[Greenbuilding] sump pump backup
Brian Milani
bmilani at web.ca
Wed May 18 12:06:55 CDT 2011
Hello,
After lowering our basement in downtown Toronto, we had to have a sump
tank and pump installed.
It's powered with electricity, so we need a backup in case of a power
failure. Any suggestions?
Most backup systems seem to be battery-powered, but I've heard of a kind
powered by water, featured once on This Old House:
<http://www.pbs.org/thisoldhouse/videos/viewer.php?item=sump>
Balancing water use and energy use (and the toxics involved with
batteries), it this more ecological? And what is reasonable to pay for
a backup system?
Also: can anyone familiar with the Toronto area recommend a good plumber
to design and install (or at least fine-tune) a system? It's clearly
not rocket science, but I don't trust the basement guys who initially
installed our sump: they did it in a way that the float periodically
gets caught under a pipe draining into the sump. We're unable to
reposition the pump sufficiently ourselves to remedy this, so we have to
watch it like hawks during this rainy season to avoid a flood. And it
seems to me that, even unimpeded, the float is set too high. I think
the pump itself works fine. But it would be nice to find somebody who
could guarantee that it will work flawlessly, as well as install an
appropriate backup.
many thanks,
Brian M., Toronto
----------------------
Brian Milani
www.GreenEconomics.net
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