We talked a lot about flooding issues, ejector pumps and sump pumps. Here is an over view of some of those issues.

Don't walk into a flooded basement without checking to make sure the water is not electrified. If the power is on, pull the electric meter or turn off the power in some way before going into the basement.

Since a picture is worth a 1000 words, here is how your sump pump should be set up. Your sump pump should only handle storm water.

An ejector pump is designed to handle sewage, needs a larger discharge pipe, larger specialized pump and a sealed cover on the pit.

When you have a sewage back up in the basement from the city sewers, there are a few options for this issue but it is not cheap.

Option # 1(Cheapest way out)

Dig up and cut the sewer line that goes outside and install a check valve. This will stop any back ups but when the sewer is full you can not use the plumbing because the check valve will be closed. (At a cost of around $900 to $1,500)

Option # 2 (Better way out)

Once you have option # 1 completed, you can install a "T" in the line that will go to an ejector pit so when the plumbing is used in the house and the check valve is closed, the water will drain into the ejector pit. Now take the discharge from the ejector pit pump and connect that on the street side of the check valve. Now, when the street backs up the check valve will close and stop the back up. As you continue to use the plumbing any water that can't go out the normal way will go into the ejector pit and then get forced into the street side of the system by the pump. Issue solved. (At a cost of around 6 to 8 grand)

Option # 3 (Best way out)

Have all the basement drains disconnected from the main sewer line and have them go into an ejector pit. Reroute all the drains from the upper floors into the sewer directly. Then have the ejector pit pump connected into the new main sewer line about 7 feet up from the floor (Or as high as possible). Now the water has to back up to the first floor before it starts coming in. Most of basement floor may need to come out to get to all the drains so this option could be more expensive than option # 2 or it could be less depending on the plumbing layout and if you basement is finished.

And one last thing to think about when installing a larger sump pump or adding a second pump is the size of the discharge pipe. If you have 1-1/2" pipe and it handles @ 80 GPM (gallons per minute) and the 1/2 HP pump puts out a max of 83 GPM, you can't add an other pump to that same 1-1/2" discharge line and get twice the water out of the house. You will need to install a separate discharge line for the back up pump so you can double the discharge rate. Or, install a larger discharge line to handle the volume of both pumps. Here is the flow rate based on pipe size: http://flexpvc.com/WaterFlowBasedOnPipeSize.shtml

Happy bailing,