Announcement

**alphatech** · February 4, 2016, 09:04 AM

Originally posted by mnsandler View Post

I have a couple of sump pumps that i would like to monitor so if they fail i'll get an alert before its too late.

ideas welcome!

There are few people that created great solutions for it, I could find one http://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=164955 but I think there is another post out there similar it it.

**Jon** · February 4, 2016, 09:54 PM

I assume you want to not so much monitor the pump, but rather the high water level. Whether or not the pump is working [effectively] can be derived by the high water level and the amount of time it's high. Most sump pumps have a float switch or pressure switch. There's generally two wires coming out of the pit, The sensor usually has a piggyback plug and the pump plugs into the back. You can put a triple tap, or similar between them to get yourself another outlet controlled by the sensor. You can wire a relay (120V coil) to a plug here, and the contacts of the relay to an IO Linc.

I tried a while back to monitor water level directly with an insteon leak sensor attached (wire ties) to the high water point on the discharge pipe. That didn't last long. It doesn't recover fast enough to be useful. And it destroys itself in no time when it has frequent contact with water.

**mnsandler** · February 4, 2016, 10:04 PM

Jon
Thanks for the idea. I'll check it out

Right now I have a synchrolinc in the outlet and the pump wires plugged into the synchrolinc. This will tell me when the pump is running.

I have a waterbug unit wb200 that I can attach inside the well This will get me a high water mark indicator. Can't decide if I should connect it to my alarm which is also connected to HS Or just an iolinc or other insteon device

**tpchristian** · February 4, 2016, 11:23 PM

Here is my write up from a few years back. I think I put it in a post here, but this was easier to find...

http://sage-software.com/index.php/h...p-pump-monitor

I had this hooked to a serial input device that I have, HomeVision. However, you could do the ezio. I think I recently saw one for sale on the boards here.

I haven't hooked this up in the new house. It has a sealed well for radon remediation and I haven't bothered. The new house already had a battery backup pump which I like. The basement watchdog. The newer version of this has a contact closure output for an external alarm. You may want to think about this. Better to avoid the disaster instead of being informed of it.

**Steve Q** · February 5, 2016, 10:12 AM

Looking for Insteon solutions for monitoring a sump pump

I had a sump pump in the basement of my previous house. It pumped the water from the washing machine up to the sewer drain. It had a "sticky" float switch and it would periodically stay running for long periods after the sump was empty. I used a current sensor clamped onto the power feed to the pump. ( You could use an Aeon energy meter [Amazon for $21]). I set up a HS2 event: if the pump ran for more than 5 minutes, send me an email.

Steve Q

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

**mnsandler** · February 5, 2016, 12:55 PM

Originally posted by tpchristian View Post

Here is my write up from a few years back. I think I put it in a post here, but this was easier to find...

http://sage-software.com/index.php/h...p-pump-monitor

I had this hooked to a serial input device that I have, HomeVision. However, you could do the ezio. I think I recently saw one for sale on the boards here.

I haven't hooked this up in the new house. It has a sealed well for radon remediation and I haven't bothered. The new house already had a battery backup pump which I like. The basement watchdog. The newer version of this has a contact closure output for an external alarm. You may want to think about this. Better to avoid the disaster instead of being informed of it.

the near term plan is to have the stand-by generated installed which will take care of a power loss to the pumps.

the problem i have run into in the past in other houses is when the pump mechanically fails. Other than exercising the pump, a high water indicator might be the only other way to identify a failure.

thoughts?

**claude** · February 5, 2016, 03:51 PM

Disregard this post if you live in an area above freezing all year.

In a previous house near a lake, I had a second sump pump on battery backup power, connected a water level sensor to the alarm system + HS with messaging to my cell.

So what would be the weak link in all of this? A common water output. The common output water pipe would run up from the basement then horizontally in the ground, on a slope, and exit through the street curb onto the street.

