Brooks Plumbing Co. Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Plumbing Installation’

Plumbing Guide: Sump Pumps Provide Relief for Wet Basements

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

Many homes in the Lacey area require sump pumps to keep their basements dry. Sump pumps are placed in pits or “sumps” in the basement floor. When the basement floods, it starts at the lowest point, which is the sump. As the sump fills with water, the pump is automatically activated and begins to suck the water out of the sump and discharge it to a drain or a line leading away from the house before it can flood the basement.

 How Sump Pumps Work

The pump’s base has openings to allow water to flow into it. When water fills the sump it also fills the interior of the pump. When the water reaches a certain level it triggers a floating switch that activates an electric motor. The motor spins a metal shaft immersed in the water at the bottom of the pump. The shaft is attached to an impeller, which resembles a small, sideways water wheel.

As the impeller spins at high speed it whirls the water away from the center of the pump, forcing it into a discharge pipe that rises up out of the sump. The discharge pipe connects to a length of hose or pipe that empties the water into a sink or outside the foundation of the house. As the water is forced out of the pump it creates a vacuum that pulls more water into the pump and out of the sump. The impeller keeps spinning and pumping water into the collecting pipe until the water level inside the pump – and the sump – allows the float switch to drop low enough to shut the motor off.

 Types of Sump Pumps

There are pedestal sump pumps and submersible sump pumps. In pedestal pumps, the motor assembly is above the base of the pump and the impeller, and doesn’t contact the water. The activation switch for the motor is attached to a long shaft with the float on the other end that drops into the water. As the water rises, it pushes the shaft up and activates the switch. Submersible pumps are smaller units with the motor, activation switch, and impeller all on one level. The motor compartment is waterproof. Either style pump is usually connected to the house electric circuit. But some homeowners connect them to backup battery power supplies so the pump will work in the event of a severe storm and power outage.

 Which Lacey Homes Need Sump Pumps

Every homeowner in Lacey should understand the concept of the water table. Simply put, the water table is the permanently saturated layer of soil, sand, or rock below most of the surface of the Earth. In some places it’s hundreds of feet below the ground, but in most areas it’s much closer to the surface. In temperate or seasonal areas, the depth of the water table can rise and fall.

The foundations of homes in the Lacey area are built above the water table. But seasonal fluctuations and heavy precipitation can cause the water table to expand upwards. If a basement isn’t completely waterproof, and few basements are, the water will seep in. Land near rivers, streams, and wetlands tends to have a very high water table, so homes built in those areas are particularly susceptible to flooding.

Although most basements are not waterproof, they should be able to withstand an occasional increase in the saturation of the soil around and beneath the house. A permanently damp basement could indicate that the foundation is close enough to the water table to prevent the basement from ever completely drying out.

If you are interested in learning more about sump pumps, give Brooks Plumbing Co. a call!

Continue Reading

How to Install a Toilet

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

A toilet is a relatively basic piece of plumbing equipment, but that does not mean that installing it is easy. This is certainly a job that many people can do on their own, without the help of a Lacey plumber,  but you should be prepared to devoting the majority of your day to the project. While the installation itself is not terribly complicated, it is quite important that you get it right, so make sure you have all of the necessary materials, equipment and tools before you begin.

The first thing to remember is that you need to install your toilet in an appropriate place relative to the rest of your bathroom plumbing. Especially if you are installing your toilet along a branch drain, make sure that the sink, shower and any other plumbing fixtures are upstream of the spot where you will be installing the toilet.

You will also need to make sure that you install the toilet an appropriate distance from the wall. You need to be able to get around the toilet, and you also want to leave space so that work can be performed on the unit later. Putting your toilet too close to the wall can cause all kinds of complications in the way the unit functions and there is also a possibility of condensation build-up. For all of these reasons, it is important to make sure you are allowing an adequate amount of space on all sides.

The procedure you will have to follow when installing a toilet will be slightly different depending on whether you are installing it in a new spot or simply replacing an existing unit. When replacing an old toilet, you need to remove everything involved in the previous installation. That means taking the old bolts out of the floor and scraping away any residue to ensure that you have a clean and even surface to begin your installation on.

You should also make sure that you are aware of all applicable local codes before you begin your work. Even if you technically install your toilet correctly, you could run into trouble later on if your installation is not actually up to code. It is also important to remember to level all of your fixtures before you complete the installation process and to make sure you use a dielectric or brass fitting when attaching galvanized steel and copper to each other. And if you have any questions, talk to your Lacey plumber.

Continue Reading