Liberty Pumps SJ10 SumpJet Water Powered Backup Sump Review: Battery-Free Basement Protection

Mike and Mary

Whether you’re a homeowner or a landlord, if your home has a basement in an area with flooding, it needs a sump pump. There are a number of good AC models available, such as the Zoeller M267. But you don’t just need a sump pump, unless you’re lucky enough to live somewhere where the power never goes out and your sump pump never stops working. For the rest of us, a backup sump pump is just as important as the main pump itself.

Many people choose a DC backup sump pump, and there are a number of models that work well, such as the Wayne WSM3300. However, if you don’t want to deal with maintaining a deep cycle battery or if you have a high water table or frequent flooding, you might be better served with a backup sump pump that doesn’t need electricity at all. A water-based sump pump gets rid of battery drama; as long as you have water pressure from your local municipality, you’ll be able to keep your basement dry–in theory, at least.

Today we’re going to take a closer look at one of the best budget water-based sump pumps on the market, the Liberty Pumps SJ10 SumpJet Water Powered Back-Up Pump. It’s a solid and popular pump among families and investors interested in basement flood prevention. Our full review is below, but if you’re wondering whether we think it’s worth it, we do, and you can buy it here.

Key Features of the Liberty Pumps SJ10 SumpJet (60 Second Summary)

The Liberty Pumps SJ10 is a water-powered backup sump pump. The pump does not require electricity or batteries, but runs through water pressure from a municipal water supply. It requires a constant, uninterrupted water source to work. Its maximum water flow rate is 1,188 gallons per hour (19.8 gallons per minute) and it comes with a 3 year warranty from Liberty Pumps. It is 21.6 inches tall, 5.1 inches wide, and 14.5 inches deep, and weighs 6 pounds.

The SJ10 features a 1-1/2″ discharge and includes a 3/4″ NPT water inlet connection to receive water from a municipal water system. It can accept an inlet supply pressure between 20 PSI and 100 PSI, and will remove 2 gallons of sump water per gallon received. The full technical specifications are here.

Because it is a water-powered sump pump, its pumping performance will increase and decrease with the water pressure at the inlet as well as with the pumping head. Sump pump water removal at 20 PSI tops out at 11 GPM (660 GPH) with a max head of 13 feet. At 40 PSI, the max pressure is 16 GPM (960 GPH) with a max head of 25 feet. At 60 PSI, the max pressure is 19.8 GPM (1,188 GPH) with a max head of 39 feet.

How Does the Liberty Pumps SJ10 SumpJet Compare to the Wayne WSM3300 and ESP25?

Compared to the Wayne WSM3300, the biggest differences between it and the SJ10 SumpJet involve functionality. The WSM3300 requires a deep cycle battery to work as well as an AC supply to charge the battery from time to time while the SJ10 never requires batteries or an AC connection. On the other hand, the SJ10 does require a connection to a working municipal water supply, while the WSM3300 does not. The WSM3300 is also a smart sump pump and includes a range of self-monitoring and communicative abilities. The SJ10 does not, although there is an enhanced version available with smart features–the SJ10A-Eye.

Beyond the power supplies and communicative differences, there are also differences in pumping efficiency to be aware of. The WSM3300 can move water much more quickly than the SJ10 (3,300 GPH vs 1,188 GPH), but the max pumping height of the SJ10 can be up to 2x as large depending on main water pressure (39 feet vs 20 feet).

Compared to the ESP25, the battery-vs-municipal water power source is the biggest difference, as the ESP25 doesn’t include smart features. The pumping speed differences are the same.

In general, the biggest difference to keep in mind between a water-based pump and a battery-based pump is that a water-based pump offers the security of not relying on the electricity to come back within a few days the way a battery-based pump does. To put it simply, if you lose power for more than around 3-4 days, your battery-based pump will be as dead as your AC-based pump unless you have a charged deep cycle battery ready to swap into the pump, because the main deep cycle battery keeping the pump going will only run for a few days of intermittent use before dying. This isn’t an issue with a water-based pump; as long as you have city water pressure, you’ll be able to keep your basement dry. This alone makes it worth considering over a battery-based pump if you live somewhere with frequent power outages or if you leave your home unoccupied (due to work travel or vacations) for days or weeks at a time.

Our Short and Long Term Experiences Installing and Using the Liberty Pumps SJ10 SumpJet

Installing the SJ10 was a snap; it comes fully assembled and the manual is rather easy to follow. Instead of using PVC and copper water lines, you might want to consider SharkBite push-to-connect fittings as well as PEX tubing, since they make the job faster. If you’re okay soldering, though, you’ll save a lot of money by soldering copper fittings; it depends on whether you want to save money or time. The basic procedure is to connect the horizontal inlet to your municipal water supply (which powers the pump), the vertical inlet to your sump basin inlet tubing (which brings in the water that fills your sump basin), and the horizontal outlet to your sump ejection line (which carries water out of your basement and home).

