A New Sump Pump

When we had the house inspected we found that there are high levels of radon in the basement. In order to have a mitigation system installed we needed to replace the pedestal style sump pump with a submersible so the crock could be properly sealed. My colleague recently replaced his and recommended a combination sump pump with a back up. This will be great for if the power goes out and gives us peace of mind when we travel. The installation started with removal of the old unit.

The old pedestal style.

Removed from the crock.

The new pump is a submersible style with a built in battery backup unit attached. It came preassembled with a wye and check valves. It was very nearly a drop in replacement.

New combo unit.

The only modifications I had to make were to extend the outlet pipe by coupling a new section of PVC onto the existing pipe to add about 10" to the reach. PVC is easy to work with and is cut easily with a hacksaw. I joined the pieces with PVC glue after first cleaning the parts with the purple cleaning solvent.

Modified outlet pipe.

Before dropping the pump into the crock I cleaned its new home out with the shop vac and a shovel. There was a lot of dirt, stones, and broken concrete in the pit, some of which had been there for a while and some of which was from the drain tile work we had done several weeks ago. So that the pumps would sit level and not get clogged or damaged, all of that material had to come out. Several buckets of mud later and the pit was cleared.

New pump in place.

And covered!

The sump pump even allows me to close up the concrete covers, at least until the radon mitigation system is installed. I poured several gallons of water into the crock to to test the new pump and it works great. It is even quieter than the old one, not that we could even hear that one. I still have to order a deep cycle battery for the backup pump but that will drop in to the included charging case easily and isn't needed before the radon system installation.