During heavy rainfall, many home and business owners depend on sump pumps to protect their properties from flooding. Sump pumps, however, rely on electricity—which means that if there’s a power outage, a sump pump will stop working. One solution may be to install a standby generator to power sump pumps during heavy rainfall. Here’s what you should know—
Found in both commercial and residential settings, sump pumps are designed to protect a property from water buildup and flooding. When water collects in a sump basin, commonly found in basements, as a result of rain or groundwater, the sump pump is used to remove the water. As mentioned above, sump pumps rely on electricity, and are usually wired into a home’s electrical system as such. If electricity to the sump pump is lost, the sump pump will stop working if it doesn’t have a backup battery system.
A standby generator provides automatic power to a home. As soon as a generator senses that power to the home has been lost, which usually occurs within a few seconds of power loss, it will kick on. This allows a homeowner to keep appliances running.
Whether or not a standby generator will be able to keep a sump pump running—or two sump pumps running—during heavy rainfall depends on the power requirements of the sump pump and the power output of the generator. Start-up watts for a sump pump can vary between 1,300-2,150, and running watts usually vary between 600-1,000 watts. This means that one of the first things that you should do when determining whether or not a standby generator can support your sump pumps is to figure out start-up and running wattage for your pumps.
Then, you also need to figure out your home’s other electrical needs that you’d like to support in the event of a blackout. In addition to the sump pump, what other appliances do you plan to run if there’s an outage?
With the right planning, a standby generator can indeed support two sump pumps during heavy rainfall. However, it’s important that you work with a professional to calculate your home’s energy needs and then choose a standby generator that supports those needs.
At Generator Technologies Inc., our team can help. To learn more about our generator installation process, call us directly today.
*Certain restrictions apply. Financing is subject to credit approval. Financing is offered through Generac Power Systems, Inc.
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