The thunderstorms, flash floods, tornado warnings and odd hurricane of the past few years have taught Tom Grein a hard-learned lesson: Expect the unexpected. Don't automatically assume your basement sump pump will keep you dry when the water starts rising.
Grein's initiation came by way of a downpour in 2002. "We woke up to find four to five inches of water in our basement," said the former Herndon resident. "Our kids bailed and bailed and bailed water for an entire Saturday. Then we had to put fans [in the basement] and take our ruined possessions out to the curb. It was devastating."
A plumber's post-mortem confirmed Grein's suspicions: dead sump pump, four years old. Replacement cost: $340.
The new unit worked like a champ -- until last September, when Hurricane Isabel knocked Herndon's power grid offline. No electricity, no sump pump.
"My wife was in the basement with a pail, literally bailing the water out of the sump pump [pit] as fast as she could," he said. "Because I use a wheelchair, I acted like a cheerleader at the top of the stairs. She would run up the stairs, hand me the pail and I would dump the water into the bathtub."
Been there, done that, Fairfax resident Ricardo Urdaneta said. In 2000, his sump pump conked out for a second time. A plumber's $90 fix coaxed two more years of life, until a thunderstorm overwhelmed it. Thrice stung, he began researching his options.
Today, the chastened man willingly shares his watery wisdom. "First," he said, "make sure your sump pump and rain gutters are discharging the water away from your house. Second, realize your sump pump has an electric motor that will eventually fail. Third, it's very possible that when you need the sump pump the most, you're at the highest risk of losing your power."
So, what backup system is best for keeping an at-risk basement dry? And what's the buzz on the latest technology -- an install-and-forget sump pump that actually fights water with water? Here's a look at the options.
Emergency Generators
As Grein and Urdaneta found, a sump pump stops working for two reasons. "Power failures are only 50 percent of the reasons basements flood," said Bill Bonifacio, president of Base Products Corp., a sump pump maker in Buffalo. "Your primary pump can also [mechanically] fail." If you only back up the power system, not the pump, you protect yourself only from power failures, he said. A generator alone won't back up the pump.
The gold standard, he said, is an independent system that provides backup power and pump capacity. Homeowners should decide how much redundancy they need.
According to Dominion Virginia Power, consumers snapped up an estimated 50,000 portable generators as Hurricane Isabel bore down on the region last year. Many cited sump pump worries as their motivation. Retailing at $450 or more, most portable power supplies can crank out enough amps to keep sump pumps cycling on and off until a storm passes. These units are easy to start, offer plenty of electrical outlets for extension cords, and do not require a plumber or electrician.
But Dominion spokesman Mark Fink offered a few caveats. "A portable generator," he said, "is not designed to operate outside during a driving rainstorm."
Without adequate shelter, the units are susceptible to engine damage, flooding out, and possible voiding of warranty. "Many consumers also don't know how to hook them up safely. We're also afraid someone will open their garage door, start [a generator] in the garage, and then go to bed." That can cause asphyxiation by carbon monoxide.
Another limitation: Unless a generator is hard-wired into a home's main electrical system, it must be manually activated when the primary power supply fails -- unlikely if you're asleep or at work. And even the most sophisticated systems are useless if the sump pump fails, as Grein's family learned. And while experts estimate a sump pump's lifespan at five to seven years, the Urdanetas discovered that the first warning sign is often a basement floor that goes splash.
