Does your home or commercial facility have a sump pump installed? While sump pumps aren’t necessarily required in all buildings, there can definitely be value in having one in-place. No matter if that be a residential or commercial property, the reasoning behind having one installed is fairly straightforward. Simply put, they help remove water from inside and ultimately are effective at limiting the toll that can occur from water damage. And as you can likely guess, water damage can create quite the expense in no time.
For those of you who are familiar with our plumbing business or even our blog, you may already know that we provide residential, commercial and new construction plumbing services throughout the Kansas City area. Whether that be roughing in a new bathroom, installing plumbing fixtures or even emergency services, we have you covered on any plumbing-related project! Based on the opening paragraph, you can probably also guess that sump pump installations and repairs are included in those services. One topic we like to highlight here on our plumbing blog is the importance of maintenance. When it comes to managing your plumbing system, there are numerous things you’ll want to be familiar with and one of those happens to be knowing how to properly maintain the different components that make up your plumbing system. With this week’s blog post, we’ll walk through the ins and outs of sump pump maintenance and hopefully help you create your own checklist on what you’ll want to keep tabs on.
Sump Pump Maintenance Task #1: Test It Out
If your house or commercial facility has a sump pump installed, you’ll be pleased to know that the maintenance-related components aren’t all that challenging. A few tasks completed here and there can go a long way in ensuring everything is ready to go when it’s called into action. Having said that, first on our list of maintenance tasks is definitely not a difficult one, but also something that is easy to forget about too! By routinely testing out your sump pump and making sure everything performs properly, you’re certainly taking a step in the right direction. Why is this so important? For obvious reasons, it will ensure everything works. However, it’s important to note that for most homeowners, you’re not going to be using the sump pump every single day like you would with other plumbing components, such as a water heater or faucet.
So…how can you test it out? You’ll simply want to fill up the pit until it reaches the threshold at which the sump pump kicks on. Then make sure it successfully takes the water through the discharge lines and confirm outside that it leads away from the home’s foundation. If that all works correctly, you’re in great shape!
Sump Pump Maintenance Task #2: Complete a Visual Inspection
While testing out your sump pump will always be something worth doing, another useful maintenance task would be to complete a visual inspection. What does that entail? Well…particularly when a sump pump has received a decent amount of usage, you’re going to want to make sure everything is still set up correctly to allow it to function properly. Here are a few things to look out for:
Standing Upright – Look inside the pit to make sure the pump is standing upright and not on its side. As you can likely imagine, if the pump was laying on its side, that could cause some issues! By the way, it would be a good idea to properly clean the actual pump too.
Debris – While inspecting the condition of the actual pump, also check and see if there is any debris sitting in the pit. If there is, be sure to clean that up as well!
Discharge Lines – The discharge lines are an extremely important part of the overall equation, so make sure there are no visible issues with them. Look for any visible warning signs, like sitting water, and also head outside to ensure everything is good there too.
As shown above, there are a few different items that you’ll want to add to your inspection list and don’t forget about the importance of cleaning the actual sump pump as well.
Sump Pump Maintenance Task #3: Improve the Overall System
Another item that we frequently mention here on our plumbing blog is the growth of the plumbing industry and how there are plenty of ways to make improvements to your own plumbing system. Just take water heating, for example. If you feel like your existing water heater isn’t large enough or even at your desired-efficiency level, there are options. You can upgrade to a larger tank or even make the move to a tankless water heater! Unsurprisingly, there are different HP sizes for sump pumps, which can impact your purchasing decision. However, for this section specifically, we wanted to highlight a few added features you could incorporate. While this wouldn’t technically be a maintenance task you would need to repeatedly complete, it would be something that would limit your chances of plumbing issues, which is always a plus, right?
What are these added components that you could include? First and foremost, a battery backup is never a bad idea to consider when having a new sump pump installed or even adding to an existing sump pump! Why can this be so beneficial and worth the investment? Well…let’s first look at the main situations where a sump pump may be called into use. Chances are it typically could be when there is a strong storm with heavy rainfall. And what could potentially accompany a severe storm? Power outage! If you did happen to lose power, you don’t want to also lose your trusty sump pump, correct? With a battery backup in-place, you can rest assured that you’ll still be covered! The second worthwhile improvement that you could make would be to the discharge lines that lead outside. These lines are responsible for taking the water outside and a big reason why you want to routinely test your sump pump is to ensure there is nothing stuck in the lines that would affect normal operations. Considering sump pumps are typically installed in unfinished parts of basements (which aren’t the most well-heated parts of the house), the lines can be subject to potential freezing. By adding insulation to these lines, you can take another safety step in ensuring no future problems arise. In the end, something as simple as having a battery backup installed and insulation put in can be incredibly helpful.
Sump Pump Maintenance, Repair and Installation Services in Kansas City
As a plumbing business, it should come as little surprise that sump pumps are a plumbing component that our technicians work with quite frequently. Whether that means installing new sump pump systems, replacing existing sump pumps, repairing units or even helping with maintenance items, sump pumps are in our regular vocabulary. Throughout this week’s blog post, we talked about a number of different maintenance tasks that any homeowner or facility manager could incorporate into their yearly plumbing plans. Fortunately, most of the sump pump maintenance items are fairly easy to complete and they will ultimately ensure you’ve done your due diligence to limit any future sump pump issues.
Do you live in or near the Kansas City area and need some help with a sump pump project? Feel free to give us a call at (816) 348-3481 to speak with a member of our team!