Basement Watchdog Emergency User Manual

EMERGENCY

Sump Pump System

Instruction

Manual

EMERGENCY

SUMP PUMP

SYSTEM

WARNING/What to do

POWER Check circuit breaker &

plugs or replace charger.
WATER Add distilled water to

the battery.
PUMP The pump was activated.

Check your main pump for failure.
CHARGER The charger is charging

the battery.
BATTERY The battery is defective

or discharged. Replace battery.

Push to
test or
reset

Table of Contents

Important Safety Instructions

General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

AC Power Requirements . . . . . . . . . .1

Personal Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Preparing to Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

DC Connection Precautions . . . . . . . .1

Introduction

Items Included in System . . . . . . . . .2

Additional Items Needed . . . . . . . . . .2

Pump & Pipe
Installation Instructions

Direct Discharge to Outside . . . . . .3,4

Hookup to Existing Discharge Pipe .5,6

Battery Instructions

Preparation of the Battery . . . . . . . . .7

Control Unit Hookup

Mounting the Control Unit . . . . . . . . .8

Positioning the Float Switch . . . . . . . .8

Installing the Battery Fluid Sensor . . .8

Hooking Up the Pump . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Hooking Up the Battery . . . . . . . . . . .8

Hooking Up the Charger . . . . . . . . . .8

Understanding the Warning
Lights and Alarms

Pow e r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Pump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Replacing the Pump . . . . . . . . . . .9,10

Charger Operating . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Cable or Terminal Problems . . . . . . .10

Replacing the Battery . . . . . . . . . . .11

Test Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Testing the Float Switch . . . . . . . . . .11

Parts & Service Information

Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Important
Safety Instructions

General

Do not expose the control unit to rain or
snow.

Pull the plug rather than the cord when
disconnecting the control unit.

An extension cord should not be used
unless absolutely necessary.

To reduce the risk of electric shock,
unplug the control unit and disconnect
the cables from the battery before at­tempting any maintenance or cleaning.

Do not disassemble the control unit.
When service is required contact
Glentronics technical support at (800)
991-0466, select option 3.

AC Power Requirements

The control unit must receive 115 volts
AC +/- 5% from the AC outlet. Any
voltage lower than this will cause the
power failure alarm to activate. Lower
voltages can be caused by utility
company brown outs or heavy power
draw from other appliances on the same
circuit.

Personal Precautions

Wear eye protection and avoid touch­ing your eyes while working near the
battery.

If battery acid contacts skin or clothing,
wash immediately with soap and water.
If acid enters eye, immediately flood eye
with running cold water for at least 10
minutes and get medical attention.

Never smoke or allow a spark or flame
in the vicinity of the battery.

Remove personal metal items such as
rings, bracelets, watches, etc. when
working with a lead-acid battery.

Preparing to Charge

Charge only LEAD-ACID batteries with
the Emergency control unit. Do not use
the control unit for charging dry-cell
batteries that are most commonly used
with home appliances.

Be sure the area around the battery is
well-ventilated.

When cleaning or adding water to the
battery, gas can be forcefully blown
away from the top of the battery by using
a piece of cardboard or another

non-

metallic material as a fan.

Clean the battery terminals. Be careful
to keep corrosion from coming in con­tact with your eyes.

DC Connection Precautions

Connect and disconnect the battery
cable rings only after removing the
charger from the electric outlet. Never

allow the rings to touch each other.

Coat the terminals with a thin coat of
petroleum jelly to retard corrosion.

Attach the rings on the ends of the
battery cables to the battery posts and
secure them with wing nuts to insure a
good connection.

Follow these steps when the battery is
installed. A spark near the batter y may
cause a battery explosion. To reduce
the risk of a spark near the battery:

Check the polarity of the battery posts.
The POSITIVE (+) battery post usually
has a larger diameter than the NEG­ATIVE (-) post.

Connect the large ring on the POSITIVE
(BLACK) wire from the control unit to the
POSITIVE (+) post of the battery. Con­nect the small ring on the NEGATIVE
(WHITE) wire from the control unit to the
NEGATIVE (-) post of the batter y.

When disconnecting the control unit,
first disconnect the charger, and then
remove the rings from the battery
terminals.

