The Importance of Sump Pump Maintenance

This is a time of the year our office and service team generate many calls about sump pumps.  It's been months since homeowners have heard their sump pump run and suddenly they are noticing it running constantly.  

Every home can be different as to how often a sump pump will run.  We have customers who tell us they hear their sump pump run ALL year long, winter, summer, etc.  

Some customers unplug their sump pump in the winter because its cold and don't think it will run (Not recommended).  You should never unplug your sump pump system.  When it needs to run, you will want it to run.  I recall on Christmas Day, December 25th, 2016, Southern Minnesota had received a few inches of rainfall... In December!  When the ground is frozen and we get a rainfall like that, water will find its way into those gaps between the ground and the foundation of your home.  I know personally, my TripleSafe Sump Pump System ran continuously all winter that year!  

We recommend to our customers that a routine maintenance on sump pump systems be inspected about every 15 months.  Inspecting the sump pump system at different times of the year, allows us to see the sump pump conditions and how they are performing in each season.  

We clean out the sump liner, pull out the motor and componets that sit in dirty water all year and clean off all the sediment and silt that builds up overtime.  Interestingly we can find rodents and other unusal items end up in the sump basket.  Mice, tree roots, cat litter to name few of the items we've cleaned out of sump liners. 

Our service technicians also do a check on the outside of the home to ensure proper discharge of the sump pump water.  Its a good idea to have it move away as far as possible and pointing downhill or to the lowest spot of your yard.  If you have a flex hose (black perforated plastic pipe) and you are tired of moving that darn thing to mow your lawn, consider a buried discharge line.  

There is so much more to this service maintenance than just your sump pump.  Our technicians meet with about 1500 homeowners each year.  If it wasn't important, we wouldn't need to offer this service.  Homeowners spend a lot of money on a waterproofing system to protect their basement from a potential flood, we find things that would affect pump operation all the time.  

Be sure to check out the link below from our Service Manager, Nate Barke speaking with local KEYC morning news team about sump pump maintenance. 

http://www.keyc.com/story/37807891/the-importance-of-sump-pump-maintenance