How To Install A Battery Backup On A Sump Pump

If you simply got water in your basement because the power went out or considering your sump pump failed and so you are at the right place. This is the second time I have installed a battery back-up sump pump arrangement and information technology will help you sleep better at night. It will probably cost you more than $one,000 to hire a plumber to do this just you can do it yourself for about one-half that. The cost of installing a backup organisation for your sump pump doesn't even come shut to the toll of replacing all your carpet and the drywall in your basement. Read on to see how easy it actually is to do it yourself with my battery backup sump pump installation instructions…

Parts Needed:

Zoeller 507-0005 Basement Sentry Bombardment Backup Pump
12 V Marine Bombardment (with threaded terminals on peak) — I would just pick up the biggest marine bombardment they have at your local car parts shop
Nothing Ties
PVC Cement

Tools Needed:

cordless drill
cordless spiral driver socket adapter set
Treble Light with LED bulb (I recommend a treble lite with LED bulb so it doesn't burn out on yous when you lot bump it—I was using my uncles fluorescent light in this repair)
5/sixteen socket (for the pipe clamps) – become this socket and much more than in this 170-piece tool gear up
Pipe Saw (but most fine-toothed saws will cut pvc)
Channel Lock Pliers (very handy for opening the stuck lids of cans of pvc cement)
Flush-Cut pliers (for trimming zip ties)

Battery Backup Sump Pump Installation Instructions

Hither is a diagram that gives you an idea of before and later the battery fill-in sump pump installation:

Battery Backup Sump Pump Installation--Before & After Diagram — Battery Fill-in Sump Pump Installation–Earlier & After Diagram

I will refer to this diagram and the naming of the pvc piping pieces by the terms mentioned in the diagram to a higher place.

Installation Overview

What we are going to do is add an extra pump in line with the current sump pump. To practise this we will disconnect "Pipe Piece #ane" which is seated into rubber fittings and held past pipage clamps on both ends–seated into the check valve on the bottom and into the flexible coupling on the top. We will cut "Pipe Piece #1" into two pieces. The first piece volition be #1A which we will first cement the PVC T-fitting onto it and adjust the meridian of the backup pump above the main pump. The backup pump will be cemented to the offshoot of the T. Then nosotros will cut the remaining piece of "Piping Piece #1" into piece #1B which is cutting and so that it fits inside a half inch or so of "Pipe Piece #2". With the two pipes 1/2″ autonomously yous will be able to slip the flexible plumbing fixtures back on and connect #1B to #2. The Fill-in Sump Bladder assembly can be attached to the pipe anywhere information technology doesn't interfere with the master sump pump float or striking something else. The check valve on the outlet of the sump pump keeps the backup sump's water from going dorsum in the pit. The backup sump pump has its ain check valve built into its outlet that keeps the primary sump pump's water from flowing through it. Slice of block–you tin do this and save a lot of money on installation and save tons of stress from worrying about or getting water in your basement.

Stride one: Unplug your sump pump.

Y'all don't want your pump boot on once you lot have disconnected its outlet pipage or yous will have water everywhere. Unplug your sump pump:

Picture of Sump Pump Power Plug Unplugged — Unplug your sump pump earlier you commencement working

Step 2: Bleed the water out of the outlet pipe.

You will have water in the outlet line of your sump pump and that water will exist under some amount of pressure since the pipe goes up. Be aware that the water may spray everywhere when yous do this. You might have an old towel handy so you tin can embrace the fitting as the water sprays out. I just just put my mitt around the pipe every bit the water began to spray out. I loosened the superlative plumbing fixtures since information technology was easier to get at just you could loosen the lower ane besides and it might contain the water amend:

Drain the pipe by loosening a pipe clamp — Drain the pipage by loosening a pipage clamp

Tip: Y'all don't want to loosen pipe clamps with a apartment head screw driver–it volition take you lot forever if you don't stab into your mitt first considering the screw commuter slipped off the head. Pipage clamps have a 5/16″ hex head on them and then utilise a socket instead. I have an adapter for my cordless spiral driver which makes this so easy:

socket adapter for cordless screwdriver — 1/4″ socket adapter for cordless screw driver with five/16″ socket for the piping clamps

Loosening a pipe clamp — Loosen a pipe clench to allow the water to drain out

The water squirted upward when I loosened the hose clamps (I would have loosened the lower clamp if I did information technology again, and so it would spray downwards instead):

Water spraying up out of loosened fitting

Pace 3: Remove the sump pump from the pit.