The problem was that water exiting near the curb would eventually freeze in early winter and block the pipe solid. When the heavy spring rains came along, before everything thawed, the sump pump would activate but no water could exit.

It was illegal to connect the sump pump output to the sewer system (which doesn't freeze), so I had an alternate exit point I could open up outside just to let water pumped out evacuate.

So, a zero risk system is not always possible, but at least I got notification via phone when water was rising. And this always happens when you're away on vacation, but I could call my neighbor and have him pump out the excess water manually.

**mnsandler** · February 15, 2016, 04:36 PM

My solution:
I put a synchrolinc on both pumps so i would know when they run; I setup a HS Timer to monitor runtime.

To monitor the high water level, i wire-tied a Water bug 200 water sensor to the discharge pipe just above the pump. The sensors are connected to the Water Bug 200 which is connected to my alarm. My alarm is connected to Homeseer via my Vista Alarm plugin.

I created some events to notify in the event a water sensor is tripped.

**Jon** · February 15, 2016, 04:42 PM

For those of you who put water level sensors in the pit: what kind of actual sensor did you use and what kind of longevity are you seeing?
I ask because I tried this myself but anything I put in the pit that has exposed metal, especially the conduction type sensors, destroys itself through electrolysis very quickly.

--Jon Chuchla--

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Aussie Mate** · February 18, 2016, 04:10 AM

I am using a Insteon leak detector for my sump pump.

I soldered some wires(1-2 meters long) to the 2 metal tips of the leak detector. Then leaving the end of the wires bare, I taped them to a PVC pipe that sits vertically in the pit.
The height at which the water touches the bare wires can be adjusted to your requirements.

Operation:
When the water rises and touches the bare wires, it completes the circuit - setting off the leak detector (signals wet).

When the pump activates - draining the water from the pit - the water level drops - leaving the bare wire out of the water. The sensor then transmits a dry signal.

The leak detector heartbeat occurs every 24 hours and ensures that the device is still active. I test it's operation by turning off the sump pump and filling up the pit with water every 3 months.

This has been working in a outdoor area for over 3 years with no trouble.

**joegr** · February 18, 2016, 11:14 AM

I don't have a basement (it would be an indoor swimming pool around here - high water table), and I don't have a sump pump. However, I do have a somewhat similar concern. Every few years, the city sewer line serving my house clogs up. As luck would have it, I am the lowest of the three houses it serves, so the backup was in my house first. Not liking this, I came up with an early warning system. I put a float valve at the clean-out at the end of my property. That gives me a day of warning to get the city out to unclog it before it backs up. (Sorry for the long story.)

Anyway, this is very similar to the float that I used:
http://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Horizon...er+level+float
I see that Amazon has a pretty good variety of float switches.

**mnsandler** · February 18, 2016, 11:27 AM

Originally posted by joegr View Post

I don't have a basement (it would be an indoor swimming pool around here - high water table), and I don't have a sump pump. However, I do have a somewhat similar concern. Every few years, the city sewer line serving my house clogs up. As luck would have it, I am the lowest of the three houses it serves, so the backup was in my house first. Not liking this, I came up with an early warning system. I put a float valve at the clean-out at the end of my property. That gives me a day of warning to get the city out to unclog it before it backs up. (Sorry for the long story.)

Anyway, this is very similar to the float that I used:
http://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Horizon...er+level+float
I see that Amazon has a pretty good variety of float switches.

thanks for the idea, I like the plastic float switch option to a metal based sensor.

**bdraper** · February 13, 2018, 12:56 PM

See this post for a write-up installation of sump (trash) pump in a 55 gallon drum. Monitoring the solution and graphing the output.

While I am not using Insteon for monitoring the pump, this setup may give you some ideas.

https://forums.homeseer.com/showpost...6&postcount=12

If you need additional information, let me know.

Announcement

Looking for Insteon solutions for monitoring a sump pump

Looking for Insteon solutions for monitoring a sump pump

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment