In my present house they installed a pan under the high efficiency furnace. There is a float control which will shut off the furnace if there is water in the pan. I Googled "float alarm for water heater" and found many. Too bad they didn't put a pan/float alarm under the water heater ... different subcontractor.
"Bathtub alarm" turned up a lot of hits.
Yes
google for water alarm or water heater alarm.
Here's one example:
One on the floor would alert when the tub first starts to overflow.
best bet is to check both pumps once a month and before any predicted storms.
let them actually run for a few seconds once a month to prevent the bearings from seizing.
buy a spare pump and keep it on the shelf, run it once a month as well
mark
You are definitely a belt and suspenders guy!
I check quarterly. I run a hose from the drain faucet of the gas water heater and dump that into the sump. I dump about 10 gallons of water in the 5 gallon sump to test one cycle of the main pump and one cycle of the battery operated pump. Change my electrostatic hot air furnace filter at the same time.
I had thought of that, and for a reason. I was once in a situation, where there was flooding due to an extreme amount of rain. Due to location, my home was ok, but I was in charge of maintenance at a commercial building. I decided to go check that building. What was normally a 10 min. drive, took an hour because of flooded roads. The storm sewers were all backing up. When I got to that building, the basement was starting to flood. Threre was a sump pump, but it could not keep up with the amount of water. I got back in my truck to go to a hardware store and buy another pump, or even two of them. It took over an hour to get there, and when I did, they were sold out of all pumps, and all sump pump hoses, and anything else that would be used to pump water.
Needless to say, that building had severe flooding before the storm ended. I was unable to even get back there, because of bridges being washed out, and other flooding. I did manage to get home, but it was not till the following day that I got back to that building. By then it was too late. The water was slowly going down, but it had gotten to about 5 feet deep in that basement. There were finished rooms down there, all were destroyed, as well as the furnace, water heaters and a lot more.
Actually, I doubt any pumps could have helped, since that part of the city was all damaged, as all the sewers backed up, but at least I could have possibly kept the water level lower if I had pumps on hand.
Buy a spare NOW, before you really need it, and the stores are sold out.
Thanks, I was hoping there was something for this use. I'd prefer it sensed the water before the tub began to overflow, rather than after. As long as they are battery operated, there is no risk of electrocution, and can be placed right into the tub itself. It looks like some of them are made just to be used that way.
Why would you ever run a new pump dry every month???? Most pumps are NEVER to be run dry.
That's right. If it just sits on a shelf, in it's original box, there is no reason to run it. I'd test it when I first bought it. Put a hose on it, and pump a 5 gal bucket of water. As long as it works, just put it back in the box (after it drys), and keep it in a safe place until needed. There is no reason to run it monthly or even yearly. (They dont run the ones on the shelves in the hardware store).
being a frugal guy and not finding little giant pond pumps quite adequate to provide suffieicent water flow for my pond, i use sump pumps for my pond. On a timer they run about 9 hrs a day in the summer.
Experienced life....about 1 year.
Cause of failure? one main issue....
Firstly the units are sealed, so they don't get water in the 'lectrics, but they do inevitably fail tripping the GFI. The Princess auto pumps have typically plastic bushings, and they wear out. goodby to water tightness....hello failure
Well, they don't make em like they used to. The upside is that they typically come with a one year warranty
With a 14 years under yer belt, I would suggest leaving it in place, getting a water alarm, and having a replacement pump at hand or even "piggybacked" in the same drainage can?????.
Just my though
Eric
Eric
The OP already has a battery operated backup pump installed
Yup, learned that the hard way. Pumps always fail after the stores close.
Got a brand new one with a pvc pipe extension cut to proper length and a new fernco coupler...all ready to go. Pump swap will only take about 30 seconds.
Arnie Goetchius posted for all of us...
Why did you ask the question if you already had a solution in mind?
Just trying to get an idea of how long the current pedestal will last
Anywhere between about 5 seconds and another 20 years, give or take.
That's about as close as you are going to get.
You'll never know, until it's dead....
No one can answer a question like that. How long will YOU live? Can you answer that????
Do you have maintenance chargers on the batteries?
The backup battery charger is IMPORTANT!!!
snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca posted for all of us...
Any thoughts?
y convenience.
Thank you for saving my crystal ball. It gets very cloudy when asked this type of question.
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