Help choosing sump pump...

[Neil_Asheville]

I need recommendations on a general purpose sump pump for resi and commercial jobs. I need an inexpensive diversion/evacuation solution now, and be able to incorporate the pump and booms into a decent reclaim system down the road. I need the sump for low spots in concrete or parking lots to move water to spoil to ground. So this needs to be one that will not clog with the mud and debris. Also need when covering storm drains and booming to again move chems from cleaning to natural ground. No reclaim, per se at this point.

I have a Northern Tool and Tractor Supply here. Is this as simple as covering drain, booming to dam water, put sump in boom, and discharge via garden hose to natural area? A sump with float valve would keep it from running dry. Do most sumps handle dirty parking lot sludge/water and filter the big stuff? I also have a generator on the rig to run the pump.

Thanks in advance!

[Cleveland Mobile]

Neil

I've always used just any sump pump with good results...you may want to look into one of those shop vacs with the built in sump. The sump goes on when the vac is full and you can let the vacuum just run without any worry of burning it out

Andy

[Scott Stone]

The vacs stop vacuuming when the pump is running, and it is not designed for the heavy use doing parking lots would be. I have used a simer geyser in the past with a lot of success. I have also used a heavy duty pump that I bought from Grainger that worked really well. Don't hink that you are going to get away with the $40 pump. Spend the money for teh more expensive one, and you will be far more satisfied.

[Gary Day]

Originally Posted by Scott Stone

The vacs stop vacuuming when the pump is running, and it is not designed for the heavy use doing parking lots would be. I have used a simer geyser in the past with a lot of success. I have also used a heavy duty pump that I bought from Grainger that worked really well. Don't hink that you are going to get away with the $40 pump. Spend the money for teh more expensive one, and you will be far more satisfied.

What about using a trash pump? I'm thinking about using a trash pump for trapped water to pump it into a holding tank. Has anyone ever used one for this type of work?

[One Tough Pressure]

Trash pumps are for large volumes of water and they need priming in most cases. Letting them run dry is not a good idea.
Sump pumps with the mechanical float switch generally will not work for what you are describing unless you have a lot of water pooled, as they need several inches to get the switch to move. The Simer Smart geyser ($150.00) has a electronic switch that detects water and would be much better suited for this kind of work.
You will need to have a filter sock around the sump or it will clog, regardless of what brand you use. they are made for water and while many will pump smaller solids, the kind of debris you will have is going to be bigger. Even of you were to blow the area first, the smaller stuff will snowball into a sump clogging mess.

[JMSC]

Here is one I built for that purpose. It works really good. Get you at least a 5.5hp vac, go for a small vac with big hp. I bought a craftsman that is made to hook on the wall, its small but has enough hp to get the lift you need. You dont need a large size shop vac because it will only be used for suction, no water or dirt will accumulate in the vac itself. Believe me, I learned the hard way, 3.5 hp dont get it done go for 5.5 or higher. Notice the sump pump and hose running out of tank. It attaches to a water hose and pumps it into holding tank. The filter I placed before the sump is useless and clogs fast so just make sure you put a good sock filter in place ahead of the dirty water flow. Fill the booms up with sand. Good luck becoming enviro compliant, or at least attempting to be...