Which Is Better, a Submersible Sump Pump or a Standing Pump?
- By Eli Weinstock
- Aug 28, 2019
As a homeowner, your choice of sump pump matters. The sump pump is, in most cases, both your first and last line of defense against basement flooding and damaged belongings. Thus, making sure that you have an effective sump pump should be a high priority. But the choice is not necessarily easy – you have to decide between two distinct kinds of pump: the submersible (like the Tsurumi submersible pump) or the standing sump pump. So which one is better?
To answer that, let's start by looking at what a sump pump is and how it works. The "sump" is a pit or low-lying area beneath the basement or cellar which serves to collect any water that gathers there. So water on the basement floor or trickling in through or around the foundation flows naturally into the lowest point, the sump, and spares your home from damage. But if the sump were to fill up, it would overflow, defeating the purpose. Therefore, there needs to be a sump pump to carry water away from the house and drain out the sump.
The two kinds, submersible and standing, are very different in design. A standing pump is a vertical device with the pump at the bottom (below the water) and the motor that powers it at the top (above the water). It is tripped on/off by a floater ball. A submersible pump is a single unit that sits at the bottom of the sump, with the motor functional even when fully submerged. It can also use a floater ball or an internal pressure switch.
Generally, if given a choice, it's better to use a submersible, such as the Tsurumi submersible pump. This is because submersible pumps offer several advantages:
- Waterproof – When a pump's entire job is to get water out of your house, the last thing you want is for water itself to damage it. While flood conditions are rare, those are the circumstances when you need your pump the most, and you cannot count on the motor always being above water.
- Able to handle water from above – Even if the sump water level never rises up to the motor, a standup pump is vulnerable to water from other sources, such as a burst pipe above. A submersible pump is not affected.
- Smaller sump – In some cases, it's preferable to have a smaller sump beneath the house. A submersible pump with an internal switch allows this, while a standup pump with a floater ball does not.
