Sump Pump

Bought a new house. All the utilities are off. No heat, water, or electric. I like not having to pay utility bills. Don't have time for a year or two to work on the house to get it ready to move in.

Basement is flooded. Need electricity to run a sump pump. Two options that I know about. Solar with a 12V pump or get the electricity turned on and pay the bill every month.

Want reliable. Sump pump should work when needed. Will install a alarm to call me if the basement floods. Alarms are powered by 12V DC so solar should run the alarm no problem.

What would you recommend? Solar or get the electricity turned on? Note - I only want a small solar system to run the sump pump and a alarm.

It souunds like a very feasible application for a modest-sized solar panel and battery.

or extension lead to a neighbour, and give them $10 a month ?

As awesome as solar sounds, I just found out that if you leave a house off the grid too long, you have to have a full electrical inspection to code before you can have the power restored. In my case, the closet with the breaker box had been converted to a second bathroom 70 years ago. But I had to gut the room and remove all plumbing from the floor and walls, because I can't have the breaker box near a source of water. And that was only problem #1.

Keep the power on, keep the meter in place. Save massive trouble later.
Also, it helps to keep some heat source in the house. bad things happen to plumbing in a vacant house with no heat for years at a time, even in Texas. I'm having to replace absolutely every pipe and fitting in the house. a couple of 500w heaters turned low on sub zero days would have saved the pipes.

Power has been off since around 2006 so all the bad things that happen from no heat has already happened. Here is a picture of what happens to cans of food when they freeze.

I have given up on thoughts of a solar power sump pump. Materials, learning time, and labor to install was looking like too much. Just for fun I would like to calculate how much power a 12V sump pump might use during a rain storm. How many batteries would be needed? How many solar panels required if there was no sunny days. Cloudy and rainy every day. Snow on solar panels would be no good. Nice sunny day today here in Buffalo NY.

Need to get the basement pumped out. I got a generator to run the sump pump. Get the electric looking all pretty, get a inspection, and get the electric turned on.

We would need the flow rate and lift. They are the basic numbers, after which we could consider motor efficiency and the lesser important figures when just looking for a ball park figure

knighty said:

or extension lead to a neighbour, and give them $10 a month ?

Click to expand...

Good idea. Extension cord would be good for a few days. Not for a few years. Not safe.

I'm a home builder and have seen the costs accociated with a basement flooding. I have the largest Zoeller pump on the market, a 2" trash pump with metal impeller running with a huge battery back up system. I use the Pump Sentry with 2 Optima Blue Top batteries which will run my sump pump "non stop" for 48 hours. While this combo cost about 2k it will run off a cord and will last at least 10 years as far as battery life. Think of it as cheap insurance double redundancy style.

Probably cheaper for you to run a cord from the neighbors for now.

Tom

http://pumpsentry.com/
How Pump Sentry Works

Pump Sentry interfaces between pumps and the AC electrical supply. When electricity is available. Pump Sentry charges a battery and monitors the power line to detect a power outage. At the instant that power failure occurs, Pump Sentry draws energy stored in this battery and converts it to AC power. This AC power is automatically channeled to the pumps to maintain their operation in the absence if electricity.

When AC utility power is restored, the Pump Sentry reinstates AC utility power as prime energy source to operate the pumps. Simultaneously and automatically Pump Sentry commences the recharging of the battery, to return it to full capacity in preparation for the next power failure.

A deep cycle marine battery with 180 minutes reserve capacity will maintain the operation of a 1/3 Hp. column sump pump continuously for four to six hours. If more time is desired a larger battery or multiple batteries can be used. The operating time is directly proportional to the battery reserve capacity.

Litespeed, if your pump fails you should have a security system. Send you a text message to tell you what is the problem. I like this Sump pump alarm float switch.