As I stepped down from the stairs and onto the floor, I discoverd about 1.5" worth of water over the entire cellar floor.
Needless to say, it appears the drain line to the sump pump apparently isn't burried deep enough in the ground out in the back yard and the outside temperatures being in the teens lately had finally frozen the sucker. Once the water built up on the floor, it tripped a breaker to the de-humidifier which was plugged into an extension cord lying on the cellar floor.
So I spent the next 3 hours by-passing the clogged drain pipe, cleaning out the sump pumps (a lot of iron build up) and pump out the water.
Once the water level was down, I had to pick up everything (luckily no airplane parts got wet), dry it off, and vacumn dry the rest of the floor.
So, needless to say, I did get to spend a few hours in the shop, but it wasn't quite the way I had planned. This summer I guess I should dig up the old drain pipe and bury it deeper than what the original owner did.
For now, it's too damn cold to worry about it and I dont' really care that I'm pumping the water out on top of the lawn in back yard.. Heck, maybe I'll have enough ice for a skating rink back there now.
