Some contractors will recommend installing a water powered sump pump. This type of pump uses your home water supply to power the pump. If the power goes out during a storm, your home water supply will automatically power the pump and keep your basement from flooding. But here’s the catch. What if the water pressure also drops during a prolonged power outage (need a minimum of 20 PSI to operate efficiently)? The pressure may not be strong enough to power the pump.

Then guess what…your basement floods!

Water powered sump pumps are also very expensive to run compared to a battery backup electric pump. A water powered sump pump uses 1 gallon of your city water to pump out either 1 or 2 gallons of water from your sump pump basin. Using the ratio of 1 to 2 at 1,000 Gallons Per Hour (GPH), this system will use 5,000 gallons of water to prevent 10.000 gallons from flooding the basement.

It wastes a lot of water, and if it runs a long time do you really want that water bill?

Also, if you have a well pump this system will not work.

Many cities won’t approve a water powered sump pump because of the wasted drinking water. And also because they don’t like the idea of your home water line being connected to a sump pump discharge line carrying “greywater”, in case there is a backup from the sump pump.

Some water powered sump pumps (like the Zoeller Model 503) are not maintenance-free. Their instruction manual states a filter needing to be installed in the water supply line to remove particles before they reach the pump. And these pumps need to be manually activated once a month to prevent calcium deposits and debris from building up in the unit, or the pump may fail.

Will you remember to do this every month for years to come?

The water powered sump pumps operate quietly which is one nice feature. Except when the ON/OFF switch breaks, because it usually breaks in the ON position, which means the pump will run continuously using your home water supply. CHING!, CHING!

If you are looking to get a new sump pump, or to replace an old one that’s seen better days, we recommend purchasing a new ELECTRIC sump pump (preferably a Richtech pump like the Pitboss or Big Boss).

An electric sump pump is much easier to install than a water powered sump pump (you don’t need to connect it to your home water supply like the water powered sump pump). And more economical to run.

If you install an electric sump pump with a battery backup, your pump can run up to 166 hours depending on how often it cycles (and you can also add additional batteries if needed to make it last even longer).

And the Richtech AGM Batteries we recommend for the backup system are maintenance-free and come with a 3-Year Full Replacement Warranty.

Using these batteries in combination with a Pitboss Battery Backup System or a PumpSpy Battery Backup System will assure your peace of mind knowing your system is working properly.

Contact us at 800.677.7791 for more information on our full line of electric sump pumps.