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Backup sump pump


Stickjiggler

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Never saw a water driven pump. The ones I use and know if are the battery backup kind. They are sold at all if the big box stores and are around $300 I believe. They run off of an automotive type battery that has a trickle charger attached to it to maintain the charge. You have as much backup power as your battery has capacity and then that pump is dead as well so it's a short term solution.having a generator is very helpful as part of the backup plan.

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Looked them up.

 

Personally they seem underpowered but it will depend on how much water you need to remove when you finally need that pump. The water powered pumps performance is based on water pressure. If you have 60+ psi then you can get 500-900 gpm and it looks like you will use 1 gallon of tap water for every 2 you pump out of the pit. For comparison I generally use 3/4 horse pumps at a minimum for the pumps which gives you something north of 3000 gph.

 

I'm not real sure if code and insurance even allow them so check first. If you have a small house and if the sump doesn't get used much it might be an option.

Edited by PurpleFloyd
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I have a water jet pump and I have only needed to rely on it once when the power went out briefly. As floyd said it uses water to move water but it has its limitations. If you need it when the power goes out during a significant rain event its just going to make things worse.

 

I have a 1/2hp pump in my sump basin with a float on it. The waterjet also has a float on it set just higher than the main pumps float. in the event that the  1/2hp main pump burns out etc the water would raise high enough to hit the waterjet float and turn it on.

 

the battery back ups work great also but you need to maintain the batteries to make sure they are good to go when you need them and they are fully charged.

 

pros and cons to each but if possible I would opt to install both if you can.

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What are my choices?   I have a pump, well actually two pits with two pumps, one on each end of basement.

 

Probably half horse pumps?   I don't recall what they are.  

 

So if I get one of those battery back up things, ideally I would want it to protect against both pump failure and power outage.  I figure power outage is maybe 12 to 24 hours except for some real disaster here in Rochester.   Pump failure could be days if I am out of town.   But if the battery charger can keep up with the average draw, it would be ok.   Pumping head is about 5 feet if that matters.  

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I was just getting some info on this unit: http://www.zoellerpumps.com/en-ap/product/63-basement-sentry#features

 

Quote

Battery Life:

The estimated life of a fully charged (175 minute reserve capacity) battery when the pump is operating continuously is approximately 7-1/2 hours. Example: the pump's capacity at 10' (3 m) head is 900 GPH (3,407 LPH). Most backup systems require intermittent pump operation. The system will provide protection for extended periods of time dependent upon stop-start requirements.

 

I am sure you could hook up multiple batteries as well

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3 hours ago, delcecchi said:

What are my choices?   I have a pump, well actually two pits with two pumps, one on each end of basement.

 

Probably half horse pumps?   I don't recall what they are.  

 

So if I get one of those battery back up things, ideally I would want it to protect against both pump failure and power outage.  I figure power outage is maybe 12 to 24 hours except for some real disaster here in Rochester.   Pump failure could be days if I am out of town.   But if the battery charger can keep up with the average draw, it would be ok.   Pumping head is about 5 feet if that matters.  

My personal opinion on the backup pumps is that they are a stop gap to buy you enough time to minimize the amount of water that backs up during a torrential storm while you get your primary pumps on a generator. 

 

Obviously the biggest factor is to figure out how much water can enter the drainage system during the heaviest downpours and that can help you decide what gpm you need to stay ahead of the water. If you get a bigger backup pump then you will burn through a battery faster. 

 

If you don't get a lot of water in the system ever and if the sump pump only runs periodically during even heavy rains and wet weather then you can get more run time from a smaller system. 

 

There really isn't a way to say exactly what you need to be 100%safe unless you know exactly what flows you have.

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OK, to go back to original question, how much current do the 12 volt pumps used in those sort of systems use?   I can go look up the information and figure it out, but I hoped someone here already knew the answer.  

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3 hours ago, delcecchi said:

OK, to go back to original question, how much current do the 12 volt pumps used in those sort of systems use?   I can go look up the information and figure it out, but I hoped someone here already knew the answer.  

Back to the original reply- which one and which size?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Basement-Watchdog-Emergency-Battery-Backup-Sump-Pump-System-BWE/100055241

 

Amperage (amps)

6.5

 

Or, if you want to be serious then install a few of these bad boys. I call it the Mother Of All Backups or MOAB for short.

 

https://www.sumppumpsdirect.com/SUMPRO-SUMPROGOLD-Sump-Pump/p2565.html

 

Edited by PurpleFloyd
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Watch your City Ordinances.  Some city's require a back-flow preventor, and it can be VERY expensive.

I have both the battery backup, and the water driven sump pumps in my pit--all at different elevations, and feel very confident.

When the water comes up, and the power goes out, the battery backup starts working.  After that the water driven sump pump will kick in.  The water driven pump will keep pumping until the power is restored and the main pump returns everything to normal.

There is always water pressure in a power outage (from the tower).  Cities keep the tower full for fire protection

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You might be able to figure things out this week.  How big is your sump basket?  Is the  pump kicking in now?  Sit there for 15 minutes and count the number of times it cycles.  That should give you a decent idea on how much water is coming in.  Then figure out about how high the water has to go before it flows by gravity.  The spec for the pump will say something like that it can pump 2,000 gph at 10 feet of lift.  (the gph drops dramatically the higher it has to pump the water).  The answer to your specifics will give you an idea of how big of a pump you need.  If you match the size of the pump as close as possible to the amount of water your will face you can maximize the amount of time the battery backup will last.

 

Faced with this problem I took a standard boat sump pump and modified it so I could hook up a garden hose.  The I took an old shop extension cord and wired the pump so I could hook it up to a car in the garage.  So just prior to having Noah float by I could hook things up in the garage and be good to go for as long as I had gas in the car to pump up the battery.   Now that I am adult I bought a generator and wired the house to take care of things.

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If you have a sump that constantly cycles I'd go with a setup like Awarrior.   I'd also have 2 deep cycle batteries to lessen the chance of needing the water driven pump.  Because of the frequency of startups I can see the pump failing as well.  That would probably have me changing out the pump as routine maintenance.   

 

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