Why Sump Pump Maintenance in the Summer is Beneficial

If your home’s basement or crawlspace is equipped with a sump pump, don’t make the mistake of taking your protection against water infiltration for granted. Periodic sump pump maintenance is essential to benefit from the protection it gives you against:

• Water damage. A fully-functional pump can keep ahead of both slow water seepage and basement floods due to summer storms. If your basement is finished, this protection is crucial to prevent costly damage to your drywall, flooring and carpeting, and any items you have in the basement, like furniture, exercise equipment or electronics.
• Mold growth. With our humid weather, mold can quickly gain a foothold in a wet basement during the summer months, so a properly-functioning sump pump is a necessity to keep it in check.
• Electrical fires. Preventing a flood in your basement also safeguards against fires that can occur if your home’s electrical wiring or the wiring in any equipment located in the basement, like the water heater or furnace, gets saturated and short circuits.

How to Perform Sump Pump Maintenance

It’s vital that your sump pump staying running if a power outage occurs during a storm, so put it on a dedicated battery backup. To ensure that the pump is operational 24/7, you should also complete the following maintenance tasks a couple of time each year:

• Remove any accumulated debris from the sump pit so there’s no chance that it clogs the pump.
• Check that the power cord is in good shape and plugged into a ground fault circuit interruptor (GFCI) outlet.
• Fill the pit up with water and verify that the pump cycles on and empties the pit reasonably fast.
• Unplug the pump from the GFCI and repeat the above test to make sure it works as expected on battery power.
• While the pump is running, check that it stays upright and level and that the drain hose remains in place.
• If your pump quits working, have it inspected promptly by a licensed plumber.

Contact us today at Rinaldi’s Energy Solutions to learn more about the benefits of summer sump pump maintenance for your Orlando-area home.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Orlando, Florida and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

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