STAK Enterprises' Sump Pump Switches are "electronic float" switches that are designed to work in sump pits that collect ground water from around the home's foundation. Unlike traditional float switches, the Sump Pump Switch has no moving parts that can seize up or get wedged between the pump and the wall of the pit and prevent the pump from running, or cause it to run continuously and burn out (See "Why Pumps Fail"). This makes the Sump Pump Switch many times more reliable than float switches and, because its electronic, it has features that just aren't available in mechanical switches, such as the alarms that are described below. Whether replacing a switch that has already failed or just being pro-active and avoiding the damage that will be done when the switch finally does fail, installing a Model HC8000 Electronic Sump Pump Switch just makes sense to prevent basement water damage. And it works with all brands of pumps, like Flotec, Simer, Wayne, Ace-in-the-Hole, Rigid, etc.

Simple Installation
The HydroCheck Sump Pump Switch has a single sensor and a control module. Installation is simple and doesn't require any plumbing to be done. The control module is plugged into a 120 VAC outlet and the pump gets plugged directly into the control module. The sensor gets lowered into the pit and positioned at a level where you want the pump to turn on. That's it. The rest is automatic. View the Installation Instructions for more information. Note that the Sump Pump Switch is designed to work in"normal" sized pits that should be able to be emptied in 90 seconds or less. If your configuration is such that it takes longer than this to empty the pit, consider using our HydroCheck Hi-Lo Pump Switch, which doesn't have any runtime restrictions.

How the Sensor Works
The sensor is shaped roughly like a fork, and senses water by measuring the resistance between the two prongs. When the water is below the sensor, the resistance is very high (Figure 1) but, when water bridges the two prongs the resistance is relatively low (Figure 2).

When the sensor detects the low resistance from the water, it triggers the control module to turn the pump on. From this point until the next cycle, the sensor has no affect on the control of the pump.

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What the Control Module Does
Once the sensor triggers the pump to turn on, the control module will run one of two different types of cycles: Calibration or Timed. Calibration cycles are run at fixed intervals or whenever there is a significant change in the water inflow rate. Timed cycles are run whenever Calibration cycles aren't run.

The purpose of the Calibration cycle is to determine the characteristics of the pit and pump and figure out how long the pump needs to run based on how fast the water is coming in and how quickly the pump can empty the pit. When running a Calibration cycle, the Sump Pump Switch uses the motor current to tell it when the pit is empty. It can do this because there is a characteristic drop in motor current when it transitions from pumping water to sucking air. When running a Calibration cycle the Sump Pump Switch times how long it takes to drain the sump pit. Once it has this time, it reduces it by about 6% and uses the shorter time value for the Timed cycles. The shorter time results in a little water being left in the pit, which helps the pump start up faster because it doesn't have to re-prime itself.

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Alarms and Indicators
The HydroCheck Model HC8000 Electronic Sump Pump Switch has a number of built in alarms that warn of problems with the pump or discharge plumbing. The available alarms are described in the table below.

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