We just bought a 10 year old home before this winter. It has a drywall finished basement with a sealed sump pump. As the snow is melting, I can hear the sump pump working. There is no visible evidence (or suspicion) of flooding/leaking. My question is: How often should this pump be going on? I guess my concern is that I hear our pump go on probably once every hour or so - and does that mean there is poor drainage of water around the property and that the water is heading toward the house rather than away? Shouldn't the pump only go on if there is a "critical" amout of water? I am just concerned that our house/basement requires the pump to go on so frequently that we might be at high risk for future basement problems. Perhaps I just have new homeowner anxiety. Thank you.

Because we have a low basement ceiling, we opted to paint our air/heating ducts along with our entire basement ceiling instead of finishing the ceiling. We used rust-o-leum as instructed by a local contractor, but now our entire house smells noxious. Will the smell dissipate, or was painting the ducts a bad idea? Thanks for any help in advance-- Betsy