# Basement flooded twice this month



## vinny186 (Oct 17, 2016)

This whole thing is very odd. 

First, the basement flooded two days before I (buyer) closed on the place. The carpet and portions of drywall were removed and a new 1/2hp pump was installed by the real estate agents husband. It hasn't rained much these past few weeks although this past Saturday into Sunday morning it rained and I entered my basement Sunday afternoon to find it had flooded again. The water was at the top of the pit and the new Everbilt pump was warm and making a buzzing sound but no longer pumping. 

So today I had a handyman who I've used before come over and we attached a hose to a submersible and pumped water out of the pit for about a HALF HOUR STRAIGHT! When we finally got down to the two inlet pipes we could see water was coming in at a good rate even though it hadn't rained in over 24 hours.

Next, we dug down and removed enough pea gravel to get the bottom of the pit to sit about 3-4" below the inlet drains.

Remember it took a half hour to remove the water from a roughly 4 foot deep pit. The new pump was installed and tested and everything looked fine. We were waiting for the pump to start running like crazy considering how much water was flowing into it before but once the water level rose up to slightly above the part of the pump where the discharge pipe attaches, the water just stopped rising!

Does this make sense to anybody. Sorry it was so long winded.


----------



## inspectorD (Oct 17, 2016)

Could be a broken water line in your yard, or a spring that just decided to reroute itself... I would look at the water line issue first. 
If you have a well, the pump will be running, if it is town water the meter will be moving....
Other than that, check outside for gutter and downspout issues.. get the water away from the house.
Let us know what you find...


----------



## bud16415 (Oct 18, 2016)

Sounds like you have a high water table and during a storm it comes up quickly. If it is running in at a rate the sump pump can just handle the pump will be forced to run nonstop.  Most of these pumps have a duty cycle that is something less than continuous. The reason the pump stopped working is most likely it overheated from exceeding the duty cycle and not being off long enough to cool down before being asked to start up again. 

The suggestions to try and keep the water away from the house are a good starting point. Then if there is any drop to your land where you could let gravity help with the water thru drain pipes would help. 

When your pump takes the water out how far from the house is the discharge?


----------

