Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage? Are the bateries always being
charged when the power is on, or must they be connected to a charger manually?
Can more than one battery be connected in parallel so they pump longer? Can
they be run off a car battery in an emergency?

Water powered are 10x better, Batteries dont last. www.basepump.com
www.zoeler.com

wrote:
Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage? Are the bateries
always being charged when the power is on, or must they be connected
to a charger manually? Can more than one battery be connected in
parallel so they pump longer? Can they be run off a car battery in
an emergency?

I believe you will find most are 12V and will run off a car battery, but
they likely come with a NiCad type battery. I would suggest that unless you
expect short outages or only need it when it is not all that wet, that the
battery may go out before the water stops rising. After all, most power
outages happen during storms and that is when the pump is needed the most.

I like the idea of a water powered backup, unless you have a well. Even
when the electric goes out, you usually have water pressure on city water
system.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

wrote in message
...
Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage? Are the bateries always
being
charged when the power is on, or must they be connected to a charger
manually?
Can more than one battery be connected in parallel so they pump longer?
Can
they be run off a car battery in an emergency?

They run off boat batteries (oddly, I can't come up with the proper term
right now, but the kind used for trolling motors...) and charge while you
have power.
I ran one off my car battery (using 60' jumper cables) for several hours
once, until the water started coming in too fast for the pump. (I wound up
with 5' of water in my basement, so it was a little unusual).
The box will give you an idea of how much it will pump on a charge; it is
heavily dependent on how high it has to pump the water.

I have installed two water powered pumps, and they were both crap that I
wouldn't want in my basement. If there is a good one, I haven't seen it.
But in principle the water powered ones are pretty good.

On 7 Jan 2007 15:17:48 -0800, wrote:

Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage? Are the bateries always being
charged when the power is on, or must they be connected to a charger manually?
Can more than one battery be connected in parallel so they pump longer? Can
they be run off a car battery in an emergency?

Check out http://www.basemen****chdog.com/

You can download the user manuals and get all the info you need.

As others have pointed out, water driven backups are attractive if you
have reliable city water (I have a well).

I have the largest Basement Watchdog system installed and it has saved
my basement several times already. When the battery is new, it will
run the pump for 6-7 hours continuously, much longer if the pump
cycles on and off. It uses a deep cycle marine type battery, 12
volts. You can connect two in parallel for longer run time. You can
run off a car battery (or even a car; with long leads) in an
emergency.

I have a generator for long outages, but if I'm not home, the battery
unit will keep the basement dry until I can get home and fire up the
generator. An automatic starting backup set is on the wish list,
but...

I think the concern over limited battery life is overblown. A battery
is $100. if you just replace it every four years it's $25 / year for
reliable backup.

The control unit tests the pump every day, and even monitors the water
level of the battery.

HTH,

Paul

writes:

Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage?


I have installed a pair of Basement Watchdog systems. They use 12V
batteries that look like car batteries, but are actually of their
proprietary design optimized for the load of their pump. The system
includes a charger and a redundant pump.

http://www.basemen****chdog.com/

Additional batteries are available for the system for longer runtime,
but the one battery system supports runtime specs that seem pretty
impressive. I imagine they could be run off a car battery in an
emergency, but given the construction of car batteries, you will do a
good bit of damage to that battery in a deep cycle discharge. Of
course to keep your basement dry, you likely don't care!

Basement Watchdog for what it's worth seems to be gratly preferred by
all the plumbers nad home infectors, er inspectors versus Ace in the
Hole, which seems to be the other type of system seen most in this
area.

Best REgards,
--
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

(m Ransley) writes:

Water powered are 10x better, Batteries dont last. www.basepump.com
www.zoeler.com

But water powered pumps have relatively pathetic flow rates is the
typical criticism I hear. I have no direct experience though, but
someone chased me off of water powered redundants long ago.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

Joseph Meehan wrote:
wrote:
Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage? Are the bateries
always being charged when the power is on, or must they be connected
to a charger manually? Can more than one battery be connected in
parallel so they pump longer? Can they be run off a car battery in
an emergency?

I believe you will find most are 12V and will run off a car
battery, but they likely come with a NiCad type battery. I would
suggest that unless you expect short outages or only need it when it
is not all that wet, that the battery may go out before the water
stops rising. After all, most power outages happen during storms and
that is when the pump is needed the most.
I like the idea of a water powered backup, unless you have a well.
Even when the electric goes out, you usually have water pressure on city
water system.


I should add a couple of notes. 12V nor water powered pumps seldom if
ever have the pump capacity of the typical sump pump. In an emergency they
may work, but if there is a lot of water to pump they may not be able to
keep up.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 18:02:12 -0600, (m Ransley)
wrote:

Water powered are 10x better, Batteries dont last. www.basepump.com

I looked at this one and am considering it.

Too late when I saw it, but someone was selling a used basepump. He
said he bought a backup generator and didnt' need it anymore. Does
that sound reasonable to you? A back up generator can break too. Why
not leave the basepump in place. Once it's installed it takes no
maintenance and probably no space.

www.zoeler.com

I found this page, but it seemed like just a portal. At any rate, I
couldn't find the water powered pump you meant.

