I have a friend who depends on her sump pump. I mean, it’s really vital that it works. When it failed last week, the top of her oil burner was 6 inches UNDER the water, and since her hot water comes from the boiler, her water heater also stopped working.

That’s an expensive inconvenience! And dangerous because the oil tank was under water as well.

I don’t know yet what this latest episode is going to cost her. She was lucky to have caught it. The oil burner needed to be cleaned and a few electrical components needed to be changed.  She had a battery backup sump pump, in addition to her main sump pump, but at some point both had failed and no one knew it. I did get the main pump working, but it failed a few days later again, so I temporarily put in one that we have on hand until we can install a Nexpump.  This time she noticed the steam coming out of the chimney, turned off the boiler before it was flooded and pumped out the cellar with another pump and hose out the door. Talk about water problems! This is a person that spent thousands of dollars putting in an exterior drain system, and the house had been water free for a few years, but the whole system depends on the sump pump working. As you can imagine, this is very upsetting for her.

Line drawing of a Nexpump installation

The solution is called a Nexpump, and it is the ultimate sump pump. It has automatic battery backup, automatic self testing, dual high capacity pumps, a battery charger and pumps 5600 gallons per hour. The system monitors it’s own condition and emails and phones both the home owner and me if there are any problems. It uses a logic board that detects plumbing problems, sensor errors, checks it’s own components and exercises the pumps if they haven’t been needed to make sure they still work. There are two high capacity pumps, and it can be hooked up to two batteries if long power outages are common in the area.

There are quite a lot of these systems installed in the Chicago area (which is where they come from), but they are new to New England.

It’s as close to peace of mind with a sump pump as money can buy. If anyone has a sitution like my friends where the pump operation is critical, they need one, it’s as simple as that.