What's a good brand of sump pump? archived

Sump pumps are inexpensive enough that you can always have one in reserve.

My plumber just installed a Liberty pump, which he said was a very good unit.

14 months seems like an awfully short time. Perhaps it's a defective unit? Or perhaps some other factor is causing it to go "on the fritz"?

If a plumber put in your present unit, I think you should complain. Also, don't these things have something like a 2-year-warranty?

True enough, but seeing as how a plumber will charge $400 to yank the old one and hook up the new one, I'd just as soon like to keep the replacing to a minimum.

You can get a great one for $125, and changing out an existing sump pump is a 5 minute job. Definitely wouldn't pay $400 unless someone is digging a hole for you.

I think ours is a liberty also. No problems.

There is another thread on this subject. I think one of the local plumber posters mentioned Zoeller as a good brand, available at NJ Plumbing on Newark Way.

Huh, it's that easy, huh?

Since the only way I would ever know my sump pump stopped working would be when I needed it most and this is also very likely to be the same moment that both Home Depot and Lowes have run out of stock of sump pumps, I wonder if it makes sense to buy an extra sump pump and just keep it handy in case on some stormy night my existing one goes dead...

And here's one more odd thought I recently had...the other worry around a sump pump is that the electricity goes out. So I was thinking about pricing those little generators with the idea that I could always stick it outside the house by the window near the sump pump and keep the pump going as long as I had gas.

(My second thought is that I think my car, which I got used and don't really know a lot about, actually has what I think is a 115 volt 3-prong outlet in it...which, I think, means that I might even be able to plug my sump pump into my car...if I really had to).

No need for a generator. You can install a water powered backup sump pump. It's the one on the right in the photo.

plungy

how does it work?

oots

Oots, Famously!
You run a line to it from your home's water supply. It has a float operated valve, when the valve opens it starts a venturi effect which creates suction at the intake.

It uses one gallon of water to pump out three.

No batteries to go dead, no electricity required.

No gas needed.

That's a real nice installation, Plungy.
Love the galvanized split ring hanger.

ZOELLER ZOELLER ZOELLER

Will run you from just under $200 to $700

Liberty Pumps are considered "builders grade" -- junk in other words.

Oh -- $125 will NOT buy you a "great" pump.

This is one item you don't want to skimp on...

/p

Thanks MP. I would have loved to put in a better pit and liner for her but you know the deal, $$$.

Pete,

If I spend $700 on a sump pump, it better last 7x longer than my $100 sump pump. Some items are so important that it makes sense to keep one in reserve - I would put sump pumps in this category and cheap, therefore, makes sense. I also keep a reserve circulator pump for the hot water loop on my steam boiler on hand - that's another item that seems somewhat failure prone.

but tjohn, when the water is beginning to rise in the sump -- that is when you want a pump that has little liklihood of failing...

suddenly spending a couple hundred for a sump pump is well worth it compared to the water damage, clean up, and repair costs.

and that assumes you'll be home when the old pump fails...

I've had water twice in a finished basement (not this house). first time the pump burned out. second time the float valve failed. after the 2nd time I installed 2 electric pumps, each on separate circuits and with their own discharge pipe. This happened during the big hurricanes we had, about 10 -12 years ago here in NJ. Even if the 1 pump had not failed -- it would have been overwhelmed with the volume.

Pete

Now you've got me worried. My plumber, whom I like a lot, just put in a Liberty pump, assuring me that it was a good unit that he's used a lot...

echoing plungy's post -
another connected to the water supply (which requires no electricity/battery to run) example:

http://www.radonseal.com/pumps/water-powered-pumps.htm

Thanks guys for all the suggestions and comments. After reading the feedback re the simplicity of changing out a pump, I cancelled the appointment with the plumber and took matters into my own hands. I bought a Zoeller pump from NJ Plumbing Supply for $113 and swapped it out myself. After disconnecting the union I discovered that it was the check valve that was bad, not the pump itself. I decided to go ahead and install the Zoeller anyway and keep the Liberty on hand as a backup. The only thing I screwed up was drilling the air hole too high on the discharge pipe below the check valve-now there's a tiny jet of water spraying out on the basement floor everytime the pump discharges. It's easy enough to fix though.

Plungy, that's a beautiful backup system. I definitely need one of those as I live over a wet weather spring and am constantly paranoid of the prolonged power outage during a big storm that would flood me out. How much does it run to install one of those?

Some of the cost depends on the difficulty of running the waterline. You would have to ask your plumber for a quote for the backup pump Canismajor.
Rest assured however, the cost would be far less than a drowned boiler, water heater, washer, dryer etc.
The one in the photo is an A.Y. McDonald Guardian pump. I think they list the price for the unit on thier website.
BTW, the weep hole is now built in to the Zoeller pump. Who told you to drill one?