Drowned water heater.

[Creighton]

Hi All,
Sorry this is off topic but always good advice here. Just found a foot of water in the basement (groundwater). I'm sure it has put the pilot light out on the water heater. Not about wade through lake Vendo and take a close look though.
Can these be dried out and relight or is it toast?
Off to the hardware store for a pump :-(
Thanks in advance!!
Creighton

[dr galaga]

That sucks.  We had a water problem a few years ago and we got this installed.
Good luck!

[bubba]

Wow Creighton.. that sucks.. Once you get the water out, you can relight the pilot as long as the gas valve doesn't get submerged.

Is this a typical problem out there, or is this a fluke? How about a sump pump?


That floor system... Is that like a floating basement? or a french drain? We have them out here, and they do clog going out of the basement. Also, they have been a good source for radon gas to pass into the house. They have taken to sealing up the trenchs now.

[dr galaga]

It is basically a trench they put in.  They jack-hammered out the floor along the wall, drilled holes in the bottom of the walls (so that the water that gets in the blocks goes in to the "trench") and  there is a small opening between the wall and the floor.  This is on three sides since we have a crawl space on one side, so it is almost like a floating floor I guess.  If any water goes down the wall (window?) it will run in to the trench.  The trench then goes in to a new sump pump.  They also expoxied the cracks in the floor.  The house was build around 1945 and we lived there for 3 years without any water problems (except one corner was always moist).  One March a few years ago it rained like a  '> for a few days with a foot of snow still on the ground.  Water was gushing up through the cracks in the floor and pushed out some mortar a few blocks up from the floor. After this, any little rain caused water in the basement.  We then got this system installed and it's been dry ever since. '>

[Creighton]

Thanks guys!!
The "basement" is what was the coal bin (old house). Only had an inch of water last year but it has rained nearly every day so far this year. Proud new owner of a sump pump. Waiting for the PVC cement to cure.
I figure there is 150 cubic feet of water down there. Wanna start a pool of how long it takes to pump out? Pump is rated 2160 gallons per hour at 10' discharge height. I had to reduce it to fit a garden hose so performance will suffer. My guess 5 hours :-)
Creighton

[firemun]

Quote

I had to reduce it to fit a garden hose so performance will suffer

To accurately perform this calculation, I need the diameter of the garden hose and the pressure.  '>  29.7 x diameter squared times the square root of the pressure will give you the flow. '>

150 cubic feet of water is only 1120 gallons...so unless you drastically cut down the flow...you shouldn't be there all night.
jeff

[Creighton]

Jeff,
Thought about a handycap for the pro's in these kind of matters :-)
1 1/2" ID reduced to 1/2" ID. 75' of hose run with 1 gallon in 20 seconds flow. Hope the neighbors didn't see me filling a gallon jug and staring at my watch :-)
Creighton

[dr galaga]

Quote (firemun @ April 05 2006,9:30)

To accurately perform this calculation, I need the diameter of the garden hose and the pressure.  '>  29.7 x diameter squared times the square root of the pressure will give you the flow. '> 150 cubic feet of water is only 1120 gallons...so unless you drastically cut down the flow...you shouldn't be there all night.

...and that's it for this week's math lesson for firefighters...tune in next week when Jeff looks at how much weight a rotten 20-year-old wood ladder will support!  

[Pat Pixley]

Creighton,
  Sorry to here about your troubles, I hope you don't have a finished basement . I've seen this happen to some of my insured when we had
 alot of rain and it's not pretty.  . Hope things get better.
  Pat

[Jim]

Creighton,

I hope everything works out ! ! !

[Creighton]

Update: Down 4" in 2.5 hours. Think it will take more than 5 hrs. No worries, nothing stored down there and could use a new water heater. Getting anything out of the 88 yr. old landlord is tricky though :-)
Thanks so much for all the kind words!!
Creighton

[Pat Pixley]

Creighton, So how is the basement doing today
 hope it is drying out .

  Pat

[Creighton]

Thanks for the concern Pat!!
Got it pumped and shopvac out to dry floor. It flowed another 2" of water in 2 hrs. but is staying steady at the 2" level. Got ahold of the landlady she is sending her carpenter $%#@! out to have a look see. Tried to light the water heater no joy. Thank god the office has a hot shower. Looking for new digs. Too old for this...
Creighton