House- protect your finished basement

We ended up building a family room in the basement containing a large-screen TV with a surround-sound system, an area set aside for a pool table, and room where all the kids’ toys are stored.” The remodel took working every night after work for 2 months, and included the installation of a new bathroom.

Zollers discovered during the work that the water table under his house was quite high—during the construction of the bathroom, he had a 2” contractor pump pumping out water for about 5 hours. “It turned out the water table is only about 2 feet down,” Zollers says. “Our property is situated in such a way that it seems like the surrounding water just flows to our house.” The amount of water is such that, during the spring when there are thaws and heavy rains, the sump pump continually turns on for a minute, then off for a minute.

The problem with a standard pump is that all the power in the area is above ground and a strong wind will knock out the power. Once the power goes out, the pump stops and flooding is imminent. Zollers solved the problem as best he could with a generator that will run if the power goes out—but that only works if he is home to turn on the generator.

In an episode early in Zollers’ remodeling phase, he discovered yet another problem when he came home to find a large area of his basement’s carpet wet. The power had not gone down, but his pump had burned out. At that point he realized he really needed a failure-proof backup system.

Larry Guthman is another homeowner who performed a high-end remodel on his basement, installing paneling, carpet, cabinetry, and recessed lighting for a family room. He worried about flooding due to the carpeting, the paneling and the wallboard behind the paneling that, if damaged with flooding, would be very expensive to replace.

This particular winter was especially bad in Guthman’s area for potential flooding due to thunderstorms that struck while the ground was still frozen, leaving water no place to go. The water ended up filtering down to building foundations and even when pumps were working they were straining to keep up. Guthman found that even with an operational sump pump plus a backup system, he really wasn’t protected in such drastic circumstances. Hence, Guthman, like Zollers, went looking for a totally reliable system to keep his basement dry.

Both Zollers and Guthman discovered failure-proof backup technology in a system called The PeakFlow 5600 ePump from Peakflow Pumps, developed by Basement Flood Protector Inc. “It’s saved me twice already,” Zollers says. One afternoon the power went out for 5 to 6 hours; he had trouble getting his generator started, but the backup system kept his basement completely dry. On another occasion late one night he heard his pump making a peculiar sound from downstairs. At 4:30 in the morning, he received a notification from the new backup system by phone that the pumps were activated and pumping out the water. His main pump had failed—that had been the noise he had heard—but his basement was once again saved.

Part of the fail-safe technology of the new system is that it notifies the homeowner by phone and by email if there are any problems either with the system itself or if the system must come on and start pumping. There are never any nasty surprises whether the homeowner is present or not. The system also contains two separate pumps each with their own power supply—literally a backup within a backup.

“It’s quite a step up in technology,” Guthman says. “Right now I’m away working on another house, and back home we’ve been having weather issues. The system has already gone off a couple times since I’ve been here, I was promptly notified by the system and everything is fine. It’s really lived up to my expectations.” Like Zollers, Guthman also has a generator at home, but if he’s not home to turn it on, it’s useless.

Guthman had another backup system he relied upon before the PeakFlow 5600 ePump, but because its feature set was not as robust, he still worried he would lose the substantial investment he’d made in his basement. It didn’t notify the homeowner of problems if the homeowner was away. Another feature it lacked—which the new system has—was a way to quickly check if the backup system’s batteries were charged. The new system not only has a quickly-readable interface which shows battery charge, but will also notify the homeowner if the batteries are becoming weak.

“In addition to everything else, I spent $15,000 putting in a new furnace and air conditioning unit that sits about 5 feet from where the pump is,” Guthman says. “In addition to the rest of the basement, I really don’t want to take in water in my brand-new high-efficiency furnace and air conditioning.”

“I spent $25,000 to $30,000 putting in my basement, and that was doing all the work myself,” Zollers says. “This system gives you peace of mind, almost like there’s somebody there sitting on a stool watching your pump. To know that it’s there and working for you is money very well spent.”

http://www.floodnot.com