You can’t go to Sears and get a car battery for sump pump backup.
Most sump pumps operate on a standard 110-volt AC outlet. So you can't have a car battery sump pump backup without an inverter. It is possible to use a power inverter to change your cars DC output to AC power for your sump pump to utilize. Some new cars have a built in power inverter that takes the 12 volts DC from the cars electrical system and converts it to 120 volts AC to power electrical devices. If your car does not have an inverter, you’ll have to get one of your own.
What is a Power Inverter?
An inverter takes in direct-current (DC) power—in this case, from your car’s 12-volt system—and converts it to the alternating-current (AC) power required by sump pumps. You can't use straight direct current without the DC to AC inverter because the device's power supply needs the AC power in order to properly step down and regulate the voltage.
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Power Inverter for your car battery sump pump backup.
Now that we know about the power inverter, we have to figure out how to choose the right inverter. The Zoeller Sump Pump that we use is a 115 Volt, 9 Amp sump pump with a UL Listed 9 foot long 3-wire cord plug. Having the right inverter to work the sump pump properly is something you want to be certain of, or else this is an exercise in futility.
When buying the inverter you first need to find the amperage on the pump because you will need an inverter much bigger than the pump. Remember, the inverter is designed to run something not start something. Starting your sump pump and initially ejecting the water to the vertical head needs a power surge. This surge is higher than the power required to keep the pump running. I suggest an inverter that will surge to at least 2 times the amp size of the pump.
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How to use the Power Inverter.
You need to have an inverter that fits your car battery or you need to get cables to hook up the power inverter to the car battery. Next, plug the extension cord into the inverter, and run the cord down into the basement to power the sump pump long enough to pump out our basement. As long as there is gasoline to power the car and recharge its battery, this could continue for quite some time. The advantages of this approach are that you can do it yourself and the cost is modest.
You can get a power inverter to run a sump pump and get all the cables from the same source as the power inverter. Make sure you have a full tank of gas and will be awake to monitor the sump pump. Or, maybe you should get a 7 Day Battery Backup System from A-1 Basement Solutions.
