Stereodude
Not really a
I thought a backup sump pump (battery or water pressure powered) was pretty standard fare for people with finished basements?
If all else failed at the very least I'd be using my UPS's to power the main sump pump as needed for as long as I could.
If all else failed at the very least I'd be using my UPS's to power the main sump pump as needed for as long as I could.
DrunkenBastard
Storage is cool
My wife's aunts place in Virginia took a tree to the house. No injuries. Bummer about the generator. Portable or permanent installation? Has the water stopped coming in? Covered under insurance?
DrunkenBastard
Storage is cool
No standard computer type UPS is going to power even a small sump pump for long, chances are you will burn out the UPS, and best case it's going to give you 5 minutes of runtime. Its like putting your finger in a dam about to let go. They just aren't designed for powering heavy motor loads and their associated heavy startup current demands, a 1/3 HP pump is a nearly 10A load at 110V.
The sump capable UPSs aren't cheap: http://www.sumppumpsusa.com/sumpro-model-75-sump-pump-battery-backup-13466.html
About 2 grand for something that can run for days (200 amp Hours). At which price a permanent generator that can do the whole house would usually be a better option.
The sump capable UPSs aren't cheap: http://www.sumppumpsusa.com/sumpro-model-75-sump-pump-battery-backup-13466.html
About 2 grand for something that can run for days (200 amp Hours). At which price a permanent generator that can do the whole house would usually be a better option.
We had some flooding in our basement that we just dealt with. The sump pump is working fine, but because it continuously turns on and off every 90-120 seconds as it evacuates the water, it somehow caused the piping to disconnect. Once that happened it continued to run and just pumped the same water back into our bulkhead area that would have normally been pumped outside. It got to about 8-10" before we noticed it and parts of our basement are now wet, including a bunch of furniture that was ruined. We were checking the area every hour or two, but unfortunately we missed the window of when it disconnect and it probably ran like that for an hour or so.
We were able to reconnect the piping, but even then the water wasn't going down, so we were using buckets to toss it outside for a couple hours. Turns out that due to the pipe breaking open in the bulkhead area, it stirred up a ton of dirt and debris that it was then clogging the intake to the sump pump. Once we took it all apart and cleaned it, it was able to remove all the water in a mater of a minute or two. Now it's just cycling on and off as the water gradually rises.
Now we're running a dedicated dehumidifier and an A/C on full blast to try and take out as much humidity as we can. The A/C is just free-standing in the basement (no available windows for it) and we're collecting the water that exits it and dumping it. It's the best we can do for now. We'll have to cut out the wet paneling and throw away the stuff that got wet.
We were able to reconnect the piping, but even then the water wasn't going down, so we were using buckets to toss it outside for a couple hours. Turns out that due to the pipe breaking open in the bulkhead area, it stirred up a ton of dirt and debris that it was then clogging the intake to the sump pump. Once we took it all apart and cleaned it, it was able to remove all the water in a mater of a minute or two. Now it's just cycling on and off as the water gradually rises.
Now we're running a dedicated dehumidifier and an A/C on full blast to try and take out as much humidity as we can. The A/C is just free-standing in the basement (no available windows for it) and we're collecting the water that exits it and dumping it. It's the best we can do for now. We'll have to cut out the wet paneling and throw away the stuff that got wet.
ddrueding
Fixture
Wow. I was always a little jealous of people that had basements. Now I'm not.
The whole house is 18" above the ground, and the property is 4' above the street. French drains under and around the house send everything to the street, the drains from the roof are fed into additional french drains that send that off the property as well. This isn't a standard installation, and my contractor said it was overkill, but I know my property isn't going to flood.
The whole house is 18" above the ground, and the property is 4' above the street. French drains under and around the house send everything to the street, the drains from the roof are fed into additional french drains that send that off the property as well. This isn't a standard installation, and my contractor said it was overkill, but I know my property isn't going to flood.
Stereodude
Not really a
There is nothing funny about natural disasters that cost billions of dollars and ruin people's lives. They should put all the political pricks in the eye of the hurricane next time and see if they think it is hype. I just hope the next time that preparations are not scaled downward and the reality is worse.
Stereodude
Not really a
Except that all remains to be seen.
Doug- Sorry to hear about your troubles. Hope you get everything all cleaned up soon.
Don't sour on having a basement. I love how they are always comfortable and offer a place of almost complete solitude from the outside. They're especially great in the summer if you have the occasional power outage. Nice & comfortable, even on a super hot day. Computer equipment love the nice cool environment and I'm sure you know any area you have dedicated to storage down there is a great place for servers etc. Not sure if you lost power or not. I think you just had a bad water connection for your pump? But if you don't have one of these already, you should definitely invest in one or similar. It will go for a week or so if you happen to lose power and will even function as a primary pump in the event that your main pump has some type of mechanical failure. Just need to replace the battery every 7 years or so for safety. I thought about one of the water pressure type pumps in the past but decided against them. I think they only pump about 1/7 the water they use and will not work if you lose your water pressure (like we did during the blackout of 2003).
