egclassic said:
woodgeek said:
futureboiler said:
... i havent looked to closely at the basement watchdog, but i did see they claim it will run for a really long time on battery, but i have my suspisions about what kind of gpm's it deals with. honestly, my inverter/battery is going to work just long enough, should i not be home if the power is out on any normal rain day, and just long enough for me to put plan B into play for episodes like this week.
At 10 Amps, a small 0.3 hp pump is gonna draw 1200 W, your 0.15 hp pump maybe 600 W. You have an inverter that can provide that on a decent duty cycle from your vehicle??
I guess I wanted an automatic backup, like either the watchdog or a honkin big UPS (I was looking at surplus 3000 VA sine-wave UPSes, about $500). They make automatic water-driven, float switched backups, but I don't have a piped water supply in my pit location.
The watchdog special is a bit bigger than the bottom of the line, nominally >1000 gph and 7.5 hr run time on battery. If I decide I want more capacity, I can add a second battery.
I am skeptical too, I will time the pump rate after I get it installed and report back.
I replace dozens of these every year. This is definitly one of those times where, "you get what you pay for". Seen many, many of these watchdog systems from home depot fail.
Zoeller is one of the best pumps on the market. The M-53 is the top selling primary residential sump pump, and they sell battery back-up systems as well, which is what I have in my own house.
As far as the "water power" pumps, most of them are 2:1 ,2 gallons of tap water to remove one gallon of sump water. If you have allot of water coming into your pit, that can raise your water bill fairly quickly. Still cheaper than a flooded house/basement.
If you go with a battery back-up system, buy the best marine deep cycle battery you can afford and then maintain it, do not just "set it and forget it". Most of the systems I replace that had battery back up systems installed, had completly dried up batteries from no maintenance being done.
Thanks for the truth from the field.
The old pump and float appeared to work fine, but seemed unfortunately to take a minute to get going. That is, it started itself up after I got ~50 gallons of water on my carpet (twice).
Examination revealed no air hole in the discharge--the dreaded 'air-lock'? So, I guess this guy works fine if the water rises slowly, and the air in the pump can leak slowly out the valve, and the impeller is wet when the float kicks on. IF the water comes up fast, it overflows the pit until the impeller finally gets enough water for traction to open the valve. Does that make sense?
It was 6 yo anyway, so I just put a new Zoeller M57 pump into my house with new Zoeller check valve and PVC plumbing to replace the undersized and leaky piping fittings that were in there. I like the build quality a lot. Tropical storm Lee let me test it without breaking out the hose--no problem, >1000 gph, which is well above the max Irene rate, which was ~600 gph.
On the backup, I've already bought and received the mid-range watchdog. I agree completely that it will only work as well as the battery maintenance schedule. I was planning on doing a little looking at the trickle charger--I suspect that it is running a little high in voltage or current and electrolyzing the water faster than really necessary. Might try to tweak it if I can. Worst case, I replace a $200 battery every 3 years.
In 6 years in this house, we have had lots of power outs, but never once when it was raining or below freezing out. So, if I had had a battery backup sump, it would not yet have seen use. Has your Zoeller back up seen use yet? How is your battery holding up? On the 'net the Zoelletr backup looked like the same sort of not awe-inspiring kludgey equipment as the watchdog.