Have you checked your sump pump lately? Local plumbers say now is the time
DENVER (KDVR) — With the heavy rain in Denver weather lately, you don’t want it to find its way into your home.
That’s why local plumbers say it’s that time of year to make sure your sump pumps are working properly.
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As spring weather arrives, so does the threat of flooded basements and crawl spaces.
Glenn Kassel, master plumber at Plumb Line Services, said a lot of people don’t check their sump pumps, and that can cause a lot of damage.
“You definitely want these to be working when they are needed,” Kassel said.
Kassel says now is the time to make sure your home is ready for the spring runoff and rains that are sure to come. He says it’s a good idea to check it a few times throughout the year too.
“If the pump is not used frequently it can get jammed up and get a bunch of stuff underneath, inside the impellers to where it just won’t pump any further,” said Kassel. “It’ll lock up on itself.”
He told FOX31 how to check them:
“What you could do is get a five-gallon bucket of water,” Kassel said. “You want the water to go into the pit enough to kick the float on. Once the water kind of kicks back and the float drops down, the pump will shut back off, but you want to make sure there is no debris down under where the impeller is.”
He recalls last season when he had to replace hundreds of sump pumps because an unusual amount of rainfall in the Denver metro area caught many homeowners unprepared. The overwhelming amount of water caused flooding.
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“May of 2023 we had torrential downpours for a long period of time at least three to four days to where basements were getting flooded, crawl spaces were getting flooded, it was just the systems were getting inundated,” said Kassel.
So to keep you from being caught off guard, Kassel offers this advice.
“It’s really good to get these things tested and checked well before that period comes in,” he said.
Kassel encourages homeowners to think about the consequences of not checking their sump pump because it could mean major and expensive problems.
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