It's likely one of them failed long ago and no one bothered to check. Then, the other one failed with no backup. The backup failed likely due to lack of use, thus rusted in place.
never ever put boxes or papers directly on the basement floor, even with a small amount of water they will wick it up and get ruined, use a pallet, 2x4s, even plastic containers, anything to keep it off the basement floor!
Found that out the hard way 5 springs ago. Found a pallet that was trimmed neat as you please so it only had two runners instead of 3 and tucked it in my shed under the bench for some boxes there.
This goes.for anywhere. I lost a bunch of stuff in my storage unit due to hurricane flooding, but sadly there was only an 6 inches of water in there. Some cinder blocks would have made the difference
Nice to see some old fashioned plumbing. At work my 2 pumps are connected to a device timer type thing. Every 30 days it switches one pump to be main and other one back up. So in a years time they are somewhat used 50% each. Thanks Steven!
@@roseymalino9855 No that is where the "Somewhat" comes into play. One pump is not continuously carrying the load while other pump sits and does nothing all year.
And a real sump pit tank, not a shallow make shift diy green tote. Basement will always be damp with water level just under the foor. Also the piping/path to the exit should be majorly shortened, as that will reek havic on any pump.
I keep telling my kids that houses need maintenance, especially the plumbing and drains. You have to be proactive. Thank you for the excellent content, I first started watching to listen to your accent (born/bred Worcester but in Canada last 20yrs).
@@PSB-900 I have a 35 year old 3-D Maglite that I put in an LED upgrade about 7 years ago, still working great. Much brighter and a lot better battery life.
Main pump died and no one noticed. Eventually backup pump died or it rusted solid over time from never being activated. Always active - exercise standby pumps.
Great idea / work around, to drill that little hole in the Pipework to allow the Pump to have water on start up and into the future, clearly doing away with a possibility of Airlock and by so lack of PRIME...Great Upload...
My 2 pumps are on separate circuits, pits joined by connecting pipe, one slightly deeper. Heat tracing on exit pipe, inside a 4 inch corrugated line, 120 feet to ditch. After one failure a decade back, now has a Generac backup. Many neighbors have had floods. 🇨🇦
If the backup pump is submerged in water and never used, won't it sieze and probably fail before the primary? Should the backup be placed above the primary float to keep it out of the water?
Since they are both at different heights. My theory is the original deeper one had failed know one knew it and then the backup failed causing the flood. No one ever periodically checked on them to make sure they were working. What they should have had was a water powered backup. If they were on city water. This would never had happened. Steve great job
Gotta love sump pumps my parents basement would flood from time to time until we had a plumber replace tile out in the yard the knuckle head who installed the tile didn't lay down sand first and the tile cracked and wasn't working properly. I worked nights 12 hour shifts 5p.m. to 5a.m and had to help my dad pump all the water out of the basement got no sleep and had to work the next night it sucked. Thankfully my house is a 120 years old no sump pump needed and it never floods live on top of a hill so the water drains away from my house.
What a mess! With all that trash floating around, the pump can easily suck up a piece of plastic (or a mouse 😵) and jam the impeller. Happened to me with the tail end of a tie wrap. - Happy New Year everyone!
Reinstalling with a system prone to the same failures suggests the owners won't change their failed systems of testing these pumps (if there ever was one). Would have been a good time to fit a monitoring system/alarm, but the incandescent lamp in your torch says it all.
Likely had one one pump fail sometime ago and didnt know it...then the other one stopped working...flood. People dont test their sump pumps on a regular basis. This most likely wouldn't have happened. Two pumps dont go out at the exact same time unless hooked into the same electrical outlet and lost power for whatever reason.
Zoeller still makes a great pump,its too bad theor switches suck! We had so many switch failures,that we stopped using them! We literally had hundreds,of not thousands of them!
The green check valve in the pipework above holds a lot of water back, so it is a bit like a cap. Now, imagine the pump and short piece of pipe is like an upside down drinking glass in a kitchen sink, as you fill the sink with water the glass remains filled with air. In the pump's case, the pump impeller remains surrounded by air. When it switches on it just spins - it needs to be primed. Drilling a hole allows the rising water to push the air out and the water to enter the pump body, now the pump is primed.
