Sump Pump & Battery Backup · Kitchener
Sump Pump Installation and Battery Backup in Kitchener
A sump pump is the only thing standing between a high water table and your basement floor. It runs when the power is most likely to be out. Most of the sump pump calls in Kitchener are about the night the pump was not running.
Kitchener has a lot of houses where the groundwater sits close under the basement floor. Along the Grand River from Bridgeport down to Doon, along Schneider Creek through the older neighbourhoods, near Strasburg Creek in the south, and on the low ground toward Breslau and in parts of Lakeside and Stanley Park, the water table rises above the slab in the March melt and after a heavy summer storm. On those lots a sump pump is not an add-on. It is the basement's drainage. And any interior drainage system or disconnected weeping tile needs a sump to send its water to, because the city does not allow foundation water into the sanitary sewer.
What a proper sump installation is
The pit. A lined pit set into the floor at the low point of the drainage, deep enough that the tile or channel enters well above the bottom, with a sealed lid to keep humidity and radon out of the basement and children and pets out of the pit. An old open pit cut into the slab with a plastic bucket in it is not that.
The pump. A submersible pump sized to the flow the pit actually sees. Too small and it runs constantly and burns out. Too big and it short-cycles, which also burns it out. A pump on a lot where the water table rises in spring is sized differently from one that only sees a few litres after a storm. The float switch needs room to move without hitting the pit wall, which is the most common reason a pump that works on the bench fails in the pit.
Check valve and discharge. A check valve on the discharge line so the column of water does not fall back into the pit every cycle. A rigid discharge line through the wall, sealed, carrying the water well out onto the lawn or to a storm connection where one exists — not onto the driveway to freeze, not onto the neighbour's lot, and not back into the backfill beside the foundation where it will be in the pit again in twenty minutes. In winter, a discharge line that can freeze at the outlet needs a way to relieve, or the pump dead-heads and the basement floods with the pump running.
Battery backup
The storm that fills the pit is the storm that takes the power out. A battery backup pump is a second pump in the same pit, with its own float set slightly higher than the primary, running off a deep-cycle battery kept charged by a controller. When the primary stops — power outage, float stuck, pump failed — the water rises to the backup float and the backup runs. It will not run forever; a battery gives hours, not days, and the run time depends on how hard the pump is working. On a high water table lot that is the difference between a dry basement and a flooded one during an ice storm or a summer outage.
Batteries wear out. The controller should show the battery state, and the battery is replaced on a schedule rather than after it fails. A backup that has never been tested is a backup you do not have.
Water-powered backup
An alternative that uses municipal water pressure to drive an ejector pump with no battery at all. It runs as long as the water main has pressure, which it normally does in an outage. It uses a lot of water while it runs and needs a proper backflow preventer on the supply, which is plumbing work. It suits some houses well and is discussed on the first visit.
Alarms and monitoring
A high-water alarm in the pit, at minimum, so someone knows the primary has stopped before the floor is wet. Controllers that send a notification to a phone are common now and worth having in a house that is empty during the day or a rental. None of it replaces a backup pump.
Replacing an old pump
Most Kitchener sump pumps were put in by the builder or by a previous owner and never looked at again. A pump that is more than a few years old, that runs loud, that cycles constantly, or that sits in an unlined pit with a loose lid is replaced along with the pit and the discharge, not just swapped. The discharge is usually the part that was done wrong.
Subsidies and the sanitary sewer
The Region of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener have had programs that help with the cost of sump pumps, backups and disconnecting weeping tile from the sanitary sewer. What is offered changes; check their current pages. A backwater valve on the sanitary line is the companion protection against sewer backup and is a plumber's job, not a waterproofing one.
What a sump does not fix
A sump handles water that has reached the footing drainage. It does not stop water coming through a saturated wall; that is exterior or interior waterproofing. It does not hold a wall that is bowing under clay pressure; that is a foundation contractor. The first visit works out which combination the house needs.
Frequently asked questions
How long will a battery backup pump run?
Hours, not days, and it depends on how hard the pump is working. A lot where the pit fills every few minutes in a storm drains a battery much faster than one that sees occasional water. The controller shows the state of charge, and the battery is replaced on a schedule rather than after it fails.
Where should the sump discharge go?
To grade, well away from the house, onto the lawn or to a storm connection where one exists. Not onto the driveway, not onto the neighbour's lot, not into the backfill beside the foundation, and not into the sanitary sewer, which the City of Kitchener does not allow for foundation water. A winter discharge needs a way to relieve if the outlet freezes.
Is a sump pump the same as a backwater valve?
No. A sump pump removes groundwater from the footing drainage. A backwater valve stops the sanitary sewer backing up through your floor drain in a storm. Both protect a Kitchener basement, but the backwater valve is plumbing work and is done by a plumber.
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