Just got an ad from Rural king for sump pumps.

Made me remember I have a longstanding question - do the experts here proactively replace a sump pump every X years? Or do you wait till it stops working (at the worst time and you wind up with water in the basement?

Or I've thought about putting 2 pumps in the pit. 1 dies and the other takes over? Just kinda tight fit for 2 of them.

And what brand do you use?

Battery power? A/C? Water powered?

 

oh, and if you do the 2 pump approach, are they set at about the same level? Or 1 sees no activity till the other fails?
And you just put check valves on their outlets and join them to the same pipe going out? or 2 separate pipes all the way out?

 

Depends on how much additional backup you want to build into your system. It's the homeowner's choice.

With two pumps, I suggest either changing the float level so the other pump gets to run every few months, or to have the slower pump be the main pump and the faster pump be the backup.

If the faster pump runs first, it will empty the pit and stop with less time for water queued up in the weeping tiles to get into the pit and get expelled during the same pump cycle.This results in pump restarts being more frequently than really necessary.

I recommend separate outlet pipes for each pump.

 

BLACK ABS PIPE AND A SLEEVE
I mount my sump pumps with an adapter and a 3-foot section of black ABS pipe I use the same diameter black ABS pipe hanging down from the discharge outlet, and cut both to matching height. I use a 2-foot sleeve of black ABS pipe (~2.5" inside diameter) over the pump-pipe and discharge-pipe. The ABS sleeve makes a snug fit without clamps; it may spray or drip a little but twisting the sleeve or rotating the pump around usually fixes this; but sometimes hose clamps are needed. I keep a replacement sump pump with a pre-installed 3-foot ABS pipe.
If the sump pump dies,
1) unplug the current sump pump
2) grab the ABS sleeve and slide it UP to disconnect the old pump.
3) set the replacement sump pump in the pit
4) slide the ABS sleeve down to connect the new pump
5) plug in the new sump pump
It takes ABOUT as long to READ the description of the swap, as it does to DO the swap.

DETAILED
I'm a Realtor in SE Pennsylvania, which has clay soils, slow drainage, and lots of sump pump issues.
Generally, 2 sump pumps would be seen as a warning sign for "basement water problem." What has significantly changed about sump pumps in the last few decades isn't the pump, but what it is protecting.
The real issue is time - How long would it take for basement flooding to do damage?
Figure out THAT, and then work backwards.

FINISHED BASEMENT
-30 yeas ago the term "finished basement" generally meant a drop ceiling, wood paneling, your oldest couch and oldest TV and VCR, an area rug, a ping-pong or pool table. The OTHER half the basement was utilities. If the basement had a history of flooding, then everything important, washer/dryer, water heater and furnace, would be sitting up on cinderblocks.
This meant that if the basement flooded, you dragged the area rugs out, mopped everything down with bleach, and ran the fan for a few days.
-TODAY, finished basement generally means sheetrock walls, sheetrock ceiling, wall to wall carpeting, 4K home theater, bar or minifridge, and expensive basement furniture.

 

I recommend Wayne pumps, they have been a good investment, dont buy any of the krap sold at Big Bog Store!

It all depends on your situation, I have an overflow pipe so my pit will fill to the absolute brim but not overflow so I will wait till it dies but this is not a typ situation.

Second pump on hand would shorten the replacement time but if you need that power out option then it has to be battery or water unless your on a well!

 

I have two installed sump pumps. I also have a spare. One of the pumps came with the house when we purchased it 35 years ago. I have no idea how many hours it has but it's a lot.I don't even know the brand. The sump that it is in is too small so it cycles a lot. The other pump is a Wayne 1/3 HP purchased at a big box store as is my spare. They must be crap though.

 

I think it really depends on what's around the sump and what kind of damage you're expecting if it does overflow.

As Hal mentioned, fully finished basement... I'd want a primary pump and battery backup pump with alarm - with maybe a backup battery or two for a longer power outage event.
For a more utilitarian basement, I would keep the normal pump and only add a battery powered water alarm. Maybe a backup drill-powered pump or something for the really unexpected event.

I wouldn't ever replace a working pump on a schedule. No reason it shouldn't last a long time.

 

Instead of "a tale of two cities - here's a tale of two basements. Big storm, 15 miles difference in location.
A- 1700s farmhouse. Basement has fieldstone walls, foundation leaks like a sieve during a hard rain. Extra wide and deep sump-hole. 1940s poured concrete floor has a 6" slope over the 40' length of the basement.
B- 1990s Cul-De-Sac. Poured concrete foundation with a floating slab. Finished basement, level floor, all drywalled, with electric sump pump AND backup municipal water powered jet sump pump.

12 Hour Power Outage
-1700s Farmhouse - The heavily sloped basement floor restricts the rising water to about 1/2 of the basement, centered on the sump pump. Furnace and water heater stay high & dry. The oversized sump-hole accommodates a 5 gallon bucket, which makes it easy to bail out the farmhouse basement (& also provides easy refills for the toilets)

1 Hour Power Outage
-1990s Cul-De-Sac. The power goes out. The expensive water-powered-jet-sump-pump jams due to a tiny sliver of PVC pipe burr left in the bottom of the drain pipe. The water creeps up by about 1", which just covers the wall-to-wall carpet, shorts out the electronics on the downstairs wine-fridge, dishwasher, and furnace, and then wicks into the floor cabinets and sheet rock.