A water alarm should have been installed. Should be put in so it goes off when the water is higher than the lower pump, but lower than the high pump. This would tell you the first one is failing and the backup is being used. Then you would fix the lower pump before the backup gives out.
Have had good luck with Little Giant brand sump pump... never failed, I change out with new one about every 7 years even if still working, then keep one as backup..... maybe I should put 2 in the hole like in this video
I once wired a house that had so much water in the ground I had to put 1 on both rear corners of the house and 1 in the same areas outside of the house. One was constantly running so much had to run direct to the storm drain ot the street
This does not look like a proper sump crock either. It looks like someone took a recycle bin box and threw it in there. A proper crock is about 3 feet deep and round. This is only about half that deep. It has a significant lip on it too which it should not have or it will not drain all the water from the floor.
Most likely the backup pump never worked because it sat under water for a long time and it seized up from rust. It’s important to exercise standby pumps from time to time to prevent this.
Where it's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew. Where the dangers are many and the pleasures are few. Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines. It's dark as a dungeon at the dentist's gold mine.
The switches on those Zoeller pumps SUCK! The pumps are great but the switches are unreliable and break often. I’ve got 3 Zoellers at work that are only a couple years old with bad switches. I bought 5 spare switches to fix them but I’d never put one in my basement because I don’t trust the cheap plastic switch inside the cover.
Here is the problem with 2 pumps one higher than the other one. Since the higher one doesn't run it will seize up. Then when the lower pump quits the upper pump that should take over cant because its sized. Seen this many many times. Also if it does take over you dont know that the higer pump is the only working pump. Then if that one did manage to take over it dies and you are flooded. The best thing is a dual pump set up with both pumps at the same level. They alternate every other cycle. If for example pump 2 does not run when it should and the water level rises your control will now command the other pump on so both should be energized. The system will then pump you down and alert you something isnt right. Then if they both fail you have a third level that triggers an alarm. The control is not hard to build yourself and is not all that expensive.
Sucks for the guy. We've got a guy (I met him once in his ice house-nice guy) on the lake, his ice house goes down through the ice, a bit further everyday (warm winter). sucks for him. Neighbor on road says it's 20 feet there. I thought more like 8'. Yeah right, Yeeha! I put in a Zoelher 1/3 hp septic tank pump in, via your videos.
I had 2 different Zoellers that the internal float switches went after about 10 years. Changed one switch out and on the other I just bypassed it and used an external float switch. Both motors still running after 18 years.
It's likely one of them failed long ago and no one bothered to check. Then, the other one failed with no backup. The backup failed likely due to lack of use, thus rusted in place.
Yes, I totally agree.
never ever put boxes or papers directly on the basement floor, even with a small amount of water they will wick it up and get ruined, use a pallet, 2x4s, even plastic containers, anything to keep it off the basement floor!
Garage floor too, found out the hard way with my paint cans
Found that out the hard way 5 springs ago. Found a pallet that was trimmed neat as you please so it only had two runners instead of 3 and tucked it in my shed under the bench for some boxes there.
Did you notice the empty shelves on the wall ?
This goes.for anywhere. I lost a bunch of stuff in my storage unit due to hurricane flooding, but sadly there was only an 6 inches of water in there. Some cinder blocks would have made the difference
I sadly have learned this lesson the hard way!
Nice to see some old fashioned plumbing. At work my 2 pumps are connected to a device timer type thing. Every 30 days it switches one pump to be main and other one back up. So in a years time they are somewhat used 50% each. Thanks Steven!
That sounds smart.
Don't forget to put in an alarm! It doesn't take much, just a 9v battery, buzzer, and two wires.
Does it rain equal amounts every month?
@@roseymalino9855 No that is where the "Somewhat" comes into play. One pump is not continuously carrying the load while other pump sits and does nothing all year.
As we say in the IT world, if you don't test your backups, you don't have backups.
This guy needs a high water alarm!
