If you’re house has a basement there is a good chance you have a sump pump. Older homes or homes built on water front property may not have a sump pump.
When you build a basement below grade you should have sub surface drainage pipes call footer drains. These pipes carry accumulating ground water from beneath your basement floor away from the home. In order for the footer drains to carry the water away they will either empty into a sump pit.(newer homes) or they will flow by gravity to a storm drain or a sanitary drain on the property.(older homes) These gravity systems most likely will not have a sump pit.
With a sump pit system a pump at the bottom of the pit will remove the footer water when the pit reaches a certain level and should send it to a outside storm pipe at a much higher level then the city storm main. This arrangement if installed properly will prevent water from flowing back into your house(also known as surcharge) during heavy rain fall.
Gravity flow systems on the other hand are not that high above city mains and will allow water to freely overwhelm your basement if the mains become surcharged. Some municipalities are requiring homes with gravity footer drains to upgraded to a sump pump system if they experienced flooding due to surcharge.
If you have a sump pump system it is important to make sure you have a properly sized primary and backup pump. Piping of the discharge from these pumps is also important. Once you have the right system in place don’t forget to maintain it annually . Proper pumps and piping is a topic in it self and will be discussed at a later date.
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