Anyone put two sump pumps in one basin?

sixdogs · Jul 22, 2015

We had a close call with the recent deluge and my sump pump almost quit. We made it by the skin of our teeth.

A second, or backup sump pump would have made me feel better in the panic of a deluge or a failed pump. I have plenty of room in the basin so I wonder about putting two pumps in there and directing to the same discharge. I would run one pump for a few months and then switch to the other. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Anyone else do two pumps in one basin?

Also, in getting ready to install the new pump there is mention to drill a "weep hole" in the discharge pipe right above the pump but no mention as to why. Does everyone do this?

kevinwak · Jul 22, 2015

In one town around here most houses have two or three sump pumps. They install them at different levels so that one comes on first and then once it gets to the level of the next one it will kick on. That way there is a back up should the primary pump fail. They often have a third pump that is 12V dc running of of a deep cycle battery. That area of town has poor drainage and high water and the first pump probably runs 20 hours of the day.
The weep hole is probably to allow the discharge line to drain back to prevent freezing.

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mfridenmaker · Jul 22, 2015

You don't need a 2nd pump, you need a battery backup pump. If the electricity goes out OR if the original pump fails, the battery back-up pump kicks in. I have a slightly used, full battery back-up system I want to get rid of. I'm not sure where you are in Ohio, but if you private message me, I will give you more information on what I have and why I'm selling it.

Mark

xzcVAbc5 · Jul 22, 2015

No idea on the weep hole. There should be no problem with having two pumps to the same discharge. Make sure you have good check valves. I would set one of the pumps a little higher than where the first one turns on so they both aren't always running. The second one would only run if the first one wasn't keeping up.

DuckSlayer1017 · Jul 22, 2015

If I remember correctly the weep hole is to let air in so the water can exit your drain line when the pump shuts off. Just like a drain vent on your house plumbing. It also does what Kevin said for the vertical pipe coming from your pump. I've been thinking about putting in a second pump as a backup, the only downside is making sure the floats won't get caught on each other, that would be bad.

MikePA · Jul 22, 2015

I had a battery powered backup sump pump. Total waste of money. It couldn't pump enough water and the deep cycle battery didn't last long enough. Perhaps they've gotten better.

I have a stand by generator for when we lose power.

I have a flexible coupling half way up the vertical discharge pipe. I also have a back up pump, also with a discharge pipe attached. If the pump fails, I pull it and the discharge pipe out of the pit, drop the backup in the pit, reconnect the flexible coupling and I am back in business.

4570Man · Jul 22, 2015

I was in a repurposed hospital building a few weeks ago. They had multiple sump pump pits that were 10 or more feet deep. They all had two pumps, and they were big pumps with a 3" output line.

mfridenmaker · Jul 22, 2015

MikePA said:
I had a battery powered backup sump pump. Total waste of money. It couldn't pump enough water and the deep cycle battery didn't last long enough. Perhaps they've gotten better. I have a stand by generator for when we lose power. I have a flexible coupling half way up the vertical discharge pipe. I also have a back up pump, also with a discharge pipe attached. If the pump fails, I pull it and the discharge pipe out of the pit, drop the backup in the pit, reconnect the flexible coupling and I am back in business.

If you buy junk, you get junk and it sounds like you bought junk and therefor your opinion of a total waste of money. If you purchase the right system for the application, it will work as intended. I'm sure your NASCAR pit stop system of flexible couplings and multiple drop-in pumps works for you, but what happens if you're not home or not awake? Obviously, you don't understand the purpose of a battery back-up sump pump. Battery back-ups are temporary solutions to temporary problems. They are not meant for long-term use, the deep cycle batteries last for 12-36 hours depending on cycle times. Standby generators are great, as long as you're home or awake when the power goes out to turn them on. Stand alone, automatic generator systems are even better as long as you can afford the upfront costs. Most people aren't home, standing over their sump pumps with a spare pump and a wrench in hand waiting for them to fail. Unfortunately, I've had more experience than I care to admit with sump pumps, battery back-ups, and basement water problems. I've had ZERO failures with a battery back-up system since installed. Just my humble opinions...

Mark

superpickle · Jul 22, 2015

If you have the room an additional pump wouldn't hurt. A battery setup in addition is nice. The weep hole is to relieve head pressure on the line so on startup the pump is not trying to push a full column of water

MikePA · Jul 22, 2015

Time to leave the thread when the insults start.

xzcVAbc5 · Jul 22, 2015

superpickle said:
If you have the room an additional pump wouldn't hurt. A battery setup in addition is nice. The weep hole is to relieve head pressure on the line so on startup the pump is not trying to push a full column of water

Why does everyone install a check valve on the pump if the water is just going to leak back in the hole?

MossRoad · Jul 23, 2015

jjsjeff said:
Why does everyone install a check valve on the pump if the water is just going to leak back in the hole?