And a real sump pit tank, not a shallow make shift diy green tote. Basement will always be damp with water level just under the foor. Also the piping/path to the exit should be majorly shortened, as that will reek havic on any pump.
I think they are in the Spector alert advanced fire alarms.
I keep telling my kids that houses need maintenance, especially the plumbing and drains. You have to be proactive. Thank you for the excellent content, I first started watching to listen to your accent (born/bred Worcester but in Canada last 20yrs).
Look how much rain we had this year l live in CT they record over 64 inches last time was 1920s of rain we usually get 40 inches .
Super Steve to the rescue again!
The ridiculous run of piping to exit is what probably killed those pumps, that and the nasty make-shift shallow pit.
Time to change the batteries in that flashlight Steve.
Actually he needs an LED flashlight! I had an old Maglite with the standard filament bulb and it was lacking in lumens. I switched to LED.
@@PSB-900 I have a 35 year old 3-D Maglite that I put in an LED upgrade about 7 years ago, still working great. Much brighter and a lot better battery life.
Someone get Steve a decent flashlight. 😂
Main pump died and no one noticed. Eventually backup pump died or it rusted solid over time from never being activated. Always active - exercise standby pumps.
Good job Steve! Thanks for sharing all your videos. Best wishes for the new year! “2024” Martinsburg, WV 🇺🇸
Little giant makes pretty good stuff. I think you'll be happy with that pump
Good job Steve, Happy New Year's.
Same thing happened to my father in law basement, same exact set up. Both pumps failed.
Great idea / work around, to drill that little hole in the Pipework to allow the Pump to have water on start up and into the future, clearly doing away with a possibility of Airlock and by so lack of PRIME...Great Upload...
Steven, Happy New Year to you and Miss Molly 🎉
Thanks for all the Videos and Many More in the New Year 👍
Liked your video. Thanks very much. Happy New Year to you and Miss Molly.
Hey hey hey Steve. She's a Leaker 😊😊😊😊 Happy New year 🎊🎊🎊
Happy New Year Steven, give Molly some extra treats.
I think We had Little Giant pumps on Our Water Stove a long time ago. I think they are pretty good pumps.
they are very good pumps
We only had one sump pump in our basement when I was a kid. I guess that it’s a good idea to test both pumps at least once a year.
Its kind of odd that both pumps went at the same time! Or maybe one was out for a while?
Happy New Year Steve! i enjoy watching your work!
My 2 pumps are on separate circuits, pits joined by connecting pipe, one slightly deeper. Heat tracing on exit pipe, inside a 4 inch corrugated line, 120 feet to ditch. After one failure a decade back, now has a Generac backup. Many neighbors have had floods. 🇨🇦
Why the 3/16 hole ( air lock) in the impeller.? I am assuming
Yes. He said that.
If the backup pump is submerged in water and never used, won't it sieze and probably fail before the primary? Should the backup be placed above the primary float to keep it out of the water?
In theory, but the sump (bucket) is so shallow they both have to sit in the water.
Happy New Year Steve!
Happy New Year to you and Miss Molly, Steven! 🎉🇺🇲
Hi there What’s the reason for the weep hole ?
Hi steve, remember this location in one of your old videos, same thing happened in the past! Good job!
Happy new year
From my experience, typically what happens with these sump pumps is the switches fail.
That was going to be my exact comment. The Zoeller pumps are 10x better than the float switches.
Yes and the internal switches can be replaced. I have done it 3 times.
Since they are both at different heights. My theory is the original deeper one had failed know one knew it and then the backup failed causing the flood. No one ever periodically checked on them to make sure they were working. What they should have had was a water powered backup. If they were on city water. This would never had happened.
Steve great job
Gotta love sump pumps my parents basement would flood from time to time until we had a plumber replace tile out in the yard the knuckle head who installed the tile didn't lay down sand first and the tile cracked and wasn't working properly. I worked nights 12 hour shifts 5p.m. to 5a.m and had to help my dad pump all the water out of the basement got no sleep and had to work the next night it sucked. Thankfully my house is a 120 years old no sump pump needed and it never floods live on top of a hill so the water drains away from my house.
All it needs is a high level float alarm with a load buzzer or red light simple done it in UK. Amazing
How long did the zoeler pumps last?
