Friday, April 16, 2010

Cool Technology of the Week

I recently wrote about the floods in Massachusetts and eliminating single points of failure in my home sump pump system. Here's the home "disaster recovery" infrastructure I built.

I have a 18"x18" sump pit 24 inches deep in my basement. It has a gravel bottom and collects water during the Spring thaw and heavy Spring rains.

The primary pump is 1/3 Horsepower Wayne Cast Iron Pedestal Pump connected via a Wayne 1-1/2" check valve to a Wayne 1-1/2" discharge hose. This is a very simple and elegant system - just 3 parts and no connections that can break/leak outside the sump pit.

The backup pump is a high flow battery operated Wayne ESP25 Submersible Pump connected to check valve and discharge hose. It too has just 3 parts and no connections to leak outside the sump pit.

The backup pump is connected to a Wayne 75 Amp Hour Deep Cycle Battery on a continuous charging system with alarm notification if the power fails or the battery ceases to charge.

The end result - 2 pumps, 2 power sources, 2 check valves, 2 discharge hoses (securely mounted with 2 supports per hose) eliminating any single points of failure.

I can now rest assured that my basement is as reliable as my data center!


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