Installed a water powered sump pump today

[slow-poke]

We moved in a new (old) house about 2 years ago, first house I have had that has a sump pump. Our electricity is pretty reliable however I was thinking what if we get an extended power outage?

So after researching a bit, I found a type of sump pump that is powered by water (we’re in the city) and water outages are pretty much non existent here.

So I installed it today, pretty straight forward water in, sump, ball float and exit pipe. They recommended having the exit pipe go outside, but I just plumbed it into the existing sewage drain.

It seems to work quite well, emptied the sump pit in about 45 seconds. So if your wondering if they work well, they do. We do have good strong water pressure about 75psi so that probably helps.

To be clear I did not remove the existing electric sump pump I just placed this new one in the corner of the existing sump pump pit. So in all likelihood it will never get used, however it’s ready if need be.

 

[Alcap]

Nice to have a backup ! I’ve never seen one but a fellow at work had one and he said it work well

 

[woodchucker]

We moved in a new (old) house about 2 years ago, first house I have had that has a sump pump. Our electricity is pretty reliable however I was thinking what if we get an extended power outage?

So after researching a bit, I found a type of sump pump that is powered by water (we’re in the city) and water outages are pretty much non existent here.

So I installed it today, pretty straight forward water in, sump, ball float and exit pipe. They recommended having the exit pipe go outside, but I just plumbed it into the existing sewage drain.

It seems to work quite well, emptied the sump pit in about 45 seconds. So if your wondering if they work well, they do. We do have good strong water pressure about 75psi so that probably helps.

To be clear I did not remove the existing electric sump pump I just placed this new one in the corner of the existing sump pump pit. So in all likelihood it will never get used, however it’s ready if need be.

I hope you put in a 1 way valve to prevent backflow from the sewer system.

 

[benmychree]

I hope you put in a 1 way valve to prevent backflow from the sewer system.

Very good point! I can see many issues with that installation, much better idea to pump it outside.

 

[RJSakowski]

The night I moved in to my current house,there was a heavy rainstorm. The next morning, there was six inches of water in the basement, covering all my portable power tools. I tried a sump pump for a few months, but it couldn't keep up with the next storm(the sump size, not the pump. Another issue would be a power outage which frequently accompanied heavy rains.

I happen to have a fairly decent grade with ground level thirty feet from the house being below the basement floor level. I tunneled under the foundation and trenched out thirty feet. I put a trap under the foundation wall to prevent any critters from entering and cut a gutter around the basement wall as all the water entered through the 100 y.o. porous masonry. A neat solution to a obnoxious problem.

 

[slow-poke]

Very good point! I can see many issues with that installation, much better idea to pump it outside.

I did put in a backflow valve, two actually, one in the exit from the original sump pump to prevent the water exiting the water powered one from back feeding the electrIc sump pump, and the other one in the 3/4” water supply to the water powered pump. So when you say many issues, what issues do you see?

 

[slow-poke]

The night I moved in to my current house,there was a heavy rainstorm. The next morning, there was six inches of water in the basement, covering all my portable power tools. I tried a sump pump for a few months, but it couldn't keep up with the next storm(the sump size, not the pump. Another issue would be a power outage which frequently accompanied heavy rains.

I happen to have a fairly decent grade with ground level thirty feet from the house being below the basement floor level. I tunneled under the foundation and trenched out thirty feet. I put a trap under the foundation wall to prevent any critters from entering and cut a gutter around the basement wall as all the water entered through the 100 y.o. porous masonry. A neat solution to a obnoxious problem.

We had a similar situation at our cottage that is built on a huge rock. The unfinished basement was the actual top surface of the rock. There was a small but constant trickle of water oozing out of a crevice in the rock that would then drip down to the lowest spot. So I shovelled in a few inches of gravel, added some poly and then a concrete floor. It’s dry as a bone now.

 

[woodchucker]

I did put in a backflow valve, two actually, one in the exit from the original sump pump to prevent the water exiting the water powered one from back feeding the electrIc sump pump, and the other one in the 3/4” water supply to the water powered pump. So when you say many issues, what issues do you see?

But none from the discharge to the sewer system. So if the sewer system fills up, you prevent if from coming into the house
Don't laugh but I had this happen. Before we moved out here, we were in a more suburban setting. The house we rented was at the bottom of the hill, and the stupid town put large sewer pipes on the hill, and had smaller pipes down below... are you getting the picture yet? During Hurricane Floyd (we were already packing to move) The water came down from the hill and had no where to go, the backup was pumping (shooting into the air) water from the toilets, showers, bath... we had inches of water in seconds. I tried sticking towels in the toilets, the water pumped through it.
I put a plastic bag around the towels and stood on them in the toilets... it slowed the water to a trickle, but the showers, bath and all were still gushing, but the toilet was the biggest offender.

I talked to a plumber after we left, told him the story, nothing would have prevented that whole mess... but he did explain we don't need a hill for this to happen. He's seen it happen on level situations, cities have this problem on occasion. when I say nothing would have prevented, he said it's not normal to stick a one way valve on your effluent.. but it could be done, but not recommended.

So I just don't think you want your sump spreading the love back to your house... you want it removing it, or not adding to it.

 

[slow-poke]

But none from the discharge to the sewer system. So if the sewer system fills up, you prevent if from coming into the house
Don't laugh but I had this happen. Before we moved out here, we were in a more suburban setting. The house we rented was at the bottom of the hill, and the stupid town put large sewer pipes on the hill, and had smaller pipes down below... are you getting the picture yet? During Hurricane Floyd (we were already packing to move) The water came down from the hill and had no where to go, the backup was pumping (shooting into the air) water from the toilets, showers, bath... we had inches of water in seconds. I tried sticking towels in the toilets, the water pumped through it.
I put a plastic bag around the towels and stood on them in the toilets... it slowed the water to a trickle, but the showers, bath and all were still gushing, but the toilet was the biggest offender.

I talked to a plumber after we left, told him the story, nothing would have prevented that whole mess... but he did explain we don't need a hill for this to happen. He's seen it happen on level situations, cities have this problem on occasion. when I say nothing would have prevented, he said it's not normal to stick a one way valve on your effluent.. but it could be done, but not recommended.

So I just don't think you want your sump spreading the love back to your house... you want it removing it, or not adding to it.

The house I grew up in would get the basement flooded about every 10-20 years as you described, in our case it was back flow from the city storm drain, one time my dad put a basketball over the basement sewer drain and sat on it for about 4 hours, he managed to hold back the flood that one time, other times we had about a foot or two in the basement, really nasty. That's why I'm paranoid about this. Previous owners stated that the basement in our new house has never been flooded and were near the top of a hill.

 

[EricB]

I live in an are with a high water table so my sump pump is the most important appliance in my house. I have a battery backup and a generator. I also have a spare pump ready to go if needed.

A couple of things go along with water backup pumps. First, do your local codes allow you to pump sump water into the sewer system. Mine does not because it could overload the system's capacity and back up sewage into other people's homes. Second, if you are allowed to connect you need to prevent cross contamination between your potable water supply and the sewer. Normally that requires an air gap between the two systems. Otherwise you must discharge the pump outdoors.

Eric