Zoeller 10-0804 - Smart Pak Plus Residential Sump Pump Alternator

After having TWO finished basement floods (first one no power, no pump, second one sump pump failed-after seven years) we had a redundant sump pump installed and we also told to purchase this device. It does EXACTLY what you want for a redundant sump system. Rather than one pump laying dormant while the other does all the work, this device ALTERNATES which pump is working. Basically, pump A activates and pumps out water. The alternator then SWITCHES/activates the other pump for the next time it needs to empty the sump well. We thought the whole house generator took care of the power outage issue, but after, painfully, discovering that sump pumps have an average "life span" of 7 to 10 years, we went the route of the redundant system. Worth the price...

Thanksgiving day 2015, my basement flooded due to sump pump failure. I cannot really fault the pump as it had given 10 long hard years and it was my ignorance that really failed the pump.

Most of time the sump pump sits idle. During heavy rains it can run every 30 seconds. During the spring melt it can run every 20 to 30 seconds for two weeks or more. However, a single 1/3HP pump was more than enough for the task for 10 years. I just needed some redundancy. Most of the backup products on the market just do not make sense for my situation. Since a single pump can keep up, a redundant pump could conceivably sit there, in a wet environment, for years before it is called upon.

The engineer in me told me this was a recipe for disaster. To expect a piece of emergency equipment to sit for years in such an environment and suddenly work stretches credulity to its limit. Yes, yes, I could be a good home owner and exercise the pump once a month...

Really? On top of all the other things I have to remember being the parent of two small kids? Yeah, you won't remember to do it either. Maybe for the first year, but what about five years on?

Some call it cynicism, I call it being realistic.

This controller runs the pumps in turn. Exercising them both. Today the controller is cycling ever 30 seconds, as we are in the middle of a major rain storm. However, each pump is only seeing a cycle once a minute. The pumps are cycled less, they are allowed to cool for longer. If one fails, this controller sounds an alarm and locks out the failed pump. Giving me notification and time to take care of the issue. I have tested this and it works perfectly.

While I have never done plumbing before, several youtube videos and a bit of reading taught me how to make the "T" connection. It turned out to be very easy, to be honest. The controller itself was very simple to setup and it just works out of the box. No complicated setup, no tuning anything. Plug it in and it works. During this project, I also added two Zoeller quiet check valves. The system works perfectly and it no longer thumps the heck out of everyone in the house.

Wait, what was that? What about a power outage? Yes, you are correct this controller will not help you if the power goes out. I built my own solution that can power the whole system for over an hour, which is more than enough time for me to get my generator going.

Bravo to Zoeller for a great product. This along with two M98 pumps have made my basement safer and have given me piece of mind.