Sump pump smart home integration
Described methods and systems user to manually activate or engage the pump from a remote location and/or to monitor the state of the sump pump (e.g., the water level, the pump condition, pipe conditions, etc.) when located at a remote location relative to the sump pump. A sump pump system may implement sensors configured to detect motion or acceleration of a sensor disposed in water in the sump basin or disposed on a sump pump or pipe. The sump pump system may analyze data from these sensors to identify diagnostic metrics or values that are transmitted to a user's user interface device, thereby notifying a user of conditions such as a stuck impeller, a blocked pipe, a dry pumping pump, etc.
1. A system for implementing remote control of a sump pump, the system comprising:
a sump pump disposed in a sump basin and configured to pump water out of the sump basin via an outlet pipe;
a sump pump control system coupled to the sump pump and configured to activate and deactivate the sump pump based on levels of water in the sump basin; and
a user interface device communicatively coupled to the sump pump control system, configured to receive at least one alert from the sump pump control system, the at least one alert including at least a predicted time of the sump basin overflowing, wherein the user interface device includes a user interface element that, when interacted with by a user, causes the user interface device to transmit a command to manually activate the sump pump,
wherein the sump pump control system is configured to receive the command from the user interface device and, upon receiving the command, activate the sump pump and then deactivate the sump pump according to a time-based schedule, and transmit to the user interface device a water level detected only after the sump pump has been activated and deactivated.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sump pump control system is configured to deactivate the sump pump after a predetermined time has passed.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the sump pump control system is further configured to respond to detecting the command by continuously cycling operation of the sump pump by activating and deactivating the sump pump according to the time-based schedule.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sump pump control system is further configured to deactivate the sump pump in response to detecting a low-water mark in the sump basin.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface device further includes a second user interface element that, when interacted with by a user, causes the user interface device to transmit a second command to manually activate a back-up sump pump.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface element is a hardware element.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface element is a graphical element.
8. A method for implementing remote control of a sump pump, the method comprising:
receiving, at a user interface device, an alert from a sump pump control system, the alert including at least a predicted time of the sump basin overflowing;
detecting, at the user interface device, a user interaction with a user interface element representing an instruction to activate a sump pump;
transmitting a command to manually activate the sump pump;
receiving the command at the sump pump control system; and
causing the sump pump control system to respond to receiving the command by activating the sump pump and then deactivating the sump pump according to a time-based schedule and transmitting to the user interface device a water level detected only after the sump pump has been activated and deactivated.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein deactivating the sump pump comprises deactivating the sump pump after activating the sump pump in response to the command, after a predetermined time has passed.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein causing the sump pump control system to respond to receiving the command further includes continuously cycling operation of the sump pump by activating and deactivating the sump pump according to the time-based schedule.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein deactivating the sump pump comprises deactivating the sump pump after activating the sump pump in response to the command, in response to detecting a low water mark in the sump basin.
12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising detecting a user interaction with a second user interface element representing an instruction to activate a back-up sump pump, and transmitting a second command to the sump pump control system to manually activate the back-up sump pump.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the user interface element is a hardware element.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the user interface element is a graphical element.
15. The method of claim 8 , wherein causing the sump pump control system to respond to receiving the command further comprises: (i) detecting a water level in the sump basin; and (ii) transmitting the water level to the user interface device for display to a user.