There are multiple different ways you can go about this–disconnecting the pipe from the sump pump or past disconnecting the rubber flexible coupling. I actually tried to pull the white pipe (#1 in my diagram above) up out of the pump (later loosening the lower pipe clamp) but I was unable to pull it out and when I tried to twist the piping, I could not hold the sump pump from turning considering it was stuck in the plumbing fixtures. Then finally I loosened both hose clamps on the flexible plumbing equipment and slid the plumbing fixtures downward onto the lower pipage. I and then lifted the sump pump up and out of the pit by the handle on the top:

Sump pump removed from the pit — Remove the sump pump from the pit

Footstep 4: Overcome unexpected problems.

1 pull a fast one on to doing it yourself is overcoming unexpected problems. After I got into this installation I discovered that the pipe coming up out of the pump was 1 1/4″, not 1 one/ii″ similar the standard size that sump pumps are fabricated for, and the t-plumbing equipment that the sump pump connects with, is 1 ane/2″ too. I looked for a i 1/4″ to 1 1/ii″ fitting but they are then close together that they don't sell that size at an average hardware store. Finally I discovered what was going on in this installation–the person who had installed this sump pump had put a reducer coming out of ii check valves in series, changing the sump pump'south 1 1/ii″ pipage to a 1 one/4″ and then some other reducer to pace it back up to 1 1/2″ at the flexible fitting at the peak to connect it to the building's 1 one/2″ pipage:

Sump Pump Picture with the parts labeled — Here was what I was starting with

In one case I figured out what was going on this installation, I realized that I needed to remove the two reducers so I could employ 1 1/2″ pipe, which was necessary to connect the backup pump. I also removed the two check valves and replaced them with the new bank check valve. One time I figured all that out, purchased a iv′ piece of 1 ane/2″ piping, a 1 ane/2″ to 1 1/2″ flexible connection, and was back on track. These were the pieces I took off:

sump-pump-parts-i-took-off-reducers-and-check-valve-annotated

Pace 5: Cement the backup pump on the T-plumbing equipment.

At present is a practiced time to go alee and prep the battery fill-in pump for installation and then it has fourth dimension to dry out while we are doing other things. We are going to use pvc cement to permanently connect the backup pump on the pvc t-fitting:

Cans of PVC Cement and Primer — PVC Cement and Primer

I couldn't go the caps off these cans by hand and carefully used a pair of channel lock pliers to get them off:

Loosening pvc cement lid with channel lock pliers — Carefully loosen the lids with channel lock pliers

To cement pvc you start prep both surfaces with purple primer. If I were you I would prime all three of the openings of the T-fitting while y'all are doing the outset one:

T-Fitting Primed — Prime the within of all three openings of the T-fitting

And theexterior of the finish of the fill-in sump pump:

Battery Backup Sump Pump Fitting Primed — Prime the outside of the connection

Be conscientious non to get primer inside the finish of the plumbing fixtures equally it could interfere with the built-in cheque valve on the fill-in sump pump:

built-in check valve on the battery backup sump pump — The born check valve on the battery backup sump pump

Permit the primer to dry and then apply pvc cement (the articulate glue) to the inside of the middle connection on the T-fitting:

Apply Cement to the inside of the T-Fitting — Apply cement to the inside of the T-Fitting

Insert the pump into the leg of the T-plumbing fixtures and turn a quarter turn, lining up the signal on the pump with the through branch of the T-fitting as seen below:

After you lot insert the pieces together agree them in place for 30 seconds as they volition desire to push button autonomously until they begin to ready. After you hold the pieces in identify for xxx seconds set this aside somewhere to dry out and exist careful that the style you set information technology doesn't put pressure on the T-plumbing fixtures. You should allow a cemented pvc joint ready for fifteen minutes earlier putting whatsoever kind of structural pressure on the joint.

