It’s Sump Pump Season – That time of year when the snow is melting and crawl spaces and basements can flood. Because we have a lot of snow melt in a short amount of time, many homes in Steamboat experience flooding which can be devastating.

Luckily, you can avoid this awful and costly situation with 2 simple devices: 1. A sump pump   2. Water powered back-up pump.

1. A sump pump

A sump pump removes water from a crawl space or basement and can be purchased at most home improvement stores starting at $145.

Fortunately, a sump pump requires little maintenance, until it stops working. And if a sump pump fails to operate when needed, flooding ensues.

There are 2 ways for a sump pump to stop working:

• Sump pump breaks ( which they do )

• The power goes out ( which it does )

Many thanks to Charles Buell, a real estate inspector for providing a lot of this information.

2. Water powered back-up pump

The back-up system is water-supply driven.  A secondary pump is powered by the house water supply.  While this uses a bit of city water to drive the pump, it will keep your basement or crawl space from becoming a swimming pool.

The system just sits there doing nothing as long as the electric sump pump is functioning.  The float that activates the back-up system is set higher in the sump than the float for the primary sump pump.  Water reaching the higher float would be interpreted as failure of the primary pump by the back-up system.

The picture shows what the apparatus looks like.  One can see where the water supply goes through the back-flow prevention device and down to the back-up pump.  The back-flow device is required to prevent water in the sump from being sucked back into the house and/or city water supply under negative pressure.

You can expect to pay around $150.00 for the water powered sump pump, $100.00 for the back-flow valve, plus labor. But “priceless” for a piece of mind.

If you would like to learn more about Steamboat’s real estate market and the lifestyle that we enjoy here, please contact me or follow me on Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest and Twitter. I am passionate about this community and real estate, let me show you why.

Happy Spring,
Charlie