When properly installed, you should be able to get a decade out of one of these pumps without much trouble; they have fewer moving parts than battery-based pumps (no external float switches to worry about), which makes them more likely to stand up to the long haul.

Troubleshooting and Installation Tips to Get Your Liberty Pumps SJ10 SumpJet Working Sooner

As noted above, while you can install the SJ10 with copper, PVC, and some soldering, you’ll have a much easier time if you spend some money on some SharkBite fittings and PEX tubing. You’ll need enough feet of PEX 3/4″ flexible line or copper tubing to bring water from your main line to the pump, keeping in mind that if you have a smaller size line (e.g., 1/2″), you’ll need a smaller PEX or copper tubing. Similarly, you’ll need a way to remove water, which is where you’ll either need 1-1/2″ PVC tubing or an equivalent discharge or garden hose.

The manual recommends a 3/4″ water line so enough water pressure will keep the pump going, but you’ll be fine with 1/2″ lines as long as you’ve got enough pressure. You want to make sure that you don’t have more than 100 PSI coming from your main water line or you can burst gaskets in the pump and create huge flooding issues. On the other end, you’ll want at least 20 PSI or there won’t be enough to drive the pump.You don’t need a check valve since one is already included, but if you’re interested in switching it out, we can recommend the Brady check valve, as it works well and is quiet.

Liberty Pumps SJ10 SumpJet Pros, Cons, and Value Comparison

It’s hard to find any negatives about the SJ10 for its price. If you need a backup sump pump–and if you don’t have one, you need one–and don’t want to use a battery-powered backup system, this is one of the best budget water-based backup sump pumps currently on the market.

No, it doesn’t have smart features, although there is an upgraded equivalent you can buy to get such features (the SJ10A-Eye), but it will do a good job keeping your basement from flooding if your AC sump pump loses power, can’t keep up with rain or water levels, or simply stops working, and it will continue to work without ever needing any form of electricity. As long as you have water pressure, you’ll have a sump pump to make sure your basement stays dry. We recommend it heartily.

You can buy the Liberty Pumps SJ10 here on Amazon. You can buy the Liberty Pumps SJ10A-Eye here. You can buy the Wayne WSM3300 here on Amazon. You can buy PEX tubing here and SharkBite connectors here. You can buy a silent check valve here.

If you find our work at PumpThatSump helpful, you can support our relentless reviewing of every sump pump on the market by shopping via our Amazon link for whatever you need to make your house a home. Despite being self-employed, we promise not to spend it all on health insurance.

Tsurumi LSC1.4S-61 Submersible Residue Pump Review: The Best Manual Electric Utility Pump Under $400

Mike and Mary

Our experience reviewing residential and industrial pumps has taught us two basic things: 1.) you get what you pay for, and 2.) it’s cheaper to pay a lot and cry once than to cheap out and cry over and over and over again. To put it simply, if you want a quality pump that’s not going to break down once the warranty runs out and leave you with a flooded basement (or worse) to clean up, you need to focus more on longevity than on spending as little as possible.

Each area in plumbing has products to stay away from and products to spend good money on. The best AC sump pump, for example, is the Zoeller M267. The best DC backup sump pump is the Wayne WSM3300. The best AC/DC combination system is the Wayne WSSM40V. But what about when it comes to utility pumps? Where should your hard-earned money go when you need to completely drain a flat surface as quickly as possible?

The best pump we’ve found for the task so far is the Tsurumi LSC1.45-61 Submersible Residue Pump. It’s a mouthful, but it’s one of the best pumps you’ll ever find to completely clear water from areas like rooftops, underpasses, parking garages, basement floors, pools, hot tubs and spas, and service utility pits. We put it through its paces in our review below, but if you’re simply wanting to know whether it’s worth the money, it absolutely is, and you can buy it here.

Key Features of the Tsurumi LSC Submersible Pump (60 Second Summary)

The Tsurumi LSC is a manual low level submersible residue pump. To put it another way, it’s an electric utility pump designed for water removal and drainage in flat areas where sumps are unavailable. It features a 2/3 HP 110V, 6.1 amp motor with a max flow rate of 2,700 gallons per hour (45 gallons per minute) at 5 feet. This rate drops to 2,400 gallons per hour at 10 feet, 1,800 gallons per hour at 20 feet, 1,080 gallons per hour at 30 feet, 600 gallons per hour at 35 feet, and shut-off at 40 feet. It can remove water down to 0.04″, or 1/25 inches (1 mm) above a flat surface. It is backed by Tsurumi’s 2 year standard warranty.

The LSC is submersible and can be started at any water level within its pumping range since it can be primed through its discharge outlet. It also includes an internal check valve that maintains the prime and keeps back flow from occurring when the pump is stopped or otherwise turned off. It includes a 3/4″ top (vertical) discharge outlet designed to work with garden hose-sized tubes. As a manual pump, it requires starting and stopping by the user or the addition of an automatic float switch; it does not include auto on/off functionality. It weighs 23 pounds, the power cable is 32 feet long, it is 8-1/4 inches in diameter and 11-3/8 inches in height.

