# Liberty SJ-10 water powered sump pump issues.



## swedishcharm21 (Oct 29, 2011)

Even though I'm retired, I still consult the guys at my old shop. Some of the guys have been getting complaints about the Liberty SJ 10, such as:

1) Slowly removing water from sump basin

2) City water flowing through pump, but not removing water from sump basin.

3) On one instance, the customers primary pump failed, so when the Liberty kicked on, it was actually filling the sump basin with water. When the water supply was cut off to the liberty, the basin stopped filling. When water supply was turned back on, the basin started filling quick. I actually went to see this for myself, but could not find anything wrong, and could not replicate the issue, but one of our guys insisted this is what was going on.


I've never been a fan of the Liberty, and advised them to go to the Guardian, for water powered pumps.

Any feedback on these issues?


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

I don't care much for water powered sump pumps...

They have a few limitations which I wrote about in this guide on my website.

Some other options are:

Zoeller Aquanot

Duplex Sump Pumps with Standby Generator


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## Qplumb (Dec 19, 2015)

I always advise against water back up pumps. Most homes I go to the discharge line dumps water just outside the basement above the sump pump. For every 2 gallons you pump out your adding a gallon which will eventually overwhelm the water back up GPM capacity & flood the basement. I always recommend the pro series 2400 & separate discharge line so back up can assist main pump in heavy rain. I've seen rain here in kansas city that overwhelm pumps capable of 30-40 GPM @ 10' head.


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## plumberkc (Jun 23, 2011)

I stopped doing backup pumps all together, too much liability.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

swedishcharm21 said:


> Even though I'm retired, I still consult the guys at my old shop. Some of the guys have been getting complaints about the Liberty SJ 10, such as:
> 
> 1) Slowly removing water from sump basin
> 
> ...


I've installed hundreds of these pumps with very few issues. Most common is a drip from where the float switch goes into the body. All you need to do is tighten the three screws there.

I've only seen one catastrophic failure where it did pump water in and not remove it.

I've seen them working 100% but not able to handle the amount of water coming in. Swapped it out and it was GTG.

I've seen the discharge tied in wrong causing all the water being pumped in and out fill the crock even faster.

My biggest complaint is around here they don't recognise the BWV in it so we have to install a Watts 9D.

AFA liability goes... if it's the pump that fails, that's on the manufacture, it was poorly/improperly installed that's a different story. 

I haven't installed one in over a year and a half, so maybe they had a bad batch or changed something?


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