Basement waterproofing is a multi-component system. Each of these components work in concert to ensure your basement remains a dry and conditioned environment. If we think of your waterproofing system as a car, your sump pump would be the engine. It gets the water where it needs to go. Out of your basement!
Our sump pumps were designed using years of experience in the trenches. Literally! Years of digging trenches for French drains and sump pumps made us sick of underperforming equipment. Each component of these pumps is designed to give you the best performance possible when you need it most.
Our sump pumps are made with stainless-steel housing and a cast iron base. The cast iron allows any heat produced by your sump pump’s moving parts to efficiently dissipate, while the stainless-steel housing offers the capacity to fit more robust pumping mechanisms. The stainless steel also protects your pump from rusting away while constantly submerged in water.
The check valves on our sump pumps are screwed directly into the motor rather than being attached with hose clamps, and don’t require you to drill a release valve. These release valves are often used to quiet traditional check valves but can cause water to spray against the side of your sump pit, leaving a mess outside of your container. We always install silencing check valves which don’t require any release valve to be drilled while also preventing knocking or banging produced from the closing valve.
We install independent float switches on all of our pumps, which allow us to make adjustments to the height of your switch without having to cut the discharge line. This can be an important adjustment which will greatly reduce the number of cycles your pump runs. Our float switches are tested and rated for up to a million cycles so even if you are pumping water constantly there’s no need to worry!
A little talked about component of a high-quality sump pump installation is the discharge line. The discharge line, as the name suggests, discharges the water that your sump pump is pumping out of your home. Everyone’s home is slightly different when it comes to discharging but there are some gold standards we follow for each install.
Drycrete uses 1-1/2 in PVC Schedule 40 discharge line all hard piped out of the container and cored out through your foundation. This sturdy material cored through your foundation allows for multiple benefits:
You’ll sometimes see discharge lines drilled out through the siding of your home. The issue arises when your sump pump begins pumping water. The vibration from the pump will transfer to the discharge line, then to your siding, and lastly your framing, causing a humming noise that can be heard as far away as your second story bedroom. By coring through your basement wall, your foundation will act as a sound deadener, dissipating any humming noise.
Cold climates that experience a period of freeze face a challenge unique to those parts of the globe. Water leaving your discharge line has a chance to freeze which can cause your sump pump to back up. Drycrete cores through your 10 in foundation at a slight angle ensuring the proper pitch of your discharge line. As long as the water running through your discharge line stays moving, it won’t freeze.
Once the discharge line is outside of your home it’s important to maintain that same pitch. Drycrete will ensure that the pipe does so and is daylighted as far away from your foundation as possible. This means we like to see the end of the discharge line to ensure there are no obstructions or blockages.
When writing up plans for your sump pump project we will note any slope towards or away from your home and plan to discharge your sump pump where the water can naturally run away from your foundation.
All of Drycrete’s sump pumps are high quality. We don’t install anything less than a ¾ horsepower pump which offers higher pumping capacity and comes with a 5-year manufacturer’s warranty. Compare those to many 1/3 and ½ horsepower pumps and you’ll see less capacity and a shorter warranty. We do offer a range of sump pump options to fit the needs of each customer.
The Dual Pump Battery Backup with Wi-Fi monitoring is Drycrete’s sump pump crown jewel. With this kit not only do you have the power of our Standard Sump Pump, but you also have a backup pump that offers an additional pumping capacity of 2,580 gallons per hour. This secondary pump can be used in case your primary pump fails or in unison with the primary pump for maximum pumping capacity.
Not only do you have a backup pump for peace of mind, but you also have a backup battery to ensure both pumps are in working order when you need them most. If the power goes out or the circuit running your sump pump is tripped the battery will continue to run both pumps. The battery can pump up to 13,000 gallons of water on a single charge. That’s enough water to fill an inground pool!
If that’s not enough insurance, then you can download our Smart Shield app free of charge and monitor your pump 24/7. From the app you can see how often your pump cycles, how many gallons it pumps, and receive alerts regarding any potential issues. You’ll have access to this information from the comfort of your home or halfway across the globe.
This is the powerhouse of our Sump Pump line up and is most often used for commercial purposes. Boasting 9,600 gallons of pumping per hour this sump pump will smash through solids up to 2”.
The Smart Shield app is available with our Dual Pump Battery Backup kit. This app allows you to monitor the condition of your pump from anywhere you have access to your phone. Whether it be a blockage in the line or a main pump failure you’ll receive an audible alarm on your pump, a text to your phone, and a notification from the app. If any issues arise, you’ll know before it causes serious damage.
Another benefit of the Smart Shield app is the free Pump Spy and Drycrete phone support that you have access to. If something goes wrong with your pump, we’re able to look at the backend data to quickly assess the issue over the phone. This will cut down the on-site diagnostic process and ensure that we always have the correct replacement parts when we arrive. Saving you time and money.
