Appreciate all of your help. Yes, it has been busy around here. Last week during the deluge, my main (Zoeller)pump in the lower basement couldn't quite keep up, and I had some water across the surface of the floor. Fortunately just concrete in there and it dried up quickly, but it emphasized to me that I need a second pump not only to back up my main, but to add pumping capacity in the event of extreme rains like last Thursday night. My upper pump, protecting my finished basement, was fine (second pump never even went off), but as previously mentioned the flow into that 3' higher pit is much less than the one in my lower basement.
So, time to get the second pump installed. A couple of things - first, my reason for wanting an alarm was not so much to let me know of a power outage, but more like a water level alarm to let me know that my main pump failed and likely needs to be replaced. I will probably just tie some water sensors to the discharge pipe, drop them into the pit above the primary pump float line, and this way I'll at least know that my main pump isn't quite working. I never want to be without two working pumps in that area because the flow is so heavy - not to mention if my main pump failed and I didn't know it and was thus using a water powered pump as my main for any extended period of time, I'd have a hefty water bill! So it's not a deal breaker for the pump not to have an alarm, but I do want some kind of water level alarm.
Second, thank you for the information on the A.Y. McDonald pump. I have also looked at the Basepump and the Water Commander from Tane Corp. I got a pressure gauge from Ace Hardware, and measured the pressure at the hose spigot in my back yard at 46-48 psi on a few different readings. Given that, the A.Y. pump at my 10' lift would remove roughly 640 GPH. The Basepump is rated at 750, the Water Commander 1" model at about 1,530. These are the ratings of water removed from the pit, not including the water from the city used to power the pump. I've got 1 1/2" service, and ample 1" pipes in the basement to connect the pump to, so on specs alone it would seem that the Water Commander is the best pump for me to go with - BUT specs don't always tell the story - do you have any experience with this product? If my main pump does fail, or power goes out and I'm not home to hook up a generator, I really need a backup pump that pumps as much as a primary.
So based on those facts, would you still recommend the A.Y. pump, or could you recommend one of the other two I mentioned?
Thanks again for all of your help. |
Member Since
03/28/2006
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