On 7 Jan 2007 15:17:48 -0800, wrote:

Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage? Are the bateries always being
charged when the power is on,

Yes.

or must they be connected to a charger manually?
Can more than one battery be connected in parallel so they pump longer? Can

The ones sold at Home Depot, no, the manual or the webpage says.

they be run off a car battery in an emergency?

Probably but it wouldn't run quite as long, just guessing 80% what the
deep discharge batteries of similar rating can do.

PaUl got it. HD sells http://www.basemen****chdog.com/ at least in
Baltimore.

On Mon, 8 Jan 2007 07:11:49 -0500, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

Joseph Meehan wrote:
wrote:
Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage? Are the bateries
always being charged when the power is on, or must they be connected
to a charger manually? Can more than one battery be connected in
parallel so they pump longer? Can they be run off a car battery in
an emergency?

I believe you will find most are 12V and will run off a car
battery, but they likely come with a NiCad type battery. I would
suggest that unless you expect short outages or only need it when it
is not all that wet, that the battery may go out before the water
stops rising. After all, most power outages happen during storms and
that is when the pump is needed the most.
I like the idea of a water powered backup, unless you have a well.
Even when the electric goes out, you usually have water pressure on city
water system.


I should add a couple of notes. 12V nor water powered pumps seldom if
ever have the pump capacity of the typical sump pump. In an emergency they
may work, but if there is a lot of water to pump they may not be able to
keep up.

I am not the OP. I haven't yet compared the capacities. Although the
12 v sounded pretty high, that really means nothing until I compare
with the 110v.

The manual or the webpage for the HD model said it would run for 4 or
6 or 8 hours, I forget which. I have a very bad memory for numbers
unless I can find a logical relationship.

In my case, the flooding that overwhelmed my 110v sump pump only
lasted an hour or two, or less. I guess I really don't know how many
times the basement would have flooded, or for how long each time, if
there had been no 110volt pump, because it only broke once, and I
replaced it before there was any flooding. In the last year or so, I
can sit at my desk on the second floor and hear the pump whenever it
goes on. So based on that, I tend to think 4 to 8 hours would be
enough. I don't remember ever hearing the pump in the 21 years prior
to this, and when I'm in the basement it sounds the same as it always
did. Isn't that strange?

Todd H. wrote:
(m Ransley) writes:

Water powered are 10x better, Batteries dont last. www.basepump.com
www.zoeler.com

But water powered pumps have relatively pathetic flow rates is the
typical criticism I hear. I have no direct experience though, but
someone chased me off of water powered redundants long ago.

Since it's for backup anyway, what does flow rate matter? The whole
point is to make sure your basement doesn't flood.

"Larry Bud" writes:

Todd H. wrote:
(m Ransley) writes:

Water powered are 10x better, Batteries dont last. www.basepump.com
www.zoeler.com

But water powered pumps have relatively pathetic flow rates is the
typical criticism I hear. I have no direct experience though, but
someone chased me off of water powered redundants long ago.

Since it's for backup anyway, what does flow rate matter? The whole
point is to make sure your basement doesn't flood.

If the flow rate is lower than the rate water is coming in during a
very heavy rain, it certainly does.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 19:23:42 -0500, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

wrote:
Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage? Are the bateries
always being charged when the power is on, or must they be connected
to a charger manually? Can more than one battery be connected in
parallel so they pump longer? Can they be run off a car battery in
an emergency?

I believe you will find most are 12V and will run off a car battery, but
they likely come with a NiCad type battery. I would suggest that unless you
expect short outages or only need it when it is not all that wet, that the
battery may go out before the water stops rising. After all, most power
outages happen during storms and that is when the pump is needed the most.

I like the idea of a water powered backup, unless you have a well. Even
when the electric goes out, you usually have water pressure on city water
system.

I have a well !!!!! This is a farm.
On the other hand, there are always several cars, trucks, and tractors
that have charged batteries available. There's always a vehicle that
can recharge them too. I could see parking my tractor nearby and
running wires directly from the alternator to keep it charged and keep
the pump running.

Thanks
Mark

wrote:
On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 19:23:42 -0500, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

wrote:
Is anyone familiar with these battery operated sump pumps?
What do they use for batteries? What voltage? Are the bateries
always being charged when the power is on, or must they be connected
to a charger manually? Can more than one battery be connected in
parallel so they pump longer? Can they be run off a car battery in
an emergency?
I believe you will find most are 12V and will run off a car battery, but
they likely come with a NiCad type battery. I would suggest that unless you
expect short outages or only need it when it is not all that wet, that the
battery may go out before the water stops rising. After all, most power
outages happen during storms and that is when the pump is needed the most.

I like the idea of a water powered backup, unless you have a well. Even
when the electric goes out, you usually have water pressure on city water
system.

I have a well !!!!! This is a farm.
On the other hand, there are always several cars, trucks, and tractors
that have charged batteries available. There's always a vehicle that
can recharge them too. I could see parking my tractor nearby and
running wires directly from the alternator to keep it charged and keep
the pump running.

Thanks
Mark

Given that you have a reliable tractor you have much of a rather
powerful engine generator set already. A PTO generator will cost you
less then half of what others have to pay for a regular generator. Most
full size farm tractors can produce enough power to run an entire farm.
--
Tom Horne

"This alternating current stuff is just a fad. It is much too dangerous
for general use." Thomas Alva Edison