How Does the Tsurumi LSC Submersible Compare to Other Drainage Pumps?

Compared to most other drainage pumps on the market, the LSC is a stronger choice. It’s designed for industrial as well as domestic applications, and has much beefier specifications as a result. In particular, you’re unlikely to find more than a handful of other utility pumps capable of pumping water up to 40 feet vertically while pumping at up to 2,700 GPH at 5 feet and draining down to 1/25ths of an inch. The draining functionality in particular is one of the biggest strengths of the pump; as a low-level pump, it’s designed to essentially completely rid a surface of water. Yes, at 1/25ths of an inch there’s still technically some water there, but that’s also equivalent to 1 mm, which is negligible and likely to be evaporated rapidly in outdoor environments.

It’s certainly more expensive than other budget utility pumps we’ve reviewed like the Wayne WWB Waterbug or the Wayne EEAUP250, but it’s also a far, far more capable machine, as evidenced by its frequent use in expensive and large-scale environments (e.g., freeway water clearance, mining, civil engineering, wastewater, sewage treatment, and flood control). Even domestic homeowners and landowners can see it as a solid, lifelong investment. We’ve seen a number of people use them to keep basements dry in homes without sump pits or working sump pumps, and it has been described as a “house saver” for flood control after heavy rainfall and hurricanes.

Our Short and Long Term Experiences Installing and Using the Tsurumi LSC Submersible Pump

There’s very little to the Tsurumi LSC’s installation; you essentially plug it in, connect an outlet hose–a simple garden hose will work just fine–to the discharge outlet, set the pump where you want it to work, and turn it on.

The main thing to keep in mind is that you’re going to need to watch the pump whenever it’s on to ensure it’s not running dry (running while water is not present), as this is a quick way to kill an expensive and highly capable pump. If you mind this rule, you can easily expect up to 10 years of functionality or more from the Tsurumi; we’ve seen them in use by a range of municipalities and industrial and domestic applications.

In fact, the only failures we’ve seen in the Tsurumi have exclusively occurred in theaters where it was turned on, abandoned, and left to run dry and burn itself out due to user negligence. Avoid this, and you’ll have a very long-lasting and reliable draining solution. While the pump does include a built-in thermal protection unit to shut off the motor if it is overheating, you don’t want to rely on it exclusively, as it will simply lead to the pump cycling back on whenever the temperature drops below a critical level, which still isn’t good for the pump over time.

In practice, it’s important to note that the pump will frequently drains water down to 0 mm due to the vacuum effect it creates around the base of the pump by its bottom rubber lip. This is an unexpected but welcome bonus in indoor draining environments (e.g., when clearing flooded basements).

Troubleshooting and Installation Tips to Get Your Tsurumi LSC SubmersibleWorking Sooner

Although the Tsurumi includes a semi-vortex impeller that can handle small solids that pass through its base straining holes, it does slow down if you let a lot of debris accumulate against the side notches of the pump; you’ll want to rock it back and forth gently so the debris moves around the side notches. That said, it’ll work like a trash pump, but with smaller intake holds.

While the Tsurumi is compatible with an accessory float switch, you’ll want to remember that if you use one, you’re no longer going to be able to drain water down to surface levels due to the inherent design of a float switch. That said, the convenience of no longer needing to watch the pump can easily outweigh the drawbacks of not being able to drain water completely down to concrete or deck level. Good utility pump controllers we’ve used successfully with the LSC include the HydroCheck HC7000, and HydroCheck HC6000 which can be set to activate with as little as 1/2 inch of water and turn off with as little as 1/8 inches. Both are rated for pumps with up to 3/4 horsepower and 14 amps, making them safe fits for the Tsurumi. Both are also indoor pumps; if you’d like an outdoor utility pump controller, we recommend the HydroCheck HC6100. Like the HC7000 and 6000, we’ve reviewed it and found it capable of controlling the Tsurumi with a minimum of fuss.

If you don’t want to spend money on an automatic float switch, keep in mind that you’re going to need to babysit the Tsurumi whenever you want to use it. If you don’t, you’ll burn out the motor because it won’t turn off once it drains water due to a lack of a float switch. The motor is designed to be water-cooled, which means it will overheat and self-destruct if you run it without water–unless, of course, you connect it to an automatic float switch.

Tsurumi LSC Submersible Pump Pros, Cons, and Value Comparison

Overall, it’s hard to find a better utility draining pump than the Tsurumi LSC, especially when considering its pumping speed, pumping height, and minimum level of water clearance. It’s not a cheap pump, but for demanding applications involving large amounts of water that need to be nearly completely drained, and quickly, this is likely the best pump on the market for under $400-$500. Our primary suggestion for improvement would be to pair it with an automatic utility pump switch to avoid the need to monitor it throughout its operation.

You can buy the Tsurumi LSC here on Amazon. You can buy the HydroCheck HC7000 here. You can buy the HydroCheck HC6000 here. You can buy the HydroCheck HC6100 here.