Two reasons I can think of.
1. So the pump doesn't lose its prime.
2. If you have two pumps on the same discharge, one pump will push water through the pump that isn't running if it doesn't have a check valve.

MossRoad · Jul 23, 2015

mfridenmaker said:
If you buy junk, you get junk and it sounds like you bought junk and therefor your opinion of a total waste of money. If you purchase the right system for the application, it will work as intended. I'm sure your NASCAR pit stop system of flexible couplings and multiple drop-in pumps works for you, but what happens if you're not home or not awake? Obviously, you don't understand the purpose of a battery back-up sump pump. Battery back-ups are temporary solutions to temporary problems. They are not meant for long-term use, the deep cycle batteries last for 12-36 hours depending on cycle times. Standby generators are great, as long as you're home or awake when the power goes out to turn them on. Stand alone, automatic generator systems are even better as long as you can afford the upfront costs. Most people aren't home, standing over their sump pumps with a spare pump and a wrench in hand waiting for them to fail. Unfortunately, I've had more experience than I care to admit with sump pumps, battery back-ups, and basement water problems. I've had ZERO failures with a battery back-up system since installed. Just my humble opinions...

Mark

No need to be so angry over a discussion.

ultrarunner · Jul 23, 2015

I like redundancy... have a lot of it at the Hospital and if it were up to me alone... we would have more.

Pumps at different levels are failsafes... adding emergency power and you could be good for days or weeks.

That said... I bought a home where if the sump failed... the basement flooded badly... just didn't like being vulnerable.

Home was on a hill so if I could get to it... I did have lower elevation to make it a gravity system...

Actually trenched a deep trench... well it was deep at one end and daylight 30' away that permanently took care of the problem... cost more than buying a few pumps... it was more for peace of mind.

MossRoad · Jul 23, 2015

My sister got divorced and immediately bought a different, smaller house that she loved the aesthetics of.... however, she didn't go over the details before signing and later found it had three sump pumps. One runs pretty much off/on/off/on every 5 minutes 24/7. Pump #2 goes off/on about every 1/2 hour. Pump #3 was battery backup for power failures, but was only tied into pump #1 pit. So in power failure, it can't keep up in pit #1 and after about 2-3 hours, pump #2 pit overflows. The kicker is the neighborhood is sloped towards her yard and the way her yard is graded, the house is basically a dam, keeping the neighborhood from draining past it to lower ground behind her. When it rains, her front yard is a foot deep pond complete with ducks and geese. And the sump pumps drain directly back into the front yard! So all it is really doing is pumping the ground water out from her foundation and back into the pond where its coming from. She wasn't allowed to tie the pumps into the city sewers. We suggested she direct the pumps out the back of her house into a rock garden. That worked and the water now comes into her front yard, down her basement walls to the drain tiles, into the sump pits, out the sump pits and on its way out the back to continue down hill. YIKES! But her pumps no longer run continuously and her yard dries up within a day of heavy rains VS an almost permanent pond. The ducks and geese have moved on.

When she gets some money, we suggested she have 4" pipe put in a trench that goes from the low spot in the front yard, around the house and into the rock garden so most of the surface water won't soak in like it does now and just travels around her house like it should.

Drainage is a big deal. No one anticipates the 100 year rains, the debris jam or raccoon nest in the drainage pipes, etc... Gotta keep up on the routine maintenance, too.

MossRoad · Jul 23, 2015

ultrarunner said:
I like redundancy... ....

A pair and a spare!

brown40 · Jul 23, 2015

At work we had two pits and both were set up with two pumps for redundancy and checked & cleaned monthly. We also kept a spare to go into place when a pump failed. The weep hole is to prevent the pump from getting airbound above the impeller and unable to push the head above the check valve (can't pump air with a sump). We had backup generator power to them, but continuous power supply is needed, as well as redundancy and maintenance to ensure the pump failure doesn't occur or get discovered at the inopportune time. GFCI is an issue that pops up--no pun intended--you don't want the pump to quit, but all are within arms reach of their power sources, so... I installed them anyway, and didn't have problems. They too were on the checklist (GFCI's).

BRB Hand · Jul 23, 2015

Im not sure if anyone has mentioned it but with 2 pumps its a good idea to have each on a seperate circuit in the event the primary pump fails and trips a breaker.

kc5dlo · Jul 23, 2015

I would like to add a tip. Having a backup pump is a good idea. Setting the float switch on the second pump a little higher than the first is a good idea. The most important thing I can add is set up an alarm to go off when the second pump comes on. Just having 2 pumps gives a false sense of security. If the first pump fails and the second pump does it's job, You would never know there was a problem till the second pump fails too.

mark02tj · Jul 23, 2015

I don't have a sump pump, but I have seen "backup pumps" that run off the city water system if you're on city water. Rather than trying to explain it, here's a link to a company that makes them and another link to a video for another company's system.