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Well, two disasters. A bit long, but a bit of back story. In June '06 our basement flooded. So I jackhammered up the concrete drive that led down into the basement and put in the patio. There is an existing 20" square hole at the bottom that is the drain and drains to a drywell. At the time I built the patio I buried 1.25" black pipe and stubbed a threaded male fitting through the new patio wall. The idea was to hook up a pump when needed that could pump out through the new line. Well, that was never used, we never needed it.
I have two pumps, the big one that was supposed to connect to that line and a little one that pumps through a garden hose. After all the rain last November, the rain this month and the 6" of snow then rain all week I checked the hole earlier. It was getting full so hooked up the little pump. It didn't want to come on. So, off to Lowes to get the parts to hook up the big pump. I got back, went down the patio steps to check a fitting and stepped into 1" of water. I had visions of the basement flooding, so after much swearing I jury-rigged the big pump into the drain line. All the while I had visions of the 4 yr old line under the ground being plugged or something. Went back to hook it up and noted that the little pump was now running. Was about to step off the bottom step into the water again and realized that
a) the little pump had been running when I had just stepped into the water to check the fitting
b) the extension cord was lying in the water
That outlet is on a GFCI so in theory if there was a problem it would trip but I still got lucky. I also have 1" thick rubber soles on my boots, dunno if that helped.
The big pump is working fine. Even has a float switch so I can leave it plugged in overnight. Oh and the extension cord is now safe - raised up and under a bucket.
I have two pumps, the big one that was supposed to connect to that line and a little one that pumps through a garden hose. After all the rain last November, the rain this month and the 6" of snow then rain all week I checked the hole earlier. It was getting full so hooked up the little pump. It didn't want to come on. So, off to Lowes to get the parts to hook up the big pump. I got back, went down the patio steps to check a fitting and stepped into 1" of water. I had visions of the basement flooding, so after much swearing I jury-rigged the big pump into the drain line. All the while I had visions of the 4 yr old line under the ground being plugged or something. Went back to hook it up and noted that the little pump was now running. Was about to step off the bottom step into the water again and realized that
a) the little pump had been running when I had just stepped into the water to check the fitting
b) the extension cord was lying in the water
That outlet is on a GFCI so in theory if there was a problem it would trip but I still got lucky. I also have 1" thick rubber soles on my boots, dunno if that helped.
The big pump is working fine. Even has a float switch so I can leave it plugged in overnight. Oh and the extension cord is now safe - raised up and under a bucket.
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