Sump pump Power Inverter system

[motoretro]

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[Kaizen]

do you go without power for days at a time? are you on city water?

 

[rlitman]

Why not get yourself a 12V DC pump (basically a bilge pump), and run it directly off the battery?
You'll pump 10x as much water off the same size battery, and then you'll have an actual backup pump too (in case your primary pump fails, and not just the power).

On city water, you can get a type of pump that uses water pressure to run, which requires no electricity at all (just runs your water bill up). That's another option as a backup.

 

[Crazy68Dart]

Why not get yourself a 12V DC pump (basically a bilge pump), and run it directly off the battery?
You'll pump 10x as much water off the same size battery, and then you'll have an actual backup pump too (in case your primary pump fails, and not just the power).

On city water, you can get a type of pump that uses water pressure to run, which requires no electricity at all (just runs your water bill up). That's another option as a backup.

Exactly. You really need to get pump redundancy, not just power redundancy. I researched this heavily. I am on city water too, but ended up going with the attached. If you use a water/vacuum style, there is a 2:1 (at least) ratio on water used versus water pumped. There are many factors to consider, rise, incoming pressure, incoming volume, etc.

The setup I installed, I like it because the secondary pump is not submersed all the time, there is a foot valve in the sump on the suction side. It self primes when the primary pump runs. I have had two of these installed (in different crocks) going on 4 years now. Peace of mind is nice. Not the cheapest setup, but it works. Powered with a AGM battery.

 

[Crazy68Dart]

Good info here, is the green item by battery box your B/U pump and runs off 12V?
Motoretro

Yes, correct. It is a small 12v motor/pump.

 

[kd3pc]

crazy dart has solved the problem as efficiently and inexpensively as likely possible.

 

[Crazy68Dart]

crazy dart has solved the problem as efficiently and inexpensively as likely possible.

While I really appreciate this reply, it is probably debatable... lol.

There are kits out there that are less expensive, Basement Watchdog, etc. but I didn't like the submersed pump and at the time could not find any long term reviews.

The water pressure pump... they are a little cheaper, but you need to figure in plumbing, etc. expenses.

I bought a pretty good AGM deep cycle battery, with the goal that it is going to last a while.

You can also do something with a power source backup and a single pump, but you lose your redundancy. What I really wanted to accomplish was redundancy, and reliability (long term).

I test the backup pumps every few months, and always before we leave for any extended period of time. Also, I get water in the crocks only after long/days of rain and/or melt off. We are in a lower area of our development, but the house was not built on a spring so they are not filling constantly. You would be surprised the people I've talked to about this that their pumps run all the time rain or shine.

 

[Crazy68Dart]

Yeah, your situation is a quite different than mine. I do have two crocks, the same size as pictured. That was not clear above but I did mention "two systems". I share the battery between the two. I was going to install a second battery in parallel for more capacity, but after running the calculations on fill, time to empty, and power use versus battery capacity I decided one battery was enough.

I didn't build my house, so not sure why they went with two smaller instead of one larger. The other crock has interior and exterior footer drains. Either way, the situation is the same across both crocks, they only fill if/when excessive water.