Sump Pumps – Oh Sh!t with Nick (Ep. 2)

Everything You Need To Know About Sump Pumps

It’s all about Sump pumps today! Welcome to the second edition of Oh Sh!t with Nick!! It’s that time of year again, snowmelt, lots of rain, and it has to go somewhere. Nick goes over the essential reasons for having a reliable sump pump. Take notes and let us know how we can help!

Watch our Video and You’ll Learn:

• Nick Is Telling Us About Sump Pumps.
• What Is Sump Pump And Where Can We Find It?
• What Sump Pump Is For.

Listen To The Audio

Enjoy this transcript below!

Nick: Hey, everybody, Nick with Champion Plumbing out of Eagan, Minnesota, and here’s episode two of, Oh Shit With Nick. Well, as you can tell, it’s spring in Minnesota. Everything’s starting to melt. What’s going to happen? That water’s got to go somewhere.

Today we’re going to talk about sump pumps. Let’s go inside and check it out. All right, here we are in the shop. I’ve got Lee with me.

Lee: Howdy.

Nick: First thing, I have a lot of people probably wondering what’s a sump pump. Where can I find it? Well, this is basically your sump pump basket. You’ll find this in your basement, and there’s drain tile that goes all the way around the foundation of the home. This is for low-laying areas that collect water. If you come over and take a look inside of this, take this pipe off, there is your actual pump.

This has a battery backup, so there’s two pumps. What happens is the water comes in and once it gets to a certain level it triggers the floats and the water goes up and out your house.

Usually, the top of this will be flush with the floor and you see it goes roughly about three feet. But these do go out. Sometimes the water just keeps filling and filling and will flood out your whole basement.

Lee: No good. Where can I find this usually in a home?

Nick: Usually it’s in one of the corners, in mainly the mechanical room.

Lee: Is the water from the drain tiles the only thing going in there? Can I put water from my water heater down it? Can I put kitchen sink drain down it?

Nick: No, you’re not supposed to.

Lee: Okay.

Nick: It’s supposed to be just for rainwater and water coming from the ground.

Lee: Is it always going to be a small pipe like this? Or are we going to see three inches?

Nick: What you want is inch and a half coming up and out, doesn’t put strain on the motors. What happens, it’s 3:00 in the morning, you can’t get your pump to work?

Lee: You just said it was 3:00 in the morning and I can’t get my plumber out until 7:00. What am I going to do?

Nick: My recommendation is always have one of these little tiny pumps. You can get them at Menards, Home Depot, anywhere. They’re like 20 bucks. All you’ve got to do is put it in, hook up your garden hose, and plug it in and it’ll pump it out until you can get a plumber out to fix it or replace it.

Lee: You said this one’s got a battery backup. Do I have to have a battery backup?

Nick: Some do, some don’t. We always recommend a battery backup because say the power goes out. The pump water’s still dumping in there, it’s going to start flooding out.

Lee: Will the backup pump work at the same time as the normal pump or will it only kick in when the normal pump’s no longer working?

Nick: It’s actually, if you look, the float on both of them are completely different levels. They’re roughly about six inches apart. If the main pump ever fails, it’s going to be six inches above until it clicks on the backup pump.

Lee: Okay.

Nick: The battery’s always plugged in, so it’s constantly charging, but yes, the batteries do lose charge just like in a car.

Lee: Okay. Who can I call to take care of this for me?

Nick: Champion Plumbing, all day long.

Lee: What’s that phone number?

Nick: (651) 365-1340.

Lee: Awesome.

Nick: All right, everybody. Thanks for watching episode two of, Oh Shit With Nick. Hit that like and subscribe button and give us a call (651)365-1340. Check us out on the web at www.championplumbing.net. We’ll see you next time.

Champion Plumbing Plumber: Call a plumber.