Sump Pumps

The biggest misconception by homeowners is that sump pumps are all created equal. It is true that they are all designed to pump water away from and out of your home, but we at Wagner Family Plumbing feel it is necessary to inspect each home to determine a proper fit.

  • How does your home sit on the land? For example, are you in a bowl or on a hill?
  • Do your downspouts and sump discharge the water far enough away from your home or are you simply recirculating the water?
  • Is your basement finished? Do you plan to finish it soon?
  • How large is your footprint?

These are just some of the questions we need answers to before making a recommendation on which sump pump BEST suits your individual need.

Sump Pump Specs

Don’t be fooled by misleading sump pump warranties and horsepower (hp) ratings of the super hardware stores. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We use only professional contractor grade equipment with real warranties, not pro-rated or with fine print. More importantly hp ratings are accurate on our pumps. They should be calculated in GPM (gallons per minute) rather than GPH (hourly) ratings that at a glance inflate the ratings of the pump. It is also important to take into consideration most homeowner’s pumps need to pump about 10 feet up. These hardware stores rate their pumps at 0 ft or 5 ft head (rise.) Not apples to apples.

Replacement pumps

Like any equipment with moving parts, sump pumps will wear out over time and will need to be replaced. Professional-grade sump pumps are more costly initially than hardware store sump pumps, but their life expectancy is greater and protection from failure better. A professional-grade 1/2hp sump pump should last 6-8 years under normal operating conditions. Wetter conditions and higher rise will decrease the life expectancy.

Consider a backup

If your home experiences a power outage, a battery back-up will help protect your basement from flooding. What homeowners tend to forget is if your primary sump pump fails when the power is ON you will still flood. A battery back-up also protects your home from primary pump failure. The alarm on the battery back-up system will alert you that your primary pump has failed so that you have time to have a new one installed. Same as sump pumps, not all battery back-ups are created equal. Please see our battery back-up page for more information.