0:00
In this video I want to explain how a sump pump works or really how a great sump pump system works
0:07
And that's what you see here. These things are called sump pumps because they sit in a sump
0:14
which is this... and there's different ways to do it, but this is a cylindrical opening that goes
0:21
through the floor of the basement. This is the floor here, that's the soil. Usually there's some
0:27
kind of a plastic liner with holes in it just to keep the dirt out but to let the water in
0:34
So the idea is that the sump pump will pump the water that forms underneath the floor of the
0:43
basement up and out through these pipes before that water saturation in the soil gets high enough
0:53
to start leaking into your basement. So some basements with sump pumps, their pumps only run
0:59
occasionally a few times a year, maybe after heavy rain. Other houses have sump pumps that pretty
1:07
well run all the time depending on the ground conditions. So if your basement has a sump pump
1:13
or it needs one to stay perfectly dry, then you're going to want to look at a setup like this because
1:18
this arrangement delivers a lot more reliability to the situation. So let's start looking here
1:26
This is a regular 120 volt plug-in sump pump and it's the submersible type. There's an older type
1:36
where the electric pump is actually up in the air and there's a shaft that goes all the way down
1:44
and the actual pump is down here. So I much prefer these submersibles. They really do work well
1:54
They'll last for decades. What you see here, that's the float. So when there's no water in the sump
2:02
the float falls down, it switches off the pump. As the water rises, it will raise this float
2:12
turn the sump pump on, and water will be pumped up and out. So that's the way they work and
2:21
that's fine in most situations. But as I said, if you rely on your sump pump to stop your basement
2:26
your finished basement from being ruined, then you need more than this because the power can go out
2:33
the sump pump can fail, even the outgoing line might get blocked in the wintertime. Maybe it'll
2:41
freeze or something like that. There's a bunch of things that can happen, all of which will lead to
2:46
a lot of grief and a ruined basement. And that's why this setup has a second pump in it. This is
2:50
a battery backup sump pump, so it could operate on its own. I mean, this whole arrangement could
3:00
function without the plug-in electric pump, just relying on this. But this battery one
3:07
because this battery one does plug in as well, so it runs off of 12 volts, the 12-volt battery
3:14
that's here in this battery case, a typical large-ish car type battery. But it's also constantly
3:22
charging because it's plugged into the wall here. This is the charger, so it makes sure that things
3:27
happen as it should. But my recommendation is to rely on this pump, and then in the same sump
3:35
have some kind of battery backup pump installed. Now normally, this thing is not going to operate
3:42
because the water level is going to have to get higher than the activation point of the plug-in
3:48
pump before the battery-powered pump kicks in. So if you look at this, this is a float type switch
3:56
So this battery pump's not going to come on until the water level rises, in this case, to that spot
4:05
here, which is quite a bit higher than the activation point of the other pump. But the idea is that this
4:10
really is a backup, so it won't come on unless the power goes out and inactivates the other pump
4:17
It will also come on if the other pump fails. So it gives you a lot of extra protection
4:25
which is what you need. You want multiple layers of safety here to protect that investment in your
4:33
finished basement. I would even suggest that you actually keep on-hand replacements for these pumps
4:43
because inevitably, you know, you've got a rainstorm, the power goes out, it's Saturday
4:49
evening or something like that of a long weekend, and the stores aren't going to be open for a while
4:53
and the rain keeps coming down. For the cost of having spare pumps on the shelf
5:01
it's a pretty small cost compared with the trouble that it might save you someday. So
5:09
that's how they work. I have to be honest, I have almost never seen a person, a homeowner
5:17
who relies on their sump pump, who actually has a proper and reliable setup. Most people just have
5:24
the one sump pump, and that's what they rely on, and they think it's okay, but it's not. If you've
5:30
got a basement that needs protecting, then you need at least two pumps working in your favor
