Does a sump pump require a dedicated circuit?

[JimKiler]

I have a 13 month old house. The sump pump died yesterday. The circuit breaker has the sump pump, air exchanger, water heater and water softener on one circuit along with basement and stairwell lights. My father in law is telling me the sump pump should be a dedicated circuit. Is this true? I have a phone number to call the city inspector tomorrow but is a dedicated circuit in other places?

BTW, the builder will replace this sump pump even if it is not covered by the extended warranty that came with our house.

 

[NetWareHead]

All depends on what the local codes say to do.

Personally I wouldnt't get the city involved and have an inspection for a routine replacement of a part (presumably) already inspected and approved.

 

[Sluggo]

How many amps is the circuit breaker?

Has the breaker been tripping, acting like it was overloaded?

 

[Jimzz]

Ours is not but probably varies.

Make sure to buy a cheap backup. Mine came apart when I was making a new lid for mine. luckly there was no rain at the time and I do have a cheap harborfreight backup just in case.

 

[PsiStar]

You are asking 2 questions. Do local codes require a separate circuit and can one circuit handle the load?? Neither of which probably has anything to do with the sump pump failing.

In the 1st case, you will find out from the city inspector.

In the 2nd, that sounds like a pretty good load. But if the breaker never tripped then the circuit is apparently sized adequately.

So why did the pump die? Was it running all of the time? Is there something wrong with the float switch?

 

[ControlD]

I have not seen any code that requires a sump to be on a dedicated circuit (but that is just where I live so it might very well be different elsewhere). However, I would say it is an excellent idea in any case. You don't want something else on the circuit tripping the breaker and leaving your sump without power.

 

[jupiter57]

Whether it is Code or not, it's always a good idea to have any Sump Pump on it's own dedicated circuit.
Preferably 20 Amp.
Just like your Refrigerator, it is something you don't want to leave to chance!

 

[Crusty]

Whether it is Code or not, it's always a good idea to have any Sump Pump on it's own dedicated circuit.
Preferably 20 Amp.
Just like your Refrigerator, it is something you don't want to leave to chance!

It's not chance if you know the power requirements of everything on the circuit....

 

[rsutoratosu]

I have seen it with backup batteries installed

 

[Doppel]

No.

I have a 15amp circuit with a dump, chest freezer, dehumidifier, and all my communications stuff on it. I am surprised I haven't thrown a breaker on it but so far so good.

I bought a $10battery powered alarm from Home Depot with its sensor in the sump put set just above the level when the pump kicks in so that it the water level ever gets too high I will know immediately.

 

[Fritzo]

We have a standard outlet on ours, but I don't plug anything else into it.

I also installed one of those Watchdog backup pumps---best investment ever. That thing saved my basement mancave about 10 times over so far.

 

[Juddog]

It's good to have a battery backup / generator hooked up to the sump pump.

Personally I have a whole-house generator, and one of the dedicated circuits goes straight to the sump pump that is backed up by the whole-house generator as well.

 

[JimKiler]

How many amps is the circuit breaker?

Has the breaker been tripping, acting like it was overloaded?

It is a 15Amp circuit which my father in law laughed at saying anything can blow a 15Amp circuit. Yes the breaker has been tripping. Initially it took a few minutes to trip but as I kept unplugging things from the circuit it would occur quicker until it became instant.

The water in the sump at the time smelled of melted or fried electronic components.

All depends on what the local codes say to do.

Personally I wouldnt't get the city involved and have an inspection for a routine replacement of a part (presumably) already inspected and approved.

I only want to confirm with the city that code does not require a separate circuit for the sump pump. I wish we would have known to have the electrician do it at the time of building. There are a lot of good ideas that are not code but you never know to ask at the time of building a house.

 

[Mixolydian]

It always varies by location, but ideally you would want it on a dedicated circuit.

 

[ControlD]

No.

I have a 15amp circuit with a dump, chest freezer, dehumidifier, and all my communications stuff on it. I am surprised I haven't thrown a breaker on it but so far so good.

I bought a $10battery powered alarm from Home Depot with its sensor in the sump put set just above the level when the pump kicks in so that it the water level ever gets too high I will know immediately.

That only helps if you are at home obviously. If you insist on keeping other electrical components on the same circuit then you need a backup pump of some sort as well (which you may already have). Really we should all have some sort of backup anyhow I suppose. I have had a sump pump seize when a piece of gravel got sucked into the impeller (twice).

As far as the source circuit goes the issue isn't power loading. The issue is failure of one device on the circuit which can trigger a breaker to open. The compressor motor in your freezer or dehumidifier will eventually fail which very likely will trip your breaker. Electronic ballasts can short out triggering a breaker opening as well. For something as critical as a basement sump pump it seems like an unnecessary risk to take to load up the circuit, especially with devices that you know will fail at some point.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I have two sumps in my house, and they are both on their own circuit. Granted, they are big sumps (.5 horse each), so they probably need it.

 

[Greenman]

It is a 15Amp circuit which my father in law laughed at saying anything can blow a 15Amp circuit. Yes the breaker has been tripping. Initially it took a few minutes to trip but as I kept unplugging things from the circuit it would occur quicker until it became instant.

The water in the sump at the time smelled of melted or fried electronic components.



I only want to confirm with the city that code does not require a separate circuit for the sump pump. I wish we would have known to have the electrician do it at the time of building. There are a lot of good ideas that are not code but you never know to ask at the time of building a house.

Anything can blow a 20 amp circuit as well, if it's shorted out.
Since you already have the 15amp circuit in place, the obvious course of action is to see if it can be made to work. Since you said that the breaker tripped more often as you were taking things off of it, it seems a fair bet that the sump pump was going bad.
Your course of action is to determine what else is on the circuit, and how many amps it amounts too. The sump pump will have a running amperage, and a start up amperage, use the start up amperage when figuring out the load on the circuit. If you can keep the load on the circuit below it's rated amperage, you're golden. Rule of thumb is to only use 80% of a breakers rated capacity.

 

[Vdubchaos]

#1 check the local code

From a techincal perspective, remember, no more than 1500watts per circuit....

 

[Juddog]

I think the issue here is more that you don't want the circuit being tripped by anything other than the sump pump.

A standard 1500W circuit should have no issues handling a sump pump, but if you have other stuff plugged into it, you can risk it getting tripped by whatever else is plugged in if it has a short, etc..

If the water in the sump pump well smells of fried circuits, etc. you should replace the sump pump.

 

[edro]

...let me look through NEC.

 

[Kreon]

The only times I've seen normal sized sump pumps on dedicated circuits is when they are connected to a battery or generator (intended just for the sump pump). Whether or not that meets your local code, I don't know.

 

[child of wonder]

That's the one thing the dumbass previous homeowners did right.

 

[who?]

If the pump leaked or prematurely wore out it's not about the breaker. Make sure no debris like loose cardboard jams the float up, keeping it on until it burns up.

 

[Midwayman]

A 1/3hp pump can pull upto 15A on startup. Is your sump breaker popping something you really want to risk? Cheap insurance...

 

[Elixer]

I have two sumps in my house, and they are both on their own circuit. Granted, they are big sumps (.5 horse each), so they probably need it.

Don't think so, we got a 1/2 horse, and it runs off the same line the soft water conditioner uses.
15Amp breaker...been this way for ~15 years.

Oh, and it was installed by a pro (plumber) since he had to break out the jack hammer to make a pit for it.