Thorfun

consider a Tony tray for your air tightness around the joists. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/search/?&q=Tony tray&quick=1&search_and_or=and&sortby=relevancy

the ultimate backup

yeah. that's the question isn't it. how far is enough? I'm pretty happy with my proposed solution but will check with these pump companies. I could have a separate float attached to a separate alarm that's loud enough to pi$$ the neighbours off so that if all else fails they'll come and see what the noise is all about. I will think about the power situation though as I have enough room in our CU for 1 RCBO per pump but I think that's excessive and I'm happy to run both off their own RCBO in the external garage CU. safe in the knowledge that I'll have separate alarms. will probably also keep the Shelley flood sensor going as well somewhere. for the cost of a CR123A battery every 18 months I think it's a good idea.

that's a very good point! I was thinking of putting a 'garage CU' outside in the basement courtyard and could use that for lighting/external sockets as well. I could then run each pump off it's own RCBO. but then the external CU would be a SPOF as there's a single cable from the main CU to it. when you think about it all it could all start to get very complicated indeed!

evening all. hope you're all getting ready to sit down and enjoy Strictly at Blackpool. thank you for all the advice. I've decided to do this pump solution semi sensibly. I've been looking in to proper dual pump control systems using 4 floats to control them. like this https://www.pumpsukltd.com/puk-v2b-twin-pump-panel.html or this https://www.henrypumps.co.uk/control-pump-plus-single--twin-pump-control-panel-2397-p.asp or this https://www.tritoncontrols.co.uk/alarms-and-controls/twin-pump-controller.html or this https://drainstore.com/pumping-stations-pumps/pumping-station-dual-pump-control-panel-12amp/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-sjqqeW6-wIVw-DtCh1rwgrGEAMYAiAAEgKFp_D_BwE or this https://pumpexpress.co.uk/shop/duplex-up-control-panel/ ok. I think you get the idea. they all seem to do much the same thing and have an external 12V alarm trigger which I can easily plug in to Loxone I would presume. Some even have GSM modules that can be built in. if I can also monitor the 2nd pump so that if that ever comes on I know that there's most likely something wrong with the 1st pump so I can get that fixed while the second pump is taking up the work. I think this way I don't need a 3rd pump as it should give plenty of redundancy and notification of potential issues coming. @PeterW I will contact the above companies and ask them to design the system to assist with any potential future insurance claim. anyone have any experience with any of these control panels? otherwise it'll be me just picking one on price and looks! 😉 oh, and I will also have a separate high water alarm sensor outside of this control panel in case of failure of the control panel. and with the house battery backup I think I'm pretty much covered and don't have any single point of failure.

I could literally put a concrete block at the bottom of the sump to put one of the pumps on! that'd give me the different levels. much to think about.

it just seems alien to submerge electronic components in water! finding it hard to get my head around the concept.

no showers. just a WC/basin so macerator it will be. just waiting on the verdict for yours before deciding if we'll ever bother installing a WC/basin in the basement.

great minds think alike as they say. I'm sure there are other less complimentary sayings for the two of us as well but we'll just ignore those for now.

yeah. we have a 2m deep hole (approx 600mm x 600mm wide) in our basement courtyard. all the groundwater from around the basement flows in to their from 2 x land drains outlets. we then have an outlet from the sump to our RWH tank. the sump was created from shuttering and poured in water proof concrete at the same time as the basement so I wasn't going to bother with a plastic tank as I have a waterproof hole already! I just need to get a couple of pumps hooked up to the outlet. I do like @saveasteading's idea of different float heights and will look in to it some more.

I was literally going to copy something like this but with a 3rd pump a little higher up in case of double lower pump failure. but I have found a local-ish basement sump pump company and I'll ask for a quote. the most annoying thing about that sort of company is they offer a 'service agreement' and the cheapest on their website is £30/month!! so if it's like an alarm company where they insist on you taking a service agreement out then that's a lot of money a year.

missed this comment, sorry. it's good advice and I'll take a look online at what I can find.

