Sump pump drainage systems are relatively common pieces of technology. They’re (usually small) motors that pump water out of a sump basin in a basement out of and away from the building to a location where it can’t do any damage. These systems are particularly critical in homes and buildings with basements that are below the water-table line as they are more susceptible to flooding and moisture problems.
Residential sump pump drainage systems are usually small and wired into the home with battery back-ups. But their commercial counterparts are entirely different. Not only are they much larger than the residential versions, but they also have different motors and internal components. For exceptionally large-scale buildings there are sump pump systems that have dual pumps that are housed entirely separate from one another that vacuum the water and move it to the wet well.
These commercial sump pump drainage systems come in two main categories: the Floor Mounted, Self Priming versions, and the Guide Rail Accessible Submersible Pumps.
Floor-Mounted Self-Priming Sump Pump Drainage Systems
A floor mounted kind of sump pump is the option most commonly used in commercial buildings. They’re large, powerful, and easy to maintain. They’re installed in your building’s finished basement and sit above the well-lit and clean basement floor. While a floor-mounted unit takes up space in your basement, it also allows for easy to access in case of an emergency or maintenance. If that area needs to be utilized for other purposes, however, there is the other option.
Guide-Rail Accessible Submersible Pump
By “submersible” we do mean that they are underwater in the wet well. These are trickier and more expensive systems, but they are excellent space savers, which can be a prime concern even in large commercial buildings, as space may be at a premium.
The access to the sump pump drainage system is usually hidden in the floor, or in a wall/closet. Submersible pumps are installed and attached to a set of guide rails, so when maintenance is necessary, it doesn’t require someone to go into the potentially hazardous wet well. It’s simply hoisted and lowered by any number of mechanisms that make it just as easily accessed as the floor mounted version.
Water and flooding cause billions in damage to homes and commercial buildings every year. It’s essential to protect the basement and foundation of a building from water damage, and it’s also necessary to protect the people who work in the building from the health hazards caused from damp buildings.
With a good sump pump drainage system installed in a commercial building, these concerns can be all but nullified. Either of the drainage systems listed above is perfectly equipped to deal with any number of problems and prevent water from causing damage to a basement—whether it’s currently in use or not.