Page 1

POSITIVE

POST HAS

LARGER

DIAMETER

NEGATIVE
POST HAS

SMALLER

DIAMETER

Introduction

The Emergency Sump Pump System is
battery-operated. It is designed as an
emergency backup system to support
your regular AC sump pump, and it will
automatically begin pumping if your
main AC pump fails. Should any mal­function or emergency occur that in­volves the sump pump, the battery, or
the AC power, your Emergency Sump
Pump System will sound an alarm and
indicate the nature of the problem and
the solutions by means of a lighted
display on the control panel.

The Emergency Sump Pump System
includes:

1 Control unit with a float switch and a

battery fluid level sensor

1 Pump with 1

1

⁄2" PVC pipe adapter

2 Plastic wire ties for mounting the

control unit and the float switch

1 Battery cap with a hole to

accommodate the fluid sensor

1 Battery charger

You will also need to supply:

 An Emergency Sump Pump

Standby Battery

(A maintenance­free or sealed battery is not
recommended)

 1

1

⁄2" PVC pipe and fittings

 PVC cement and primer
 A rubber union with hose clamps

or a "Y" connector and two (2)
check valves depending on the
installation method you use

 Six (6) quarts of 1.265 specific

gravity battery acid

For narrow sump pits you will need
some additional parts:

 An "L" bracket at least 6 inches

long. (Preferably one that will not
rust.)

 Two (2) stainless steel hose

clamps

 One (1) stainless steel screw

(#8-32 x

3

⁄4"), a matching washer

& nut

Page 2

CONTROL UNIT

CAP

WIRE TIES

FLOAT
SWITCH

PIPE
ADAPTER

PUMP

CHARGER

FLUID

SENSOR

BATTERY

CABLES

Pump & Pipe
Installation Instructions

(Direct Discharge to Outside)

There are two basic methods that can
be used to install the pump, (A) a direct
discharge to the outside of the building,
or (B) a hookup to an existing discharge
pipe.

Whenever possible, install your Emer­gency Sump Pump System with a direct
discharge to the outdoors. By using this
method, there will always be an outlet
for the water from the sump. During
times of very heavy rain, many storm
sewers fill up. If your pump is trying to
discharge water into a full sewer, there
is nowhere for the water to go. This
defeats the purpose of the backup
system. By discharging directly out­doors, there is always an outlet for the
water that is pumped out of the sump.

There are two options for installing your
sump pump with a direct discharge to
the outside. If you have a sump pit wide
enough to place the backup pump next
to the main pump, use Method A. If your
sump pit is too narrow , the pump may be
mounted above the main pump. In this
instance use the instructions for Method
Aa.

METHOD A: DIRECT DISCHARGE
TO THE OUTSIDE OF THE
BUILDING (Diagram A)

1. Cut a four-foot (4’) piece of 11/2"
rigid PVC pipe and cement it to the
threaded fitting that is attached to
the elbow on the pump.

2. Secure the pump wire so that the
plug on the end will not fall into the
sump. Attach the wire to the pipe
with a piece of tape.

3. Place the pump with the 4’ PVC
pipe attachment on the bottom of
the sump floor next to the main AC
pump.

Do not mount the pump to
any existing pipes...it should be
placed on the floor of the sump.

A
brick may be placed under the
pump if there are rocks or other
debris on the sump floor.

4. Attach a rubber union (sold sep­arately) to the top of the 1

1

/2" pipe.
This will allow the pump to be
removed easily, should the need
arise.

The path of the rest of the pipe and the
details of each installation will vary.
Using sound plumbing practices, try to
route the discharge pipe to an exterior
wall via the shortest path with the few­est turns. The pipe section exiting the
building should be on a downward slope
so that the water in the pipe will exit
outside rather than return to the sump.
Extend the discharge pipe outside the
building as far as possible to avoid the
return of discharged water to the sump.

Be sure to seal the hole in the wall
where the pipe exits and cement or
clamp all connections securely to
prevent leaking.

No check valve is
needed with this method of installation,
as long as you use less than 20 feet of
pipe.

Page 3

1

2

3 4

Diagram A

FLOOR

JOIST

RIGID
1-1/2"

PVC PIPE

RUBBER

UNION

RIGID
1-1/2"

PVC PIPE

PIPE ADAPTER

EMERGENCY PUMP

SLOPE

PIPE

DOWN

CHECK

VALVE

PUMP

WIRE

DRAIN TILE

MAIN AC PUMP