I just installed a 1" water powered backup sump pump this weekend and I thought I’d share my opinion today after a full day of moderate rain. It’s made (or just assembled?) by Tane Corp and they call it the Water Commander. There were a couple other brands, only one that came close to the flow rates, but it wasn’t made in America so I opted to buy from Tane for a bit more $$$.
From prior posts, you’ll find I’ve been looking for ways to keep up with a very active pit and have a backup in place that can keep up with the high volume requirements should the power go out.
I may also take the advice (from here I think) of installing a lower flow fountain type pump and 1/2" tubing to run more continuous vs the constant on/off of the main pump. We’ll see about this...I've never even heard of it being done before.
Today made for a perfect day for actual testing of the water powered backup. (the video via the link was a manual test) We had a full day of moderate rain and lots of standing water in the yards. So I unplugged the main pump and WOW...this water powered thing is the real deal. It removed the high volume of water coming in as fast (or damn close?) as the main pump does. I feel so much better now having this installed.
Some may think it costs a lot to run a water powered pump…but think again. The average cost of water in the US is $1.50 per 1,000 gallons. That’s water only FYI…not all counting the taxes and fee’s that we pay on our bill regardless of water use. So for about $1.50 my water powered pump (the highest flow rate pump available for residential use) could run CONTINOUS for an hour.
To compare, my battery powered system cost nearly the same amount of money all said and done. But then, I had to replace the battery every 3-4 years for $90 and fill it with distilled water every 6 months. Of which I would learn it needed water via built in alarm going off at 1am. My biggest issue though, the vast majority do not pump the amount of water I needed it to and battery performance degrades over claimed run time.
And on a side note, you’ll see in one pic my continued use of an electronic hi-lo switch. This too, although not commonly accepted in the professional world, has not let me down once in 2 years. All mechanical switches either failed or didn’t fit in the crock with my previous battery powered backup pump and pipe.
Click here for pics and one video
From prior posts, you’ll find I’ve been looking for ways to keep up with a very active pit and have a backup in place that can keep up with the high volume requirements should the power go out.
I may also take the advice (from here I think) of installing a lower flow fountain type pump and 1/2" tubing to run more continuous vs the constant on/off of the main pump. We’ll see about this...I've never even heard of it being done before.
Today made for a perfect day for actual testing of the water powered backup. (the video via the link was a manual test) We had a full day of moderate rain and lots of standing water in the yards. So I unplugged the main pump and WOW...this water powered thing is the real deal. It removed the high volume of water coming in as fast (or damn close?) as the main pump does. I feel so much better now having this installed.
Some may think it costs a lot to run a water powered pump…but think again. The average cost of water in the US is $1.50 per 1,000 gallons. That’s water only FYI…not all counting the taxes and fee’s that we pay on our bill regardless of water use. So for about $1.50 my water powered pump (the highest flow rate pump available for residential use) could run CONTINOUS for an hour.
To compare, my battery powered system cost nearly the same amount of money all said and done. But then, I had to replace the battery every 3-4 years for $90 and fill it with distilled water every 6 months. Of which I would learn it needed water via built in alarm going off at 1am. My biggest issue though, the vast majority do not pump the amount of water I needed it to and battery performance degrades over claimed run time.
And on a side note, you’ll see in one pic my continued use of an electronic hi-lo switch. This too, although not commonly accepted in the professional world, has not let me down once in 2 years. All mechanical switches either failed or didn’t fit in the crock with my previous battery powered backup pump and pipe.
Click here for pics and one video