Best Sump Pump

[John Terefenko]

Here in NJ we have had a very wet year and believe it has been one of the wettest on record. Reservoirs are full and have stayed that way most of the year so that means ground level water is at its highest. This has meant that sump pumps have run just about all year. I have been wanting to do this for some time and this past year has put me on edge. I need to get a backup sump pump. Just looking for a good reliable submersible pump that I can switch out if the one I have now fails. What are some recommendations to look for. Thanks in advance.

[Brian Elfert]

Zoeller seems to be regarded as one of the better sump pumps. I had one in my previous house where the sump pump ran about every ten minutes all day long.

[Lee Schierer]

IMHO submersible sump pumps are unreliable. Sure they work fine when new, but they are a motor underwater and seals and steel casings do fail without warning. When we first purchased our house we had a submersible. A few years later it failed and we had a partially flooded basement. I replaced it with another submersible and five-six years later it failed.

Twenty+ years ago I built a detached garage. When I paved the floor I included a floor drain and perimeter drain to protect the floor. That pedestal type sump pump is still running. In 1985 I had to rebuild the walls of the separate basement under the addition to our house, I discovered that the footer drains were not sloped toward the existing sump, so I added a second sump with a pedestal type pump that original pump is still running. It runs every time it rains or when the snow melts so it runs quite a bit. Thirty eight plus years is pretty good life for pump. These pedestal pumps all have plastic submerged parts.

[Jerome Stanek]

I have a Harbor Frieght sewage pump in my septic tank. It has been running for over 5 years and no problems

[Myles Moran]

I have a zoeller with an external electronic piggyback float. I also have a zoeller battery backup pump that runs on a deep cycle AGM battery. I like the piggyback float setup because I have a sealed sump, so it lets me test the pump without having to open up the cover.

[George Yetka]

When I got mine I did the research and went zoeller.
I bought mine as a Proseries kit. battery secondary pump with chargers etc. it was about 700 my cost as a plumber with an account

The charger took a crap on me so im down to just the main pump. and that with the battery pump is about 700. So i am going to just stay with main pump.

I bought a milwaukee transfer pump that runs on 18volt battery in case we lose power for extended period

[Robert LaPlaca]

We have two Zoeller 98 sump pumps in our basement, one pump seems to live a really hard life, they only lasts about 2-3 years, the other pump lasted 10 years. I always keep a backup Zoeller on hand just in case. Both pumps are on the backup generator

[Brian Runau]

For a 2000 square ft home what hp sump would you use? Thanks Brian

[Bill Howatt]

For a 2000 square ft home what hp sump would you use? Thanks Brian

My house is just under that and it has no sump and thus no sump pump. In other words, the area of the house has little to do with it compared to the water table, grading, type of soil, etc. In a given location, the size of the house would come into it because it would have a larger perimeter to contend with than a small house.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I have a dirt floor basement and no sump pump here. The basement is always 80-90% humidity but I have never seen water in it. At least two houses a block from here have regular water problems and have to have sump pumps running intermittently all the time except in protracted dry weather. I am near the top of the hill, and they are at the top, so it must be something to do with underground conditions. All this is to say that it seems to be highly variable even in a small area, so you'll need to see how much water you have to move and take a guess about what size pump to buy.

[Robert LaPlaca]

Brian, this may help you with your question https://www.zoellerpumps.com/sizing-tools/pump-sizing-program/

[John Terefenko]

Thanks. Looks like Zoller it is.

[Roger Feeley]

Cinsider a water driven pump from Liberty Pumps. If you lose power this thing works using city water pressure. I’ve had three of them and they work.

[Brian Elfert]

My house is just under that and it has no sump and thus no sump pump. In other words, the area of the house has little to do with it compared to the water table, grading, type of soil, etc. In a given location, the size of the house would come into it because it would have a larger perimeter to contend with than a small house.

My current house is built on fine sand. The house doesn't seem to have any drain tile. There is no sump that I have found at least. My previous house I think the basement floor was at, or under, the water table. I had the house built and the excavation for the basement filled with water during construction. The basement was supposed to be about two feet deeper, but the builder didn't want to go any lower due to the water. The builder put a 12" layer of river rock under the basement floor to help the water drain to the drain tile. The sump pump ran about every ten minutes except during the winter when the ground was frozen. I talked with the current owner of the house and they said the sump pump no longer runs so often since the city redid the street including new storm sewer.

[George Yetka]

My house is just under that and it has no sump and thus no sump pump. In other words, the area of the house has little to do with it compared to the water table, grading, type of soil, etc. In a given location, the size of the house would come into it because it would have a larger perimeter to contend with than a small house.

Agreed I would size the HP to the amount of lift it is going to need if anything.

An exercise we should all perform if our pumps run is to unplug our pumps and see where the water level ends up. If the standing level is a couple inches above our float level but well below the top of the pit. We should raise our floats. Its on my list of things to do when I have free time but I believe the level is pretty high in my pit. My pump runs 5-10 times a day on average. It would be to reduce that to just rain storms.

[Jerome Stanek]

My sump pump in the basement only runs when the air conditioner is working and draining into it. footer drain drains into a stream that is about 5 feet lower then the basement.

[Brian Elfert]

IMHO submersible sump pumps are unreliable. Sure they work fine when new, but they are a motor underwater and seals and steel casings do fail without warning. When we first purchased our house we had a submersible. A few years later it failed and we had a partially flooded basement. I replaced it with another submersible and five-six years later it failed.


The sump pump at my previous house ran about every ten minutes so it ran a lot. The only problem I ever had with a submersible pump was the float switch went bad and the pump ran continuously. The pump eventually burned up due to running non-stop, and probably not having enough water in the pit.

[Jerome Stanek]

I would look at the Pentair Hydromatic sump pumps they are what the septic companies here use and they last for years

[Curt Harms]

Cinsider a water driven pump from Liberty Pumps. If you lose power this thing works using city water pressure. I’ve had three of them and they work.

I've considered that if power loss is a common occurrence. Where we live has a fair amount of commercial activity nearby (grocery store, drug store 2 banks etc.) so power outages are rather uncommon and brief.