Sump Pump wiring
 

I am in the process of rewiring most of the non-grounded circuits in my house, and came across my sump pump, which currently is branched off of an outlet circuit.

Having read the NEC about sumps, I believe it needs its own dedicated 20A circuit. ok, fine, i have no problem doing that.

My problem is, how would I ever know if the circuit tripped except for when my basement floods? Although there is a huge draw on startup of the pump, it almost seems more logical to wire it onto a circuit that feeds outlets or ceiling so you could actually tell if the circuit tripped from upstairs....

any thoughts?

Wire the control coil of a spst NC "make" 120 volt line relay to the load side of the gfci. Wire the line side of the gfci to the line contacts. Run a line from the load contacts to a freakin siren upstairs that goes off and automatically dials 911.

Actually I believe this would work. Not sure if the gfci would trip though when the coil energizes...cost you about 10 bucks to find out. Probably would be better to use a light bulb over the entry to your garage or something...:)

Stubbie

heh, yeah, i was contemplating wiring in normal-closed relay to the 120v line....or maybe a float switch....

or maybe ill just invest in a canoe

as a thought, would you rather know your GFCI tripped, or that your sump is overflowing? It seems I could devise a float switch to tell if the pump is not working (giving me little time to fix it) , or a relay to tell if the line is not live (but does not tell me if the pump failed).