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Tsurumi LB-480-62 Submersible Dewatering Pump Review and LB-480A Comparison

If you need to move water against gravity, you’re going to need a utility pump. If that water needs to be moved for recreational purposes (e.g., for fish ponds, waterfalls, and fountains) or to preserve property (e.g., for flood control after hurricanes or flash floods), you’ll need a dewatering pump.

If you need water absolutely gone, you’ll want to go beyond a regular drainage pump to a full on low level residue pump like the Tsurumi LSC1.45-61. But if you don’t need water completely cleared down to the last few millimeters and simply want a lot of it gone quickly, there are cheaper options on the market.

This is where the Tsurumi LB-480-62 Compact Submersible Dewatering Pump comes into play. At just over $300, it’s one of the most cost-effective compact dewatering pumps you can buy. Is it worth it? We certainly think so. You can read our full review below, and you can buy it here. If you’d like the automatic version, the LB-480A-62, you can buy it here for about $100 more.

Key Features of the Tsurumi LB-480-62 Dewatering Pump (60 Second Summary)

The Tsurumi LB-480-62 is a manual electric submersible dewatering pump. Designed for both indoor and outdoor use, it’s an electric utility pump purposed for water drainage and water removal without sump pumps. It uses a 2/3 HP, single phase, thermally protected 110 volt, 5.9 amp motor with a maximum flow rate of 3,744 gallons per hour, or 62.4 gallons per minute with a max head attained at 39.5 feet. Water removal drops to 3,000 GPH at 15 feet, 600 GPH at 35 feet, and shut-off occurs at 39.5 feet. It is capable of removing water down to 4 inches (101.6 mm) above a flat surface and has a minimum continuous running water level of 2 inches. The pump is 7-11/16 inches in diameter and 11-1/4 inches tall while weighing 28 pounds. The power cable is 32 feet long. The pump carries the standard 2 year Tsurumi warranty.

The LB-480-62 has a 2 inch top discharge and requires a standard 2 inch hose (e.g., a PVC discharge hose); it will not be compatible out of the box with a standard garden hose, although it can be adapted to fit one. It is capable of fitting inside an 8 inch pipe or enclosure and uses a semi-vortex pump design that provides additional longevity even if the internal impeller degrades over time.

How Does the Tsurumi LB-480-62 Compare to the LB-480A-62 and Other Dewatering Pumps?

Because the LB-480-62 is narrow enough to fit into an 8 inch pipe, it’s a lot cheaper than many deep or dewatering pumps on the market that need much larger (and expensive) piping for internal installations.

The LB-480-62, like most dewatering pumps, is manual. For automatic operation, it will require either an automatic float switch (we share recommended models below) or an upgrade to the automatic model, the LB-480A-62. This is the main difference between the 480A and the regular 480; the 480A includes an automatic float switch and can be used fully automatically. The float switch uses internal electric sensors to determine the water level. As a result, in contrast to mechanical float switches, it will not malfunction due to physical obstruction or entrapment by debris. The automatic version is also slightly too large to fit inside an 8 inch pipe due to the float switch.

Compared to the Tsurumi LSC, both pumps can be used for residential, commercial, and industrial site drainage and waste water drainage, in addition to work related to decorative waterfalls and fountains and sediment removal from small basins and sumps. The primary differences are in speed, head, and minimum draining heights. The LSC is slower (2,700 GPH vs 3,744 GPH) but pumps to a slightly greater max head (40 feet vs 39.5 feet) and drains much, much lower (to 1 mm of surface vs to 101.6 mm, or to 1/25 inches vs to 4 inches).

Our Short and Long Term Experiences Installing and Using the  Tsurumi LB-480-62 Submersible Pump

We’ve seen these pumps used in a range of applications. One client used four to pump water roughly 30 feet uphill from her 15,000 gallon koi pond in order to power a stream and waterfall 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. She noted one failed in about 2 years while the others were still going 5 years later. We’ve also seen many working hard after years of misuse in rental fleets, and the fact that they show up so frequently in such demanding settings says a lot about their durability.