Stride half-dozen: Install the new check valve.

The bombardment backup pump comes with a new check valve. The check valve keeps the water that remains in the pipe from flowing back into the pump and it also keeps the water that the backup pump pumps from flowing down into the pit instead of up and out. I would suggest going alee and installing the new bank check valve while you lot have the pump out. The check valve slip fits on the pipage on the top end and is threaded on the bottom end and screws down into the the main sump pump.

New sump pump check valve — Here's the new sump pump check valve

Hither'southward a view of the "flap" of the check valve:

End view of sump pump check valve — Finish view of sump pump check valve

Screw the check valve into the sump pump. Hand tight really should be practiced plenty for this low pressure connection:

Stride 7: Cut the lower piece of pipe to ready the height of the fill-in sump pump.

Put the pvc pipe (pipe #one) all the way downward into the new check valve and holding the newly cemented backup pump and T-plumbing equipment determine how long the pipe should be to locate the backup pump to a higher place the main pump. You don't desire the backup pump whatever higher than necessary but you must be careful to not interfere with the primary pump'south float. The motion picture below is actually the original 1 i/4″ pipe that I took out but it illustrates what y'all need to practise:

Setting the height of the backup pump above the main pump — Set the length of the pipe to ready the location of the pump

Remember to consider that the pvc will insert into the T-fitting so make sure to add that much to your length. In the motion-picture show above I am holding the pump much higher than I ended upward mounting information technology and by the fourth dimension I mounted it, I had removed the reducer too. The length of this piece is not a super critical measurement–y'all desire the backup sump to be as close above the main pump every bit possible though, but you could vary quite a scrap and it really won't matter. I went with about a 5″ piece of pipage:

Measuring 5 inches on pipe — I cut my lower piece at v inches

Step 8: Cement the lower pipe piece into the bottom of the T-Plumbing fixtures.

Prime number one cease of the slice you merely cut:

Cementing the lower pipe to the T-Fitting — Prime number i end of the lower pvc piece and cement in the bottom of the T-Plumbing fixtures

Once the primer is dry, cement the inside of the lower stop of the T-Fitting and then fit the pipe into the T-Fitting and hold for 30 seconds to set the pipage:

Step 9: Install the backup sump pump into the check valve on the main sump pump.

Once you have cemented the pipage every bit seen above, wait about fifteen minutes for the cement to set and so you can sit information technology downward into the check valve all the way. Make sure you rotate the orientation of the fill-in pump so that it doesn't interfere with the float of the chief sump pump and then tighten down the pipage clamps:

Installing the backup pump into the main pump — Insert the pipe down into the safety bank check valve fitting and tighten the pipage clamp.

Step ten: Set the sump pump arrangement down into the pit.

Now that the backup sump pump height is set we can measure out the length of pipe needed to run from the flexible plumbing fixtures that connects to the house'southward plumbing to the T-fitting. Set the sump pump downwards into the pit:

Setting the sump pump and backup pump down into the pit — Ready the system downward into the pit

Step eleven: Cut the upper piping piece to connect the sump pump to the master pipe.

You could immediately cement the long piece of pipage you have downwardly into the peak of the T-plumbing fixtures merely then you lot would need to cut the pipe off horizontally, which I did not want to practice. So I primed the terminate of the piece of pipe and pushed information technology downwardly into the T-plumbing equipment and and then lined upward the piping with the existing piping and marked it nearly 3/iv″ to 1″ short of the existing pipage. Nosotros are going to install a 1 1/2″ to 1 1/2″ flexible fitting to connect the ii pieces so they demand not meet up end to end. Line them up and then marker the lower pipe for cutting:

Measuring the lower pipe — Mark the lower pipe so it is around an inch short

I scratched a line in the pipe with my pocket knife to mark where to cut:

cutting-the-upper-pipe-piece

Step 12: Cement the upper pipage piece into the meridian of the T-Fitting.

Prime the end of the pipe, permit it dry, and then cement the pipe into the top of the T-fitting:

Prime and cement the top pipe connection to the T-Fitting

Slip the flexible fitting all the fashion on the piping:

Flexible fitting on top of pipe — Once it is washed you lot tin put the flexible fitting on the top

Step xiii: Connect the new sump pump organization to the main pipage.

Prepare the sump pump down into the pit. I was tempted to just pick it up past the piping but felt like that may not be a practiced idea so I fix information technology downwards in past the handle on the elevation of the pump. Position the sump pump so that the main pump float does not become interfered with by the side of the pit or anything else and line upward the pipes. Then slide upwards the flexible plumbing equipment to joint the two pipes:

Sliding the flexible fitting up to join the two pipes — Slide the flexible plumbing fixtures up to bridge the two pipes

Yous tin can squeeze the flexible fitting to get a feel for whether the fitting is centered over the gap. Once you are centered, tighten the two pipage clamps:

Tightening the two flexible fitting pipe clamps — Tighten the two flexible fitting pipe clamps

Step xiv: Assemble the fill-in sump pump bladder arrangement.

I recall it is easiest to install the float on the rod earlier installing the rod up into the switch. And then first slide one of the rubber stops onto the rod, and then the float (pointed terminate first), and then another condom end as seen below:

Install the float on the float switch rod

Once y'all accept the float installed you lot tin can insert the float assembly into the switch body. Information technology is crucial to orient the rod correctly into the switch body, with the notch on the side with the hole equally seen below:

Illustration of how to insert the float rod into the switch body — Insert the float rod into the switch body equally seen to a higher place

Push the bladder rod all the way upwards into the switch torso until you lot can insert a pin into the hole:

Inserting the locking pin into the float switch — With the float rod pushed all the way in, insert the locking pin

Although the picture below does non show it, I would encourage yous to have the ii prophylactic float stops tight up against the float, so there is no play. I scooted them tightly upwardly against the float later only I wanted to mention it now:

Step 15: Install the backup sump pump float assembly.

The bladder assembly is secured to the pipage by a metal bracket that has some sharp points that stick out to lock information technology in place and a pipe clamp holds it tight up on the side of the pipe.

Feed the hose clamp into place and then snap on the pipe — Feed the hose clamp into place then snap on the piping

One time you have the pipage clamp started around the pipe then locate the float so that the bottom of the float is one+inches in a higher place the eye of the T-fitting (i.e. above the suction of the fill-in pump):

Tighten the hose clamp to mount the float assembly — Tighten the hose clamp to mountain the bladder assembly

You will need to play around with exactly how to locate the float assembly–you must adjust the pinnacle and where it is located around the pipage. Once thing I'll mention again is that the safety end above the float should be tight up confronting the float (but I don't believe it is in the picture below):

Top view of installed backup sump pump float assembly — The bladder assembly is installed

This is what I hateful that the float stops should exist tightly placed confronting the bladder (and then the float doesn't rise but not move the float switch rod):

Picture showing how the top stop should be located — The peak float cease should be tight on the top

Here'south a close upward of my initial diagram showing you how the height of the float should be set:

Diagram showing how to set the height of the float — Shut-up of how to conform the height of the float

Step 16: Connect the backup sump pump and charger wiring.

The wires that run from the charger and the float assembly switch all come together and in that location are multiple connections that need to exist made. Refer to the diagram below to connect the float switch, charger, and battery together:

Diagram of the connections — Diagram of the electrical connections

Once you lot have all the wires connected, install the ii nuts on the battery posts and tighten them with a wrench:

Tighten the nuts on the terminal with a wrench — Tighten the basics on the last with a wrench

This is what you will accept when you lot are done wiring everything up:

Battery backup system electrically connected — Bombardment backup arrangement electrically connected

Stride 17: Power up the charger.