Good luck to you.
Don't sour on having a basement. I love how they are always comfortable and offer a place of almost complete solitude from the outside. They're especially great in the summer if you have the occasional power outage. Nice & comfortable, even on a super hot day. Computer equipment love the nice cool environment and I'm sure you know any area you have dedicated to storage down there is a great place for servers etc. Not sure if you lost power or not. I think you just had a bad water connection for your pump? But if you don't have one of these already, you should definitely invest in one or similar. It will go for a week or so if you happen to lose power and will even function as a primary pump in the event that your main pump has some type of mechanical failure. Just need to replace the battery every 7 years or so for safety. I thought about one of the water pressure type pumps in the past but decided against them. I think they only pump about 1/7 the water they use and will not work if you lose your water pressure (like we did during the blackout of 2003).
Good luck to you.
Sounds decent although 18" is actually the min. height for a crawl space. Make sure your drains are clear of debris that may go down your gutters or they will do you no good. Definitely useless overkill though since you don't have a basement to protect and your house is relatively high above the street. Do you have issues with extreme flooding problems where you live?
ddrueding
Fixture
16 years ago there was a flood that got within half a mile of my current house. It would have had to spread for hundreds of square miles before climbing the ~9' of additional rise to the base of my property. Other than that, the gutter gets about 3" of standing water in the worst rainstorm every winter.
Santilli
Hairy Aussie
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2002
- Messages
- 5,278
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
My place is on a hillside so I only have to worry about the water from the roof and front yard. I really need some french drains though.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Handy and Will, I feel for you.
There is damage all over the place in my area and we had the weakest part of the storm in comparison to others (both locally and also from other states). Huge uprooted trees have done some damage to say the least. I could hear chainsaws running at 4:00AM this morning.
The media coverage of the storm was ridiculous. Seeing tons of reporters screaming while wind, rain, and sand are pelting them is just not helpful. Even though there was damage in a lot of places, they really did an annoying job at covering a storm. I would of rather them not even be there so that emergency crews wouldn't have to waste their time rescuing reporters lives to cover this.
Last edited:
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
I feel your pain Handruin. But let me add this: State Farm said I'm not covered for any of the damage.
Thanks Kevin. My situation could have been a lot worse, but it wasn't as bad as I may have made it seem. I know some people who had 4-5 feet of water in their basement. My few inches are nothing in comparison. We were very lucky to not have lost power. If we had, I'm sure things would have been worse. Yes, it was the piping connection which broke apart while the pump was running. This is the first real and extended time the sump pump has run since we had our bulk head rebuilt last fall. The screws holding the piping were not torqued tight enough and the vibrations of the pump must have worked it free. As of this morning most of the water has dried up. The free-standing A/C unit has condensed maybe 3.5-4 gallons of water out of the air into our catch-bucket so far. It seems to be doing a good job drying out the basement.
Thanks for the link to the backup sump pump device. I'll take a serious look into getting one of those. The alternative would be getting a small generate to run the electric sump pump. We have a second sump pump just like the current one. If the first one dies (provided we are home) we can swap them out, but the device you linked to would get the job done while we were out of town.
Wow, that stinks. Why are they not covering your damages? I don't think I'll be making any claims for our damages, but I wonder if they would cover them anyway.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Regarding the reporting I have to say I was amused at the reporter who was reporting on and covered with the sea foam breaking over the sea wall and coating the streets. The report was it was a little salty and gritty, and it did not smell great.
Dark sense of humor.
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/fox-reporter-gives-update-covered-in-sea-foam-20110827
Dark sense of humor.
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/fox-reporter-gives-update-covered-in-sea-foam-20110827
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
I only waist my time during lunch.
I'm glad you had nothing better to do than to point out that I made a grammatical error.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
See your English is getting better.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Will and Doug, sorry to hear about what happened to you. I've been there as far as basement flooding goes. In 2006 we had about 2 inches of water when the sewer pipe clogged. This time we only had minor flooding in a few rooms. Over the years I've fixed any foundation cracks from outside. This spring we had the window wells lined with concrete. We still need a sump pump in them for heavy rains, but the situation is way better than before. The concrete keeps out most of the water.
As far as insurance, generally home insurance doesn't cover acts of nature, war, terrorism, sabotage, rioting, and a few other exceptions. Sometimes you can get a rider on your policy to cover storm damage. Even then, there are usually exceptions like hurricanes and tornadoes. Bottom line, based on past experience, there really doesn't seem to be much which home insurance actually does cover. When we had the sewer backing up, they said only freshwater flooding was covered, and then only if it wasn't caused by tropical storms or broken plumbing. Of course, they offer all kinds of riders for $$$.
