Don't Let Your Pump Fail
Backup Sump Pump Systems
Protect Your Basement and Stored Valuables
Backup Sump Pump Solutions
Everything mechanical can fail. Sump pump failure is the leading cause of basement flooding and water damage. There are simple solutions to providing backup to your system to insure your Downingtown home stays dry. We treat backup in two categories, mechanical and power. Mechanical backup is needed upon pump failure and becomes more important as your primary pump ages.
If your primary pump fails, what do you have in place for backup. A mechanical backup can consist of any additional pump. Whether it be another primary pump set a bit higher to take over upon failure or a battery or water backup unit that will kick in likewise when the water rises. All of these solutions will provide backup for a mechanical failure.
Power backup systems, do exactly that, they provide backup power to keep your system running in event of a power loss. Battery and Water powered systems achieve this goal. Battery backup systems provide backup power for your primary pump or for a specially designed pump that operates on DC power. These pumps will keep the water at bay for a period of several hours to several days. For a perpetual system, add a water-powered backup. A water backup will run as long as your municipal water authority is providing water pressure. This makes these units a great solution for those that travel often or leave their home unattended for extended times.
Battery Backup Sump Pumps
When you live in an area that is prone to power outages, a battery backup is a great insurance policy. While backup systems don’t give you a forever lifeline, they provide 6-8 hours of runtime or 18 – 36 hours of backup (if running sporadically). Additionally, when installed, a battery backup system is situated higher in the pit and will provide additional pump power if your pit is getting overwhelmed in a storm. The average sump pump moves between 2000 and 3000 gallons of water per hour. A battery backup pump will move an additional 1000 gallons/hour.
Water Powered Backup Sump Pumps
If you live in a home with municipal water, you can install a water powered backup pump. These siphon pumps are powered by the water pressure provided to your home. While installation of these pumps is a little more expensive, they tend to last a very long time and have few mechanical parts to give you problems in the future.
While the water powered backup pumps provide a similar 1000 gal/hour of pump power to the battery backup units, they will run so long as the township has water pressure. If you are in an area that has trouble with electric power often, or just want the peace of mind knowing that if you are not home, you will always have a layer of protection, this is the backup solution for you.
Triple Backup System
In situations where your home sits on an extremely high water table, occasionally we install these as a third pump. This is rare, but when you have a high end basement finishes, and just don’t want to take any chances, a backup to the backup is required.
When you have a situation where you have a pump that runs infrequently, you don’t get a lot of water in the well, but there is always the off chance it could flood, a power inverter may be the right solution. It is simply a high end power strip with a trickle charger and a power inverter to charge a battery, or two, so if power is interrupted, your standard pump will operate from battery power.
While this isn’t a true backup, it will provide you with 6-8 hours of power to run your pump without electricity. If for some reason the pump were to fail, you would still have that single point of failure. This is generally a good solution when installing a new, quality pump.
Conclusion
In conclusion, your best source of backup power for your sump pump system is always a generator that has auto-fail over to keep your property, expensive electronics, and valuables stored in your basement protected. There are small generators available that will service 8 to 12 outlets to keep necessities running or more expensive units that will keep your [CITY] home running 100%.
Backup Sump Pump Units are great for excessive water or pump failure, but are not a long term solution. If you live in a remote area where it takes your power company a long time to respond to outages, backup pumps will provide you enough time to get a portable generator running for extended time without service.