I have lived in my house for over 6 years and never had water in the basement until this past December. The storm sewer grate two houses above me was plugged and water formed a small lake in the street up there. The day the city unplugged the drain up there I got water in my basement. Just a little, so I chalked it up to some mystery with unplugging the clog.

Since that time we have had a few rains and a large snowfall melt and never had water. Until this past weekend. WE had a gully washer and later that day I had two inches of water in the basement. I had not heard the sump pump turn on that day until I was working in the basement to get rid of the water. The sump seems to be working fine.

Any thoughts?
Theoda

Hey Theoda,

I'm not quite certain what your question is about. Are you asking why the sump pump didn't pump out the 2 inches of water that you had in your basement? But it seems to be "working fine". The reason you had back up in your basement is that the liquid level in the sewer main was above the elevation of your basement floor. I would consider installing a sewerage back-flow preventer in my sewer line so this doesn't happen again. Regards, Tom

You need to identify whether the water is backing up out of a drain or coming up into the sump. If it is coming out of a drain, the sump pump can't help until it runs across the floor and into the sump.

Either way, the city may need to work on their drain some more.

Added

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