New Sump Pump Install

[nesquick97]

Hello All,

I just recently replaced my 8 year old Hydromatic pump with a with a Barnes SP33VF pump and SJE Verticalmaster switch. I have high ground water here and my pump cycles 1 to 2 times per hour all year. The old pump switch started to stick, causing the pump to go on, but not off. Decided to replace everything at one time. I have two basic questions...

How many cycles is the SJE switch rated for? -Says 3 year warranty, but not sure how many cycles. I have it attached to the water exit pipe to try to get as much time between cycles as I can.

I drilled a small hole in the pvc water exit pipe since the pump instructions said to do so. There was no hole drilled for the old Hydromatic pump. I have read that some people drill the hole, others don't. I also read that if a pump runs regularly (like mine), the chance of air lock is low and no hole is needed. I liked it better before because I did not have water spraying all around in my sump pit. I would like to keep the switch as dry as possible.

Thanks

[bubb1957]

I do know that the master vertical switch has a much longer life, I was told one million cycles, but I cannot verify that. I too have wondered about the air lock hole. I never had any problem with my main sump airlocking for years, and it is very active. My seperate pump for the washing machine basin used to air lock often, and it was not used nearly as much. I do have air lock holes in both pumps now, but I would like to hear other opinions on that also.

[Chris75]

I just installed a rigid sump pump tonight, has electronic watersense pump switch on it.

[nesquick97]

Good Evening,

When my diaphram switch started sticking on my Hydromatic, the first place I went to was Home Depot to see what they had. I found a 1/3 hp Rigid with a diaphram switch. This would be about an exact replacement for what I had. I thought that I would check the internet and make some calls before I bought it. There is a great deal of info on pumps and such on the internet. This is where I found out about Zoeller, Barnes, Little Giant, Hydromatic, etc... I really liked the 1/3 hp Zoeller pumps. What made me choose the Barnes was all cast iron construction (like the Zoeller), cast iron impeller (vs plastic), upper and lower bearings(vs just upper), and easy to setup with the SJE switch.

By the way....I did find a post on another site where the poster thought that the SJE switches were rated at least for 500,000 cycles. One response here was a million. I figure that my old switch did between 140,00 and 150,000 cycles. I will be pretty happy if I can get the same reliability out of the new switch.

So far I have been very happy. The pump runs quiet and effortlessly. I am keeping the old pump around since it was running well. I figure that I can use it in case of an emergency.