Basement flooded w/ all the rain!!

YmeBP

YmeBP

Member
Dec 3, 2006
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Southern New Jersey
www.skyersfamily.com
BUT my trains are safe :). I have to get a new sump pump .. it quit and shorted out tripped the efi outlet thank god 2 week wait for a new sump no hardware store in 20 miles has one :) .. but .. my trains are all safe!!!! yay!!:cry:

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I don't like to see that sort of thing happen to anyone. Sorry. Maybe an alarm on the new sump pump would help with the next "big one". Of course it would need an independent electrical source. Glad to see that the trains escaped unharmed.
 
Basements are great until the rains start.
When I was a kid, we lived in one house where the basement could double as the community swimming pool at least twice a year.

That being said, I'm glad your trains are safe. :)
Sucks about the pump though. :(
 
Glad to see you made it OK...I remember years ago, when TS Agnes did her thing thru Baltimore County back in '72, a modeler related how his basement completely flooded to within inches of the first floor. Thinking it was lost forever, when the waters started subsiding, he was stunned to find that his layout had floated around the whole time, ultimately losing only one trolley to the flood. The soggy wiring dried out and fired up as though nothing had happened. Pretty cool I thought as I was having problems with an interesting fungus growing on all my wood structures on my basement pike around the same time.
 
Brings up a quesiton of the "right" amount of humidity. I've got a slight budget from the wife now to get a new pump and i want to get a dehumidifier too what would be suggested as the right amount of moisture in the air?

Oh an i've downloaded instructions on how to build a moisture alarm. I'm going to wire it to a light and a small chirping buzzer in my bedroom. Seems my wife was absolutely clueless about the whole thing ;). 4" of water in about 3 to 4 hours, took about 45minutes to pump it out.

I'm pleased and blessed though, it could have been much much worse, the pump was shorted and if we didn't have a gfi on the circuit and my wife or one of my kids (hell me :) heheh) had gone down there we would have been instantly electricuted, the powerstrip that runs my kid's 4x8 was completely submerged.

I have a box of steel, brass and power lock track that got really wet, i have to dry out a reciever and a couple speakers. One of my computers was literally floating around and i have to dry out another computer. All my cardboard that was stored down there are all mush. All in all not so bad.

Any suggestions on an anti-mold spray that is safe for kids?

shaygetz said:
Glad to see you made it OK...I remember years ago, when TS Agnes did her thing thru Baltimore County back in '72, a modeler related how his basement completely flooded to within inches of the first floor. Thinking it was lost forever, when the waters started subsiding, he was stunned to find that his layout had floated around the whole time, ultimately losing only one trolley to the flood. The soggy wiring dried out and fired up as though nothing had happened. Pretty cool I thought as I was having problems with an interesting fungus growing on all my wood structures on my basement pike around the same time.
Click to expand...
 
Ohhhhhh nooooooooooo - Please please please do not under any circumstance plug a sump pump or refrigerator or freezer on a GFI outlet or a circuit protected with a GFI breaker... The whole idea of the sump pump is to remove water... if the GFI senses an imbalance to ground with water, it will shut off - not removing the water from the basement... i know a fear of electric shock you say? The sump pump should be UL listed and double insulated, it is meant to be under / in water... If your Electric service panel goes under water, then the game is over , all bets are off....
Good luck and hopefully your basement dries up...
 
hooknlad said:
Ohhhhhh nooooooooooo - Please please please do not under any circumstance plug a sump pump or refrigerator or freezer on a GFI outlet or a circuit protected with a GFI breaker... The whole idea of the sump pump is to remove water... if the GFI senses an imbalance to ground with water, it will shut off - not removing the water from the basement... i know a fear of electric shock you say? The sump pump should be UL listed and double insulated, it is meant to be under / in water... If your Electric service panel goes under water, then the game is over , all bets are off....
Good luck and hopefully your basement dries up...
Click to expand...

the circuit was gfi protected, it wasn't the sump that tripped it, the sump died out and shorted ;0, it was the 4" of water that 3 power strips were submerged in that tripped the gfi =).
 
While each homeowner’s policy is different this may be a back up of water or sewage claim. If this is the case then in may in fact be covered under your policy. As long as the water didn’t pour through the wall, door or a window due to surface runoff it may be covered.

In any case it doesn’t cost anything to file a claim to find out if it is covered. Of course you would have to have the back up of water or sewage included with your policy and the water would have had to come up through a drain or a similar event.

[FONT=&quot]Good Luck[/FONT]
 
Coulda bean wurst!

Sorry to hear of your woes.

I can't help but remember the firetrucks nextdoor at my dad's house pumping out the guy's basement- 8' deep worth- never waterproofed. It's funny seeing things like computer mouses and underwear with tangles of who-knows-what swirlin' in the muck flaoting atop a brown pool of...

Then he went to build, of all things, an in-ground pool out back. This is on a property with a small wooded hill- you know, where the dear and rabbits run- in a new development. They carved a nice swath outta the hill to make the TIKI lounge area (I'm sure). Bulldozers and bucket loaders commenced a bashing the earth and after a week came up with bedrock. No pool. One heck of a rock fence.

The fire guys pumped it for free as an excersize- don't try it today- the bill will be in the mail. The bill for the excavation of the pool that was in the basement, not in the backyard and is actually a shallow rock wall- $5200.00 (American, tu sabe?).

Oh man.

Mark
 
Yme: there should be a table somewhere on humidity (get it from the dealer that sells dehumidifiers or humidifiers) but our dehumidifier didn't have markings on the dial. I turn it until it comes on, then a bit more. After 10/20 minutes I check the coils to make sure they're not freezing up. Our last one had a filter over the back; the previous one didn't and you should see what cat fur turns into when it's been soaked for a long time.
The desired humidity varies with outside temperature.
 
Sorry to hear about your basement flooding.:curse:
We had that happen when the float switch on the sump pump failed. Fortunately, we found out quickly so there was only about 1/4 inch of water on the floor. The carpet slowed the spread down and I got the pump working. Afterward, when I got the part, I learned quickly how to replace a float switch.:)

We had just moved into the house and a lot of stuff was in boxes and totes. The boxes were up on racks that were set up in the basement and the totes were on the floor. Except for the carpet, nothing was lost. <whew!>
 
I can relate to your experience. It was rain back in 2005 that flooded my basement after I had begun to build my layout that kind of "drowned" my enthusiasm. We had water in the dry wall, carpeting, some stored clothing and books. etc. The carpet is gone now as well as the plywood overlay on the floor. I put in a new door to seal against the rain and it seems to have held well in this last storm.

Don't get down like I did and just drop the whole project. That was the biggest mistake that I made. It has taken forever to get back into the mood to start building again. I am now running trains and trying to clean the trackwork.
 
:cry: the gfi probably triped from the moter load on the pump and not a short. if you remove the gfi and put in a single recptical with an in use cover in it's place it should not trip and will still meet code.:thumb:
 
sorry to see...

Hey there,
Darn it anyhow huh? I hate when the water from the sky finds its way inside my house. Glad to see that the layout escaped the damage. Hopefully your insurance Co. will take good care of you. Good Luck with your recovery.
NCMRailraod:thumb:
 
e-paw said:
:cry: the gfi probably triped from the moter load on the pump and not a short. if you remove the gfi and put in a single recptical with an in use cover in it's place it should not trip and will still meet code.:thumb:
Click to expand...

What is an "in use cover"? The sump won't power on anymore heheh no matter what outlet i plug it into look slike it's been there a while it's semi corroed/rusted on teh bottom and the top part separates from the impeller easily, i guess those sorts of things aren't apparent when you look at it from the top down.
 
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