Who do you trust on submersible vs. pedestal? :-)

[mm]

The first url says submersible last longer, and the second url says the pedestal pumps last longer!!!

Submersible - [].... They are more expensive than the pedestal pumps but are quieter and tend to have a longer life because their sealed, oil-cooled motors are protected from moisture and dust.

OTOH

But pedestal pumps are less expensive and last longer. Because submersibles sit in water a good deal of the time, they have a life span of from 5 to 15 years.

[Hustlin' Hank]

It doesn't matter. They both have switches and switches go bad. However, submersibles are a little quieter, but, that could be a bad thing because you may not hear it running.

Anything can fail, flip a coin.

Hank

[ransley]

Submersible are quiet, I have 7 commercial grade pedistals from maybe the 50s, I can repair anything and put on a new motor if needed but today they cost new near 400$ , they are not the 49.99 HD stuff which is plastic. Get a good submirsable like Zoeller, HD stuff is probably cheapo made, you do get what you pay for.

[hrhofmann]

Better yet, get two pumps and set them up so that one has a higher turn-on point than the other. That way, when the first pump fails you will not have a flood. They all fail, it's just a matter of what you do when it happens. I have owned both types, and it is 99% sure that the switch will fail before the pump. EIther type is subject to this problem. The arcing when the switch turns off the highly inductive load of the pump causes the switch contacts to arc and that eventually pits the surface. Then, either the switch sticks closed and the pump runs continuously which will destroy the motor, or the contacts close but do not make electrical contact and the motor does not turn on. Either way you have a flood if you do not notice what is going on. I seem to have a sixth sense about hearing feeling the pumps in my houses going on. I have awakened in the middle of the night and sensed something was not right, gone down into the basement and found something amiss..

[Van Chocstraw]

One 'pulls' the water and may need priming especially of the foot valve fails. The other 'pushes' the water and never needs priming. You can push a lot more water than you can pull. The deeper wells work better with submersibles. I think it's nicer not to have to listen to it working.

The pedestals I've seen also require 2 pipes where submersibles only need one. I don't know, that may be old technology with the 2 pipes as my parents had.

[Tony]

I did that in my last home. Put the backup pump up on a few bricks.

[hrhofmann]

All the pedestal pumps that I have ever seen or used have the pump below the water, only the motor is above the water and the motor drives the pump at the bottom of a long vertical shaft. The switch is part of a float assembly that mounts on the vertical pump shaft housing.

[tnom]

You've seen odd pedestals. The ones for sumps have the entire pump section under water and "push" just like submersibles. The hook up the same as submersibles too. One vertical oriented female pipe thread.