I didn't see any downed trees locally (I think the tornado last year culled all the weak trees, so maybe it was a good thing). Citiwide though quite a few went down, taking power lines with them. ConEd is supposedly putting a lot of the overhead lines underground in the coming years. 2 year ago they dug a big trench on our block and put in pipes in anticipation of this. The sooner the better. Every time we have a major wind event I fear losing power.
As far as insurance, generally home insurance doesn't cover acts of nature, war, terrorism, sabotage, rioting, and a few other exceptions. Sometimes you can get a rider on your policy to cover storm damage. Even then, there are usually exceptions like hurricanes and tornadoes. Bottom line, based on past experience, there really doesn't seem to be much which home insurance actually does cover. When we had the sewer backing up, they said only freshwater flooding was covered, and then only if it wasn't caused by tropical storms or broken plumbing. Of course, they offer all kinds of riders for $$$.
I didn't see any downed trees locally (I think the tornado last year culled all the weak trees, so maybe it was a good thing). Citiwide though quite a few went down, taking power lines with them. ConEd is supposedly putting a lot of the overhead lines underground in the coming years. 2 year ago they dug a big trench on our block and put in pipes in anticipation of this. The sooner the better. Every time we have a major wind event I fear losing power.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Of course your policy spells everything out. I haven't made any special requests to be covered by tornados or sewage backup. Though I'm no where near the flood plain, coverage for flood would be additional.
That's not a grammatical error. It's just a regular error.
Wasn't it the incorrect use of a homophone which I believe counts as a grammatical error?
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
I was feigning pedantry. But I wouldn't consider something to be a grammatical error unless it broke a rule of grammar. To me it is simply a spelling error that happens to be a homophone. But I'm open to argument.
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
No flood insurance as it isn't usually offered if your not in the flood plain and apparently if you are not in it and get the coverage, it does not cover all the damage. So I'm not even sure I could get coverage that would have paid for all the damages.
BingBangBop
Storage is cool
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
- Messages
- 667
It was my understanding that no private insurance covers floods and that the only way to get flood coverage was through the federal govt.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Getting back to the subways, here's why the system was shut down.
time
Storage? I am Storage!
Will, check your insurance contract yourself - don't rely on what someone told you over the phone.
Policies are probably different between the US and Australia, but certainly storm damage is covered here, eg. tree falls on house. There is a specific exclusion for flooding from watercourses, but flooding from rainwater incursion is covered, including runoff.
In other words, rising water is excluded, falling water is covered.
Policies are probably different between the US and Australia, but certainly storm damage is covered here, eg. tree falls on house. There is a specific exclusion for flooding from watercourses, but flooding from rainwater incursion is covered, including runoff.
In other words, rising water is excluded, falling water is covered.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
I have a rider on my homeowners insurance policy that covers water coming up out of drains up to a certain amount of money. I don't think water coming in from above would be covered.
This is important for us as we live in a garden unit. I can't remember how much the rider costs, but the previous owners definitely had water damage in the past and had to have all the carpet and wood floors replaced.
This is important for us as we live in a garden unit. I can't remember how much the rider costs, but the previous owners definitely had water damage in the past and had to have all the carpet and wood floors replaced.
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
My understanding is the insurance companies write the policies but they are provided/underwritten through FEMA. State Farm used to administrate them as well. I'm not sure who does it now.
Indeed I will, once I find it. It will be a few days of cleanup before I can go through stuff. Last night we cleared out the first third of the basement, still have the other half of the main section and then my office to do. Heating and cooling guy is coming to look at the heat pump & A/C unit as they are not really working. I'm hoping the bottom of my water heater hasn't been damaged by this and won't eventually rust out and spring a leak at the bottom.
Sorry to hear of the extended damage, Will. Good luck with the insurance policy and hopefully your water heater is ok.
The rest of my basement appears to be dry as of this morning. The A/C unit is still pulling lots of water out of the air. I would say another 5-6 gallons since yesterday. I'm sure it's naturally humid down there, so the lower I can keep the humidity until things dry up completely, the better it'll be. Next I'll have to start demolishing the wall where the water came through and pull out any soaked insulation and soaked wall boards.
The rest of my basement appears to be dry as of this morning. The A/C unit is still pulling lots of water out of the air. I would say another 5-6 gallons since yesterday. I'm sure it's naturally humid down there, so the lower I can keep the humidity until things dry up completely, the better it'll be. Next I'll have to start demolishing the wall where the water came through and pull out any soaked insulation and soaked wall boards.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Sorry to hear about the problems you guys on the east coast had. But I'm glad everybody's safe and that the damage was less than feared.