Those little giant pumps aren't too bad.
I like the old style cast iron pedestal pumps that last a long time.
That old halogen flashlight aint gettin it done.
How the truck working it been 3months?
That's bad when you have 2 pumps, and they both fail. I thought I saw a fish swim buy down there. 😂 🐟 🐠 🎣
What a mess! With all that trash floating around, the pump can easily suck up a piece of plastic (or a mouse 😵) and jam the impeller. Happened to me with the tail end of a tie wrap. - Happy New Year everyone!
keep pumping baby
Reinstalling with a system prone to the same failures suggests the owners won't change their failed systems of testing these pumps (if there ever was one). Would have been a good time to fit a monitoring system/alarm, but the incandescent lamp in your torch says it all.
What’s the reason for drilling the downward facing hole ?
To prevent airlock when you put the pump in the hole. He actually says that.
Likely had one one pump fail sometime ago and didnt know it...then the other one stopped working...flood. People dont test their sump pumps on a regular basis. This most likely wouldn't have happened. Two pumps dont go out at the exact same time unless hooked into the same electrical outlet and lost power for whatever reason.
Hey Steve and Miss Molly! Workin’ again ya’ll. 👍👍
Zoeller still makes a great pump,its too bad theor switches suck! We had so many switch failures,that we stopped using them! We literally had hundreds,of not thousands of them!
why do you make a small hole on the side? What does it use for ？
The green check valve in the pipework above holds a lot of water back, so it is a bit like a cap.
Now, imagine the pump and short piece of pipe is like an upside down drinking glass in a kitchen sink, as you fill the sink with water the glass remains filled with air. In the pump's case, the pump impeller remains surrounded by air. When it switches on it just spins - it needs to be primed.
Drilling a hole allows the rising water to push the air out and the water to enter the pump body, now the pump is primed.
Thank you for the detailed explanation, John.@@JohnWatkinsUK
Hey Steeve question Zoller or Liberty pump. Both of my Zoller's failed switch problem. What's your recommendations
Lloyd Bridges in "Sea Hunt". !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Steve Go Time
Nice recycling bin for the sump basin 😂 can’t make this shit up!
A water alarm should have been installed. Should be put in so it goes off when the water is higher than the lower pump, but lower than the high pump. This would tell you the first one is failing and the backup is being used. Then you would fix the lower pump before the backup gives out.
Have had good luck with Little Giant brand sump pump... never failed, I change out with new one about every 7 years even if still working, then keep one as backup..... maybe I should put 2 in the hole like in this video
The joint is a dental surgery, heard a normal. domestic air compressor running, autclace and sterisation gear down there and patients records....
You wanna hear the worst thing in a dentist office to service? The Ramvac evacuation/suction pumps. 🤮
This setup needs a four float panel that will phone home and run a check on the loads when necessary.
Not everyone is a weird fire alarm kid
We got some rain that monday holy shit boys
Hello Steve!
Talking about dental cavities. There is a cavity somewhere in the sub pump.
I once wired a house that had so much water in the ground I had to put 1 on both rear corners of the house and 1 in the same areas outside of the house. One was constantly running so much had to run direct to the storm drain ot the street
Steve should have brought his fishing rod along. Who knows what he could catch down there.
Hopefully, no brown trout!
I remember a video of that place when there was nuts in the pipe
Just wondering if you ever use a PVC union on sump pump installs? Happy New Year Steve! 🥳
This is the reason why. Easy to swap out a pump if one quits. The check valve is the union in this case.
@@Nighthawke70 I get that, but for me, it seems faster using a union. I have one on mine for quick swap outs 🤷♂️
@@chuckq54 And code requirement. Some cities require check valves as part of their sump drain systems. And it makes sense as well.
Hope you got a new flashlight for Christmas! Greta video Steve as always Happy New Year!
Steve needs a nice bright LED flshlight!
Is the pump junk or the switch
Howdy Steve and Molly
Mybe the pit needs to be deeper to lower the water table under the floor. 🤔
Let's get a real flash light!
