First-World Problems...

Well! That looks like a lot of volts!

Unfortunately it isn't what the battery is supposed to be putting out, and it is accompanied by essentially zero amps. Which is a sub-optimal way to drive a back-up sump pump.

Actually, I have two deep-discharge marine batteries hooked up to an inverter, which is supposed to keep the batteries conditioned when they aren't being used. But after three and a half years both batteries show about that voltage and no amps, so it is time to replace them.

There are other ways to back up sump pumps, including connecting the batteries directly to a 12 volt pump. But those are weak sauce compared to a 120 volt sump pump, and my basement is a flooding risk, so I wanted a more powerful pump as a back-up.

My plumber even suggested a water-driven sump pump, which seems incredibly wasteful to me...I think it uses two gallons of water for every gallon pumped.

And speaking of pumps: buy American. The cheaper (not by much) Chinese pumps fail much more rapidly.

But the real First-World Problem is that my 29-year-old back does not enjoy lifting heavy batteries!

posted by CBD at 02:00 PM

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