Pittsburgh Sump Pump Installation Explored
The Basics You Should Know About Sump Pumps
Sump pumps tend to be a mystery to most people, and the reason for this is simple. They’re tucked away, out of sight in a cement-lined hole underneath a house, in a basement or the floor of the garage, and out of sight means out of mind.
So they’re something that people unknowingly use but just don’t give any thought to as they go about their day-to-day lives. So it would be perfectly understandable that you might also be seeking answers to just what is a sump pump and how does it work?
The answers, it turns out, are simple, and that is that they are a pump that’s installed in a cement line subterranean pit in an area under a home or business that is periodically subjected to excess water requiring removal.
That’s it. The size and depth of the enclosure they are installed in, as well as the size of the pump, is determined by the volume of water that needs to be pumped out when they’re called on do the job.
So then, what are the pros and cons of a sump pump? After all, what can be wrong with having a water pump whose only job is to remove water that would otherwise be the source of damage to a building or property?
It turns out that there are a few cons, and the first one is that in decades past, they developed a reputation for being unreliable. They are ignored and only get counted on to do their job when needed.
However, when that time comes in many cases in the past, for one reason or another, they just didn’t work. They were clogged up with silt, damaged by corrosion, or because they were powered by an electrical current that also failed. All that has changed, though, so now today’s modern sump pumps are vastly more reliable.
There are some great benefits, though, and that’s why through it all, people continue to have them installed. So the first one is that they prevent flooding in a basement, garage, or wherever people don’t want to be stuck with a flood or a sitting pool of water after a heavy storm has passed.
Still, another positive benefit is that they really do provide peace of mind, knowing that if you are gone on vacation or busy at work or sleeping away through the night, an automated sump pump will click on and get to work if the need arises.
Despite this, when we contacted Kwiatowski Plumbing in Pittsburgh at 412-681-9525, we were told that far too many people wait until after they are flooded before they moved to have one installed, and by that time, the damage is done.
It’s then that they want answers to questions such as which is the best type of sump pump? People rely on water pumps every day when they turn on a faucet or watch the water that they use go down their drain on its way to a pumping station.
Yet through it all, for the most part, they tend to remain blissfully unaware there are different types of water pumps to accommodate different situations. Trash pumps, as they’re referred to in the industry vernacular, are designed to remove water that contains sand and silt.
Then another type of sump pump can move lower volumes of water under high pressure if it needs to be lifted higher than, say, a low-pressure pump that moves a more significant amount of water up and out at a lower height.
Pittsburgh Sump Pump Installation is Not All the Same
So the more you look, the more you will discover that not all sump pumps in Pittsburgh are the same. For example, water that has to be pumped from ground level and only needs to be moved a very short distance, perhaps a few feet or so, is different than water that has to be removed out of a basement where it has to travel several feet up to be sent away.
Then, of course, a subfloor underneath a structure where the ground isn’t paved calls for a sump pump that can deal with the higher level of silt. Then finally there is the question, does every house need a sump pump?
The answer here is no, and this is because some homes deal with a larger volume of water than others. Then there are homes built on a grade where any water that comes their way is sent downhill for someone else to deal with.
Another question commonly asked is what is the average lifespan of a sump pump? The answer here, it turns out, is that there really is no one-size-fits-all sump pump situation.
So one sump pump in Pittsburgh might get a lot of use with water that needs to be removed all winter long, then another is only called on perhaps once or twice a decade during unusually heavy storms that come around infrequently.
So it only stands to reason that the amount of usage and the quality of the pump installed both factors in determining the lifespan of a sump pump.
Then according to the folks at Kwiatowski Plumbing, one of the most common questions that callers want an answer to is how much does sump pump installation typically cost in Pittsburgh?
So the answer they typically provide is that sump pumps in Pittsburgh should cost no more than they absolutely need to. There are just too many variables to consider for a one-size-fits-all answer.
There are very affordable sump pumps in Pittsburgh that can be purchased for less than $200 that work just fine in certain situations. But then, in another case, a more heavy-duty, higher volume pump to remove water up higher might be called for.
They also pointed out that the water has to go somewhere when it’s being pumped out and how far away that factors in as well in determining cost.