Be Prepared – The Advantages of a Backup Sump Pump

Because your sump pump provides critical protection in a remote part of the house, a backup sump pump is a must for most homes. Sump pumps are vital to keep the basement clear of water from interior and exterior sources. In many locales, the pressure of ground water rising up through the foundation can infiltrate the basement. Outdoor floods can inundate the basement and water from any major indoor plumbing leak quickly finds its way to the lowest point in the home—the basement. While your primary sump pump is designed to safeguard against basement flooding, for several reasons a backup sump pump is a good idea for optimum protection:

• Sump pumps installed in an enclosed pit in the basement floor aren’t ideally situated to receive regular maintenance from the homeowner. Malfunctions such as a clogged intake screen or jammed float switch may go unnoticed until the pump fails at the worst possible time.
• Scenarios like severe weather that cause local flooding are also a common cause of power outages. If your primary pump depends on electricity from the grid, it may fail just when you need it most and allow your basement to flood.
• In cases of acute flooding, the volume of water inundation may exceed the primary pump’s gallons-per-minute output specifications. Without a backup pump to take up the slack in water removal, your basement may quickly flood. Most backup sump pump options are battery-powered.

In some cases, the existing primary pump can operate on either AC or DC power and the backup consists of simply an alternate source of battery power and incorporates a switch to automatically shift the pump to the battery.

However, the most reliable backup configuration involves an entirely separate, self-contained backup sump pump, powered by a 12-volt deep-cycle marine battery maintained in a continuous state of charge by an AC adapter.

For more information about a backup sump pump, contact Sobieski Services. Our goal is to help educate our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC & plumbing systems).

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