Dear Diary
Well, the wet season is almost upon us!
This winter has been MUCH colder than years past, and sometime during the first really cold snap (back in November) temps dropped to -22f and one evening I heard a loud "crack" and the whole house shuttered. Shortly after that I noticed that our sump pump started cycling about every 15 minutes.
Checked the sump and I could see that water was "trickling" into the sump and I think that that loud crack was the ground freezing and causing our local underground (under our basement floor) spring to change it's course and lift high enough to encroach into our sump.
It was a bit unsettling to listen to our sump pump cycle all winter, even though the out side temps were often in the below zero range.
Well.. I woke up this morning with the thought "I hadn't heard the sump pump cycle lately" even though we have see our first few days of ABOVE FREEZING temps.
Went down into the basement and yup, the sump hole was over flowing.
Pulled out the old pump, it was a RIDGED Brand 3/4 hp SS. I think this pump lasted about 4 years of EXTREMELY HEAVY use.
I had a brand new spare WAYNE 1/2 hp SS. pump, and installed it. We're now "good to go"
HOWEVER, it's time for me to go out and buy a NEW pump to have on reserve/standby, and I need to over come my problem of "ANALYSIS PARALYSIS"
Around my location there aren't many selections of pump manufactures, and I wonder if there is/are anyone here that have a strong opinion on sump pumps.
Around here, it's WAYNE, RIDGED, FLOTEC and LITTLE GIANT. I've read a few things online and have seen ZOELLER mentioned as being a great pump (and manufactured in the USA) but I haven't located a local dealer.
OPINIONS ?