|
Posted by Robert Green on May 19, 2008, 11:11 pm
Pete (and others - thanks!) replied:
<stuff snipped>
> The water powered pumps are venturi pumps. The two hour battery time is
> plenty since sump pumps do not run continuously. Two hours of battery
> time might equal 24 hours of normal sump pump duty cycle operation. For
> water powered, it's like 3:1 pumped:consumed ratio so in a 24 hour
> period you might pump out 300 gal of water and add 100 gal to your water
> bill.
OP here. I have a number of 12V deep discharge powerchair batteries on
site, so I think I am OK for even a week long outage with heavy rain, at
least if the pump has sufficient heft and the downpour is neither biblical
nor tidal. As you note, it's not as if I will be pumping out the bilge of
the sinking Titanic and need continuous pumping.
I've yanked the old pump and am excavating the accumulated muck to mount a
new unit. The last one was not codeworthy and new wiring is needed to make
it code compliant. A 12VDC unit is not subject to electrical code,
something that makes it even more attractive. Waterpowered pumps add more
water to a waterlogged situation so I prefer batteries and not getting
waste water so close to drinking water, either. During the last hurricane
several localities lost water pressure because their pumps failed. It's
batteries, fer sure.
Where does one find a replacement 22 by 24" metal grate with a finer wire
mesh attached that covers the sump? Was this a custom made cover or are
their standard sizes and sources?
This sump serves a 25 by 50 foot basement perimeter pipe and sits outside
the basement door at the foot of the concrete stairs leading from the
backyard into the basement. There's room for an AC and DC pump easily.
However the question of the day is what will happen if the basement floor
drain backflows as it did recently? I don't believe the basement floor
drain is connected to the moisture reduction system that flows to the
stairway landing sump. Last week, about 6" of water entered the basement
from the floor and the old pump failed, but more importantly, the stair sump
is 2" higher than the floor drain and much of the basement floods before the
water reaches the stairway sump.
It sounds like I need to pull the storm drain floor grate and install a
check valve to prevent street overflow from entering the basement. Or else
I need to dig a separate sump next to the floor drain to immediately catch
any "upchucking" from the flooded streets.
--
Bobby G.
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap