We had a bad wind storm last night, I'm running on generator power as I type, everything is working according to plan, just had to fire up the generator up, plenty of food, water and heat. Now the hard part, cutting up the big willow tree that fell on the line from the pole to the house, doesn't burn well so I can't even use it for the next emergency. Electric co has their hands full so I doubt it will be any time soon, more Miller please....LOL

Having fun in Pennsylvania.....Later all

The tail end of IKE strinkes.
Stay safe.

Speaking of generators, I have a Honda generator that has two modes. One is full throttle, the other runs at lower RPMs and then kicks up on demand. Honda suggests that if something like a sump pump is being powered, and it runs frequently, the generator should be set to full throttle mode to avoid premature failure of whatever it is that governs the speed.

I was thinking of using a battery powered sump pump to overcome this limit. Since the pump would draw power from the battery, I'm thinking that the generator would be able to keep the battery charged in reduced throttle mode. Does this seem logical? If anyone has experience or knowledge about this, I'd be very appreciative of hearing about flaws in the idea of using a battery powered sump pump.

I would think you would still have the same issue where the sump would draw too much power that the generator would be charging the battery faster and would still kick into full power mode, however you could probably get away with running the generator in short bursts at full throttle to charge the battery then letting the pump run from battery for a while.

I did see a system once where it used the incoming power to pump the sump. there was an electrically operated valve where if the power failed the water would kick on and it would run a turbine to spin the sump pump. It wasted water but was still cheaper in the long run than a flooded basement.

My house has a sump pump but it hasn't ran yet even though hard rains, its in a newer area where the drainage from the house was designed well.

Go with a second pump powered by the fresh water that’s coming into your home (assuming you are hooked up to city water) it will still work when the power is off.

I have my own cleaning company, I have cleaned a lot of flooded basements over the last 28-years. And the water powered pump is the most reliable of all pumps.

One weak point of all pumps is the float, it tends to stick in the down (resting position) I have been on a lot of flood jobs that had a bad pump that only had to be kicked with my foot to get the pump working again. To prevent this, use WD-40 on all moving parts of the float lever. And move the lever up and down by hand a few times about once a month.

I've been checking out the water driven pumps but I don't know anyone who has one so I was hesitant to get one. I think that's really the way to go and I appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

The water powered (powerless as you called it)pumps have been around for years. They are twice as expensive, but have a house flood one time and it makes it well worth the protection.

I looked into the water powered pump about two years ago but found for my use it would probably not have enough power. Be sure that the height above the sump to the discharge level is not too high as this reduces its efficiency.

Well, you could always hook up an electric booster pump to the water supply, which would raise the pressure/volume enough to make it work for the sump.

The web page for one of the pumps under consideration states that there will be little impact on pumping rate when lift is 15 feet or less. The height to discharge on my setup shouldn't be an issue but thanks for the input.