the water was a bit brown so I would guess that's considered dirty. but not sure I can open Loxone components! luckily no flooring or fixings are installed in the basement yet. just concrete walls and screeded floor. so once the puddle pump has finished and we run the dehumidifiers for a bit we should be back to where we started. @ProDave in your opinion would you use electric cable that's been underwater assuming it's dried thoroughly? I have some 10mm cable I was saving for our hob which was affected. I guessing that once it's dry it'll be fine to use but thought I'd ask a professional. 🙂

no power at all going to the stuff stored in the basement. hadn't been installed yet. we don't have a warm airing cupboard but the house warms up quite nicely when the sun is streaming through the windows (like today) and I'm not planning on installing any of this stuff this side of Christmas so plenty of time for it to all dry out. thank you. I'm feeling a lot better about it all.

personal belongings we're going through them all to catalogue all the losses and can then make a decision. the biggest loss is the materials and tools that I stored 'safely' in the basement to keep them out of the way! all my Loxone equipment, AC units, power tools, electric cable, Quooker, UVC control unit, RWH control unit and lots more were down there and all got wet. I know it'll dry but I'm concerned about potential corrosion of circuit boards etc for this stuff. anyone know if water damaged electrical/electronic components/units can be used once dried or if they need to be thrown out and replaced?

https://shellystore.co.uk/product/shelly-flood/ this looks perfect! thank you so much. 18 month battery life. hopefully we'll be finished the house by then.

I have battery backup for the whole house. Am also now thinking of a dedicated UPS just for the sump pumps! for prolonged power cut I would have to look at hiring a generator I guess. or just stand next to the sump with a bucket and start bailing.

thanks for this. I'll check it out. I've no doubt that a one-wire from the sump back to Loxone will allow me to alert/text/blare a warning siren out over the home speakers if water hits a certain level. I kind of wanted something short term until I can get the home automation working.

thank you. will definitely check that out.

thanks for this. I've been thinking about my double pump setup and whether I have 2 pumps at the same level so they 'share' the load or if I have them at different heights for a redundant solution? I think we were simply really unlucky on this one. an old cheap pump combined with many deluges of rain and no safety precautions in place. but, in saying that, I might opt for a double pump at the same level AND one at a higher level (our sump is about 2m deep so can accommodate this I think). then we'll need to have 3 pumps fail and be a LONG way from home for it to be an issue ever again. ps. will check out the Zoellar pumps. thanks for the tip.

Ironically, in the summer when we were having the drought and my sump was pretty dry I started researching pumps with the thought to get them installed while it was dry. I looked at this site and was tempted by the Ebara pumps that @ProDave recommended. this one in fact. https://www.pumpsukltd.com/ebara-best-one-m-s-tube-float.html but never got around to pulling the trigger on the purchase. something I am seriously regretting right now!

hi all. woke up to a nightmare today as the single pump in our sump failed last night and with all the rain and underground water our sump filled, overflowed and found it's way (I believe it was under the sliding door) in to our basement. we were using the basement as a storage area for our household belongings that are waiting for the house to be finished. stuff has been ruined and we can't do much about that now but it has really pushed my need for quality pumps that have a reduced risk of failure that I can use for the sump. I have temporarily replaced the failed pump with a Titan pump from SF just to get back to a normal state but I want to get the proper ones in as soon as I possibly can. Can anyone please recommend a good pump make/model for a sump? I want to create a dual pump system for redundancy. Also, I need to create a high water alarm. eventually that should feed in to our proposed Loxone system but, for now, I want to run something that sits in the sump and runs up a long (4m) cable to the top of some heras fencing we have around the basement courtyard with a light on the end so that as we look out if we see a light on we know that something is up! I'm happy to build my own if someone can give assistance on components to use and wiring diagrams. I know it's all a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted but I really don't want to go through another day like we have done today. it's definitely not been a good day. 😭

I would be really surprised if it's going through staples and where the battens are attached as it didn't for us but I have been wrong many times before. it's not something stupid like the membrane lapped incorrectly? so the higher strip is behind the lower strip?

I'd suggest they're talking b*****s. our TF was watertight once the roof and windows were in. we used black membrane and no water got in through it. are you sure the water is coming through the membrane? could it be rolling down the membrane and then hitting the dpc and going in under the sole plate?

awesome. thank you. just working through a LED strip spreadsheet so I can calculate power/current values. need to save money so looking at buying direct from Aliexpress!