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Does anyone use/have one? I know battery backup sump pumps are far more common regarding houses having basements and high water tables. We bought a new home about a year ago with a full basement and replaced the sump pump shortly after we moved in (because the previous one died and our basement nearly flooded).
The whole thing got me thinking about backup options. Seems the battery backup options are expensive and don't always work/pump fast enough. Some people have said get a natural gas generator, which is also very expensive. I've been reading up on water powered sump pumps (like link below) and it seems smarter to me (assuming you have municipal water).
The water powered pump is great idea but they don't pump a lot of water compared to regular sump pumps, clearly better than nothing. Keep in mind they also guard against mechanical failure of your primary pump.
As far as the generator goes you don't have to spend a lot of money if you use interlock on the panel.
Install for the electric might be $500 to $700 and then you buy whatever size generator you want...$2K for larger one. This can power most of your house with large enough generator.
The water powered pump is great idea but they don't pump a lot of water compared to regular sump pumps, clearly better than nothing. Keep in mind they also guard against mechanical failure of your primary pump.
As far as the generator goes you don't have to spend a lot of money if you use interlock on the panel.
Install for the electric might be $500 to $700 and then you buy whatever size generator you want...$2K for larger one. This can power most of your house with large enough generator.
We ahve a 16K genreator. it powers most of our house with no problem. It would power everything it we had sprung for the extra $1200 (plus wiring) for the whole house ATS and panel. It powers AC units on start up pool pump, refridgerators, freezer etc. i do nto think you woudl need anything more than that.
It cost $3000. We got the extra quiet model (it is Guardian) but we did shop around and find a reduced price.
Generator worked beautifully until my daughter backed into it. It has been broken for two years (or three) I have not bothered to fix it - other priorities. Power rarely goes out anymore. Maybe I will try to fix it this weekend. Thanks for the reminder.
We also put in plumbing for water driver sump pump back ups, but we never put in the pumps. Just did not need them and we had other priorities. Probably put them in if we go to sell the house.
Interested in hearing from others who have had experiences from them. Just talked to a plumber in the area who did some fixes for us last year and he said he usually doesn't recommend them because some of his customers ended up paying a huge water bill due to something malfunctioning and the pump running constantly over long periods of time. Seems like that would be unlikely.
We ahve a 16K genreator. it powers most of our house with no problem. It would power everything it we had sprung for the extra $1200 (plus wiring) for the whole house ATS and panel. It powers AC units on start up pool pump, refridgerators, freezer etc. i do nto think you woudl need anything more than that.
It cost $3000. We got the extra quiet model (it is Guardian) but we did shop around and find a reduced price.
Generator worked beautifully until my daughter backed into it. It has been broken for two years (or three) I have not bothered to fix it - other priorities. Power rarely goes out anymore. Maybe I will try to fix it this weekend. Thanks for the reminder.
We also put in plumbing for water driver sump pump back ups, but we never put in the pumps. Just did not need them and we had other priorities. Probably put them in if we go to sell the house.
I just got my 16K generator installed about 3 weeks ago. I guess a water powered backup sump pump has its uses (I still have the battery backup on my sump pump, which is redundant now), but it only does the one, single thing. A generator does so many other things in a power outage that it just seems like a better investment to me. A water powered sump pump would be my last go-to option to avoid flooding.
Interested in hearing from others who have had experiences from them. Just talked to a plumber in the area who did some fixes for us last year and he said he usually doesn't recommend them because some of his customers ended up paying a huge water bill due to something malfunctioning and the pump running constantly over long periods of time. Seems like that would be unlikely.
I would imagine they have float that opens a valve and I could see where it may become stuck since it would need to be easy to open and would then need to close with gravity. It should be setup so it only comes on if the primary fails or cant keep up, even if it were stuck open it should only be stuck open because your basement was about to get flooded. Just be sure to check it after rain events. There also should be a manual valve installed for it on the water leading to it, you can open and close it yourself before and after rain events but that somewhat negates the emergency benefits.
I just got my 16K generator installed about 3 weeks ago. I guess a water powered backup sump pump has its uses (I still have the battery backup on my sump pump, which is redundant now), but it only does the one, single thing. A generator does so many other things in a power outage that it just seems like a better investment to me. A water powered sump pump would be my last go-to option to avoid flooding.
This not only protects against power failure but also protects against mechanical failure on your primary pump or even the generator. If I had a finished basement and water from the street I'd install one.
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