battery operated sump

[mainstation]

I apologize if this is in the wrong place.


Ok, Is it possible to have your sump pump hooked up to a battery back up. I have heard that tractor/marine batteries are favourable. I have a 1/3 hp column pump that clicks on about 10 times a day. I am going to purchase a honda generator soon, but for now I was just wondering can I keep a couple of batteries charged, on standby, that could be easily hooked up in case of power outages.
any links would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[wingsfan]

You can do it. My father-in-law had one for a while. I am not sure how he did it. He now has it hook up so if power goes out his water supply , will work the sump pump.

 

[Ugly]

some of the best batteries (for the money) are the deep cycle 6v golf cart batteries sold at Wal Mart. They take a lot of cycling (charge, dishcharge). Marine batteries are actually hybrid, meant for starting the marine engine with a hi draw but can be discharged and bounce back fairly well. Not optimal if they are just for a storage/backup situation. Anyhow, the sump on our commercial buildings electrical room is hooked up to 8 of those golf cart batteries (four sets of two wired in series to get 12v, then in parallel to supply from all four sets of two)

If you search ebay for a modified sine wave inverter with built in charger in the 1400W or greater range , that will supply to most pumps with no problem unless you have a monster pump of some type. As per usual, better units with better power handling capabilities are worth more. Sump pump motors however aren't super finiscky imo...

Or you can just buy a battery backup unit meant for sump pumps at most places that supply plumbing. The downside of the boxed solutions is that they tend to have pretty low storage capacity via small AGM (sealed gel acid type) batteries.... the batteries often cost more than buying a new unit. Performance varies, cut any claims for run time in half is a good rule of thumb.

 

[vgrund]

I have a Model 510 backup system from Zoeller.

(broken link removed to http://www.zoeller.com/zcopump/Products/backupsystems/bsmtsentry.htm)

It seems fine. The prior owners installed it in my house. I tested it but I've never had a need for it to run as a backup. They work for hours and maybe a few days, it depends on the battery state and how hard the pump is working. I would have been screwed during our last 8-day ice storm induced power outage.

I installed an automatic standby generator, so the only failure that would demand the backup is some kind of main pump failure. The other thing I did was replace the el cheapo builder grade main sump with a top of the line cast iron model (another Zoeller 1/3 HP). It is much quieter and I worry less about it.

Victor

 

[dougstove]

Older thread but I have the same question.

Has anyone used one of these?
(broken link removed to http://www.backup-power.ca/sumppumpbackuppower.html)

 

[Fi-Q]

I don't have / need a sump pump but they'Re selling this one a CT, something similar is probablly available in the US
(broken link removed to http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/8/KitchenBath/Plumbing/WaterPumps/PRD~0623549P/Mastercraft%2BSump%2BPump%2BBattery%2BBackup.jsp?locale=en)