Is one sump pump good enough?

Is one sump pump good enough?

Let me answer this question, with a question ?

If your one pump DOESN’T work, when it needs to, what will the results be? Envision this. You come home to a flooded empty basement maybe with a small amount of water on the floor. Or, worse. You come home to a few feet of water and you have an indoor pool now right where your entertainment theatre was.

So, what do you have in this below-ground space? AKA your basement. What do you plan to do with this space in the near future? Or long-term plans for this space? I ask because the options are many. And doing the right thing now can save a lot of money down the road based on your decisions you make now.

Do you have:

- a furnace?

- personal possessions that are just in storage but you don’t want damaged?

- a man cave? It’s where you go to relax each night and watch the big game on tv.

- an empty basement with absolutely nothing at all down there and nothing to damage?

- an office where you run your company and make important financial decisions from your computer  that affect your family?

 So, the answer is:

- that’s up to you

- if you don’t have a lot to lose then some water won’t matter. Then maybe a one-pump system is fine for you in your current situation. 

But if you need it to work when it’s really needed, then a one-pump system is NOT for you.

No one, and I mean no one, can protect you from every catastrophic life event. But we can make educated choices to protect ourselves from things that will likely happen from time to time. A basement flood is certainly one of those things that can be prevented most of the time.

It’s kind of like insurance. You pay for something your home you will never need. But when you need it, boy you’re glad it’s there. A back-up sump pump is like an insurance policy that pays for itself literally right when you need it the most.

As I write this it’s March 25th, 2023. We are experiencing 80 km/h winds with a small amount of rain.   Likely people will have shingles blown off their home today too. But what are the chances somewhere the power will go out from a tree that has fallen into a utility line. Will the local utility be able to get it fixed in the next hour. Or will it take days. Just last May long weekend, power was out for many for over 2 days to thousands of homes. With high winds comes heavy rains often. We can’t predict when these things will happen. So, we need to make wise choices for protecting our family and our home. 

If the basement was to flood and it was caused by a dead sump pump, or a power outage or simply that the pump wasn’t designed for that volume of water, how much financial damage would that cost to your home. Maybe a few thousand dollars? Or over $100K? How about the damage that is so hard to grasp from loss of income because that space is no longer useable space. How much burden does it put on your mental state as well. All things to consider.

At Clarke Basement Systems we install over 500 sump pumps every year. Storms are becoming crazier. Do you want better protection?  Because it is available to you. Sump pumps are not sexy things to talk about but we are kind of think they are. We are different than the rest.

What are your potential needs?

Let’s talk about it?

- Remember this: when your pump fails, and even the best pump one day will fail, how will you know?  Will you know in time to be able to have the next pump up and running smoothly without a flood? Or is it a seamless event that when the primary pump doesn’t work or needs help, help has already been installed and seamlessly takes over and your life continues as you know it, because you did the right thing. 

- Do you have a volume of water that is a concern in the spring when the snow melts? Maybe. If so then let’s talk about an additional pump, or larger pump or another sump in a different location in your home.

- Do you have power outage concerns. We can’t control that but we have recommendations and some solutions to combat that. Let’s talk about a power back-up system. Or maybe you want to consider an automatic start, generator back-up that is operated from your natural gas or propane fuel tanks.

At Clarke Basement Systems we have many different sump systems. Every home and everyone’s needs are different. Some of our best-known sump systems are:

- our SuperSump® with UltraSump® for back-up

- our SmartSump® which is specifically designed for crawl spaces

- our TripleSafe® which is known as our “keep-your-basement-dry-all-the-time” system

All of these can be customized to meet your needs and expectations.