How can a sump pump in a crawl space only accessible by crawling down a hole in a closet have its GFCI protected outlet monitored from the living room?
I am imagining the best way to run the pump is to run a dedicated 20 amp circuit to the pump outlet and put in a GFCI breaker. The breaker could be reset up in the utility room. If the pump is plugged into a GFCI receptacle in the crawl space the homeowners would have no idea it tripped and would have to crawl under the house to check on it and rest it.
The problem of checking on the GFCI is a little easier if they only have to look in their breaker box.
But I would like to be able to have some sort of indication in the living space so that they could see more easily that the GFCI had tripped. The crawl space is on an island and it is a busy pump.
I imagined putting a light in the living room in a box like a switch would be installed. The light would get its power fed through the outlet the pump was running on. If the GFCI tripped off and the outlet lost power, and the pump went off so would the light. What is the best light device of this nature that could serve this purpose? Is there a better way to deal with this sump pump?
Best Answer
There are GFCI outlets that have indicator LEDs on them, like this one:
If you put this in the living space, then connect the sump receptacle (a normal, non-GFCI receptacle) to the "load" side of this outlet, it will also be protected. If it trips, the light will be out and you'll know it.
To make it more obvious, you could plug a nightlight into this outlet.
Even better, plug in an "emergency rechargeable flashlight": the kind that plug into the wall, but turn on automatically when you unplug them or the power goes out.
This would more readily draw attention: if the light is on, there is a problem.