The SafeSump is a sophisticated electronic controller attached to one (or two) sump pumps. The SafeSump system can can be used standalone in replacement of your current single 115V sump pump or as an additional “battery backup” to your existing regular sump pump.

When a sump pump fails, you can end up with a flooded basement. Existing sump pumps can fail for many reasons, so we’ve designed the SafeSump to help reduce the risk of many of these types of failures.  Additionally, when it comes to home ownership (just as with most things is life), knowledge is power. First thing you check when looking at a used car is the mileage – vital information to tell you when the car is likely going to reach the end of its anticipated lifespan. Yet, homeowners know next to nothing about their sump pump systems. How many hours have they run so far, is there a battery backup system, and if so, does it still hold a charge, and how reliable is the backup pump? The SafeSump can give you all of this information and more. It also ensures that the backup battery is always online.

A sump pit is simply a hole in your basement or crawl space designed to collect water from your foundation drainage system. Once the water in the sump pit reaches a certain height, a floatation device attached to the sump pump is lifted and the sump pump turns on automatically, pumping the water in the pit away from your house. Once the level in the pit recedes down to a certain point, the floatation device sinks and automatically shuts off the sump pump. Sump pits come in various shapes and sizes, but if you do a google image search, you can get an idea of what to look for.

If you find out that your home does not have a sump pump, there may be reasons to actually consider installing one. Look at our section on basement flooding below for more information.

A sump pump is a pump used to remove ground water that has accumulated in a collecting basin, or sump pit, commonly found in the basement of homes. Sump pumps will pump water accumulated in the sump pit up to the ground surface and away from your home. The sump pump discharge is to outlet onto the ground surface or be directly connected (where permitted) to the municipal storm drainage system.

The Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation (ICCA) has an excellent website that contains abundant information on flood prevention. There are also sites that go into more specific topics such as sump pump replacement, such as www.basementfloodreduction.com (which is sponsored by Natural Resources Canada). The ICCA also has an excellent home flood protection resources list at www.homefloodprotect.ca.

You are not alone in that understanding. According to a survey taken by the University of Waterloo in the spring of 2017, a very high percentage of homeowners believe that they will be covered in the event of basement flooding. However, you might be surprised to find out that actual coverage is significantly more limited.

Unless you specifically requested coverage for basement flooding due to sump pump failure when you purchased or renewed your home insurance, you may learn that this type of claim may not actually be compensated under your policy. We suggest you check with your insurance broker to confirm your coverage.

Well, apart from reducing the risk of a potential $40,000 cleanup after a basement flood, there are other ways you may be able to save money with the installation of a SafeSump. Check with your insurance company as there may be premium discounts available for you. Also, many municipalities offer quite generous subsidy programs towards the initial installation cost. You can get more information on those here.

We have a list of municipalities on our website (click here for link) that are offering varying levels of sump pump installation or replacement subsidies. You may find that you will qualify to receive money back from the sump pump installation cost (anywhere from 50-100% covered).

Please note, that while we try to keep this information as up-to-date and accurate as possible, we don’t claim that it is comprehensive, and there may have been changes such as addition of municipalities, changes in the funding amounts, no further funding available during a specific program year at any time. We recommend checking with your municipality for the most up-to-date information.

Well, that depends on your level of dyi expertise. If you have previously installed or replaced a sump pump, have some knowledge of plumbing or are just generally handy and can use the numerous resources available on the internet, you should absolutely be able to install the SafeSump yourself. However, replacing an existing sump pump with the SafeSump System is also not a labour intensive job for a plumber.

The municipalities listed in our subsidy information pages (see above) have program details on their websites. Very often, those include instructions on how to obtain a list of plumbing companies that are familiar with those programs and/or have had their credentials reviewed. If you are not located in one of the listed jurisdictions, still check with your municipality to confirm that they might not have recently put a program in place (and, if not, this might be a good time to suggest that they should do so). Another way find a good plumber is to get a referral from friends, relatives, neighbours, colleagues or other people you trust.