boxes floating everywhere, but no loss.

[DerekP Houston]

I know it's different in the South. But AC isn't a necessity here. Heat in the winter absolutely is. I hated late night no AC calls. Window units are cheap and everyone should have them for your bedroom at a minimum. If you have make sure you have units for their rooms as well. W/ them costing less than $100 per unit it's cheap insurance. I'm beyond glad that I no longer deal w/ residential on call. People expected way to much and always complained about the price.

What's this "heat" you talk about? I could do without that entirely ;). Sad thing about window units is the HOA won't allow them if you can see them from the street. I have a spare running in the living room to help during the hottest months but 30f under ambient is still hot some days. Don't know how yall do it but I can't sleep if I'm sweating. My wife and kiddo disappeared the night of the repairs to the hotel.

[dragon813gt]

Sad thing about window units is the HOA won't allow them if you can see them from the street.
This is why I hate HOAs and will never live where I'm subject to their rule. That's one of the stupidest rules I've heard of. Especially w/ the weather being what is where you live. If my AC went out and I had to put a window unit in temporarily I would do so regardless of what the HOA "allows".

The climate here is semitropical even though I'm pretty far north. High 90s w/ 90%+ humidity is the norm from July through early September. I grew up w/out AC. It was uncomfortable at times. But it's not the end of the world. Don't have central in my house even though HVAC is my trade. Age of house is one reason why. But it's also not a necessity.

[MaryB]

Get one of the portable units that ducts heat to a small window insert. Doesn't stick outside at all. Makes a nice emergency A/C that can be used in any room with a window.