The pump is also an impressive performer when defending property. In recent years we’ve seen them used to combat extreme flooding conditions, such as with Hurricane Katrina, Harvey, Irene, Irma, Super Storm Sandy, and more. To put it simply, if you need to get water out of your house or home as quickly as possible and can’t or don’t want to spend time trying to get a gas-powered pump to cooperate, a good dewatering pump like the LB-480-62 is what you need for your residence or commercial building. If you’re in a flood-prone zone, you already know you need a good sump pump (e.g., the Zoeller M267 for an AC pump or the Basepumps CB1500 for a water-based pump) on the preventative end. On the responsive end, a good dewaterer can be just as important.

Remember that you’ll need to watch the pump whenever it’s running to make sure it doesn’t run dry; if you don’t want to do this, you’ll want to either buy the upgraded model, the LB-480A, which includes a float switch and automatic operation, or buy a utility pump controller like the HydroCheck HC7000 or HydroCheck HC6000 for indoor use or the HydroCheck HC6100 for outdoor use. Although the motor includes thermal shutoff protection from overloading and accidental run-dry situations, if the pump runs dry, it will still prematurely wear the motor and internal components.

Troubleshooting and Installation Tips to Get Your Tsurumi LB-480-62  Working Sooner

The primary problem we tend to see with these involves the undersized intake holes; if you use the pump in anything besides clean water, you’re going to need to clean it frequently (perhaps weekly) to clear away things like tree seeds, pine needles, algae, or whatever is endemic to your local environment. If you don’t clear the intake holes, water flow will slow dramatically.

Besides clogging issues, there’s not really any maintenance to speak of. We’re also fans of the ability to adjust the fitting on the discharge hose. Sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference. It’s worth mentioning that you might notice a slight increase in your electric bill if you run the pump all day, every day. This is an unfortunate consequence of any electric motor; it’s still much cheaper than gasoline.

As noted above, it’s important to remember that you’re going to need an accessory float switch (e.g., a utility pump controller) if you want to be able to drain water without babysitting the pump. We recommend either HydroCheck HC7000 or HydroCheck HC6000 for indoor use or the HydroCheck HC6100 for outdoor use. Each of these controllers can be used with pumps delivering up to 3/4 horsepower and drawing up to 14 amps, meaning they’ll be compatible in power needs with the Tsurumi and capable of controlling it automatically. Remember that you’ll additionally need a 2 inch discharge hose to connect to the pump.

 Tsurumi LB-480-62 Pump Pros, Cons, and Value Comparison

In conclusion, if you need to move water for recreational or property-defending purposes, you need a good dewatering pump, and the Tsurumi LB-480-62 is one of the best you’re likely to find under $400. It’s not the cheapest dewatering pump out there, but it’ll keep going long after cheaper ones have failed, and it will do so without needing costly repairs. Remember that it won’t drain down to 1 mm like the Tsurumi LSC, so if you need water completely gone, that’s the pump to buy instead. However, if you’re primarily interested in moving and removing water rather than in eliminating it, the LB-480 series will work very well.

Our main suggestion would be to either connect it to an automatic utility pump switch so you won’t need to monitor it whenever it’s running or buy its automatic equivalent, the LB-480A-62; the advantage of choosing the 480A over a separate float switch is that you’ll never have warranty concerns over float switch compatibility. Beyond that, you’ll also have greater reliability since the switch was built from the ground up by Tsurumi to control the 480A.

You can buy the Tsurumi LB-480-62 here on Amazon. You can buy the Tsurumi LB-480A-62 here. You can buy the Tsurumi LSC here. You can buy the HydroCheck HC7000 here. You can buy the HydroCheck HC6000 here. You can buy the HydroCheck HC6100 here. You can buy a 2 inch PVC discharge hose 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

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.

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.