Sump pumps themselves are one of the most common and useful tools for alleviating groundwater infiltration into the home. We at Home Service Doctors, love to see them, love to see that they are working properly and have been maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, but after decades of doing what we do every day throughout Fairfax County we also understand that large rain events, which, as you would imagine are what cause sump pumps to be necessary also come with “storm conditions”. Storm conditions are accompanied quite often by high winds, lightning and other anomalies that cause power failures. At the point that your power goes out your sump pump is, no pun intended, dead in the water. That’s why the plumberologist at Home Service Doctors sincerely suggest upgrading to a system with some type of non-power grid back up system. There are a couple of options that are more readily available such as battery, backups, and water actuated pumps. Neither are dependent on the power grid. Battery backup systems are designed to pump the water in a power outage while also emitting an alarm to remind the homeowner in Fairfax to keep an eye on the system and if necessary, find some type of “temporary power, i.e., a small generator to plug-in the main pump just in case the water coming in is more than the battery backup can keep up with. Also, because the battery has a limited amount of storage and depending on how long the power outage persists more permanent measures may need to be taken. So, it’s not a silver bullet, but it is a huge step towards making sure that you don’t find out that your sump pump has been ineffective when there’s 2 inches of water covering your basement. If the safety of your home in Fairfax and Manassas is a concern, please ask your Home Service Doctors about these flood prevention tools.