One important note about powering the backup sump pump charger–it should not be plugged into the same circuit equally the main sump pump. This is considering if that excursion breaker trips for some reason (if the main pump goes bad) so it cuts the power to the bombardment backup system likewise. You lot will be protected until the bombardment runs out but y'all desire them to be on split up circuits. You can merely run a heavy extension cord from a distant plug in and test that they are on dissimilar circuits past shutting off the sump pump circuit and making sure the bombardment backup charger nonetheless has power.

When y'all first power it up it volition tell you the firmware version on the LCD screen:

Charger Powering Up-Firmware Version Displayed — Charger Powering Upwards-Firmware Version Displayed

Once information technology boots up you volition meet the battery voltage displayed:

Battery voltage displayed on the charger screen

Step 18: Mount the charger.

At that place are tabs on each side of the charger for mounting.

Locating a place to mount the charger — Observe a good place to mount the charger

I marked the holes and drilled them first, earlier installing the screws so I didn't separate the forest:

Marking the holes for mounting the charger — Mark the holes for mounting the charger

Drilling holes:

Drilling pilot holes for the charger mounting screws

Squeamish and neat (except for the wires, which we will take care of next):

Step 19: Make clean upward the wiring and shut upwardly the battery box.

Fist I used the twist ties that came with the organisation to secure the wires:

So snap the lid on the battery box:

Battery Case Lid Installed — Bombardment Instance Lid Installed

I would have used aught ties to secure the wires that were coming out of the box but I wasn't sure where the battery was going to be located then I waited to do that.

Secure the wires in the sump pit so they don't interfere with the floats. This is what mine looked like before cleaning them up:

Sump pit wires before cleaning up — These wires demand some direction

Wires zip tied in place — Cypher tie the wires in identify so they don't interfere with the floats

I make things even neater by trimming the zip ties with my affluent cutting nipper:

Flush cut nipper — Trim off the zip ties, I used a flush-cut nipper

Nice and neat and no worries about wires interfering with floats:

Sump pit wires secured by zip ties and trimmed

Step 20: Test out your installation.

This is a disquisitional pace that y'all do non want to skip.You could have an outcome with your installation and be completely at run a risk of your fill-in failing. If y'all are doing this for someone else similar I was you lot don't want to leave them thinking they are protected if they really are not, specially when a wet basement is at stake. I ran a hose to the sump pit from a utility sink in the garage:

Scenarios to exam:

Normal usage — encounter that the main sump pump kicks on when it should and empties the pit
Principal sump pump unplugged – see that the backup pump works
Both main sump pump and backup pump charger unplugged — ability out
Normal usage after a ability outage — unplug the main sump pump and let the bombardment fill-in pump run a few times, then plug the principal pump dorsum in and see that it works OK

Here is a video of me testing information technology:

I caught that I had positioned the main sump pump too shut to the pit wall and the float would hit the wall instead of lifting up with the water level and activating. I also had one test run where the principal sump pump kicked on but was non pumping whatsoever water–I judge there was air inside the line/pump. Finally the backup pump came on. You lot want to work through all the dissimilar scenarios while you have the hose run to the pit and requite it a good run for its money. And so yous can relax considering yous did your task in testing it thoroughly.

At present you can relax when you go out of town or when the power goes out and yous saved HUNDREDS by doing it yourself!

Successful with this repair? Practice you have a tip to add? Please leave a comment!

If you installed your battery backup sump pump with the assistance of these instructions please leave a comment and encourage another person to save a lot of coin and do it yourself. If you have whatever tips to share or any input on how to brand this tutorial fifty-fifty better, delight share and I'll add your tips.

Please notation: if you do not take any canonical comments on this site and so your comment must be personally approved by me before it volition appear. I do this to go along my site 100% free of spam comments. I read them all and almost always review and respond to all comments within a day. I look forward to hearing from yous.

Amazon Associate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means if you click on an affiliate link and purchase the detail, I will receive an affiliate committee. The price of the item is the same whether it is an affiliate link or not. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe volition add together value to Share Your Repair readers. Past using the chapter links, you are helping support Share Your Repair, and I genuinely capeesh your support.