Sup Steve 🎉
Looks like both are connected to the same pipe .
How do two pumps fail?
You need a head lamp Steve, it think it would be helpful in these situations.Yee HA!
I bought one of those headlamps. It’s great for dark attics and basements.
I have one of those thin led wrap around head band lamps, with the wide angle light. There is light everywhere, even in my peripheral vision field.
This does not look like a proper sump crock either. It looks like someone took a recycle bin box and threw it in there. A proper crock is about 3 feet deep and round. This is only about half that deep. It has a significant lip on it too which it should not have or it will not drain all the water from the floor.
It’s crazy that both pumps failed! They must get a lot of water there and wore them out’
Most likely the backup pump never worked because it sat under water for a long time and it seized up from rust. It’s important to exercise standby pumps from time to time to prevent this.
Why did you drill a hole in the PVC pipe?
RAIP - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Pumps
RAIP 0 if it's rising fast... RAIP 1 if you have time and want a bit of redundancy. :-)
I always have another backup pump with the pipe already on it, just in case our main pump dies
Where in the Hell You get that flashlight at? Thats back in the 80's.
That was Double Trouble.
I surprised you lifted the pump out of the box by the wire, and not the handle.
The concept of a backup pump doesn't really work if you don't know the original pump died. You're stuck with two dead pumps and a flood of basement.
How can both die at the same time?
One was probably dead for years then the other followed suit. Preventative maintenance
Maybe main died first, no one noticed, then eventually back up died.
Those Zoeller pumps are known for bad switches, the pumps work fine.
为什么你要在旁边钻洞？起什么作用
How highs the water momma
The first hint that a house may have a water problem--2 sump pumps in the basement!
Where it's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew. Where the dangers are many and the pleasures are few. Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines. It's dark as a dungeon at the dentist's gold mine.
You are a poet and don't even know it!
that was next level LOL
The switches on those Zoeller pumps SUCK! The pumps are great but the switches are unreliable and break often. I’ve got 3 Zoellers at work that are only a couple years old with bad switches. I bought 5 spare switches to fix them but I’d never put one in my basement because I don’t trust the cheap plastic switch inside the cover.
The plastic container looks too shallow it should be deeper
Happy new year everyone.
Is this the place that had all the nuts in the pipes a while back?
Steve get a new flashlight.
There is probably a video of Steve putting in those Zoellers, before he switched to Liberty.
I think I remember a video in the past of him putting these in. If I remember correctly, one of the discharge pipes was clogged with acorns.
Here is the problem with 2 pumps one higher than the other one. Since the higher one doesn't run it will seize up. Then when the lower pump quits the upper pump that should take over cant because its sized. Seen this many many times. Also if it does take over you dont know that the higer pump is the only working pump. Then if that one did manage to take over it dies and you are flooded.
The best thing is a dual pump set up with both pumps at the same level. They alternate every other cycle. If for example pump 2 does not run when it should and the water level rises your control will now command the other pump on so both should be energized. The system will then pump you down and alert you something isnt right. Then if they both fail you have a third level that triggers an alarm. The control is not hard to build yourself and is not all that expensive.
Can we get a workn mans cooking video for the new year? 😊
Sucks for the guy. We've got a guy (I met him once in his ice house-nice guy) on the lake, his ice house goes down through the ice, a bit further everyday (warm winter). sucks for him. Neighbor on road says it's 20 feet there. I thought more like 8'. Yeah right, Yeeha!
I put in a Zoelher 1/3 hp septic tank pump in, via your videos.
It's time to upgrade your flashlight. Those old mag lights are useless.
Most likely the float switches went bad . I doubt both pump motors burnt up
I had 2 different Zoellers that the internal float switches went after about 10 years. Changed one switch out and on the other I just bypassed it and used an external float switch. Both motors still running after 18 years.
@@TheOtherBill That’s usually the case . The switch goes before the motor
The new cheap switches on the Zoellers only last a couple of years. The pumps are great but the new cheap switches they started using are JUNK!
@@mjg263Had microswitches go and the old switches made in USA were great, Chinese ones not so great.
Someone send Steve a Milwaukee flashlight 😂