Product comparisons
Sump Pumps compared, with a verified Canadian price.
10 products verified · checked Oct 6, 2026
For Woodstock, Stratford, and St. Thomas basements sitting on the Thames River's heavy clay, where the water table climbs every spring melt and a sump pit that has never once overflowed is one March thaw away from doing exactly that. A finished basement raises the stakes — carpet, drywall, and a furnace sitting a few inches off the slab all turn a short power outage into a real loss, which is exactly the scenario a backup sump system exists to cover (see our full backup power comparison for everything else in the house that goes dark at the same time). The ten products below split into two groups: six primary pumps that do the everyday work of keeping a sump pit dry, and four backup systems that take over the instant the primary pump loses power or fails outright — each compared on horsepower, flow at head height, switch type, housing material, and a verified Canadian price read off Amazon.ca itself, not marketing claims.
Primary sump pumps
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| Product | HP | Flow (GPH) | Switch type | Housing | Discharge | Warranty | Price | Our take |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zoeller M53 Mighty-Mate (53-0001) Zoeller | 1/3 HP | 2,580 GPH max at 0 ft head (43 GPM) — Zoeller's listing doesn't break out a 10-ft-head figure | Vertical float, piggyback plug, automatic | Cast iron (switch case, motor, and pump housing) | 1-1/2 in NPT, passes 1/2 in spherical solids | Not stated on the product page | The cast-iron workhorse plumbers reach for first — a non-clogging vortex impeller that passes 1/2-inch solids, backed by over 3,100 Amazon.ca ratings. More+ Non-clogging vortex impeller and an oil-filled, thermally protected motor — the pump most Canadian plumbers already know how to service – No warranty length is published anywhere on the Amazon.ca listing, and at least one buyer review reports a failure at 10 months despite the brand's reputation for longevity | |
Wayne CDU980E Wayne | 3/4 HP | 3,500 GPH at 10 ft of discharge lift (4,600 GPH max at 0 ft head) — Wayne states both figures | Integrated vertical float, tested to 1 million cycles | Stainless steel motor housing, cast iron pump base | Not stated on the product page | Not stated on the product page | The only pump in this table with a merchant-published GPH figure at a real 10-foot head — 3,500 GPH — on top of a top-suction design built to resist airlock and clogging. More+ Top-suction design pulls water in from above the pit floor, which Wayne states minimizes airlock and clogging from bottom-of-pit debris — and it's the only pump here with a stated GPH number at an actual 10-foot head rather than only at zero head – Discharge size and warranty length aren't published anywhere on this Amazon.ca listing | |
Liberty Pumps 257 Liberty Pumps | 1/3 HP | 3,000 GPH max at 0 ft head (50 GPM); Liberty's listing doesn't publish a 10-ft-head figure | Vertical magnetic float (VMF) — rated for pits down to 10 in diameter | Cast iron | 1-1/2 in, handles 1/2 in solids | 3 years | A cast-iron pump built around Liberty's own magnetically operated float switch, compact enough to work in a sump pit as narrow as 10 inches across. More+ A 3-year warranty — the longest of any cast-iron pump in this table — and the VMF switch fits pits too narrow for a standard vertical float – Like most pumps here, the listing publishes a 0-ft-head flow number and a max-head number, but never the 10-ft-head figure that actually predicts real-world performance | |
Superior Pump 92341 Superior Pump | 1/3 HP | 2,700 GPH max at 0 ft head (45 GPM); no 10-ft-head figure published | Vertical float, side discharge | Cast iron | 1-1/2 in | 3 years | The cheapest cast-iron pump in this table, still backed by a 3-year warranty and a UL/CUL listing. More+ The lowest price of any cast-iron pump here, yet still carries the same 3-year warranty as the pricier Liberty 257 – Side discharge and a side-mounted float need more lateral clearance in the pit than a top-discharge pump — check pit diameter before buying | |
Superior Pump 92372 Superior Pump | 1/3 HP | 2,880 GPH max at 0 ft head (48 GPM); no 10-ft-head figure published | Vertical float | Thermoplastic | 1-1/2 in | 1 year | The thermoplastic counterpart to Superior's own cast-iron 92341 — lighter, rust-proof, and rated to a taller 25-foot head, at the cost of warranty length. More+ A rust-proof thermoplastic housing that weighs under 4 kg — less than half the cast-iron 92341 — and is rated to a taller 25-ft max head – Warranty drops to just 1 year, a third of the cast-iron 92341's 3-year coverage, for roughly the same price | |
Red Lion RL-SP33T Red Lion | 1/3 HP per the spec table and motor-specification bullet (the listing's own headline title says 1/4 HP — likely a listing error; we use the figure that appears twice) | 3,138 GPH max at 0 ft head (52.3 GPM); no 10-ft-head figure published | Tethered piggyback float, activates at 14.5 in, shuts off at 5.5 in | Epoxy-coated aluminum housing, thermoplastic volute and base | 1-1/2 in FNPT (1-1/4 in adapter included) | Not stated on the product page | The only tethered-switch pump in this table, built for a sump pit too narrow for a vertical float's side-to-side swing — though the listing itself can't agree on its own horsepower. More+ A tethered float switch instead of a vertical one — the better fit for a narrow or two-pump pit, and the only pump in this table built that way – The listing is inconsistent about its own horsepower: the headline title says 1/4 HP while the spec table and motor-specification bullet both say 1/3 HP |
Prices and specs read directly from each merchant's Canadian product page on the date shown — never a guess. A product never appears here until we've verified it first-hand.
Backup sump systems
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| Product | Type | Flow (GPH) | Switch type | Housing | Warranty | Price | Our take |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberty Pumps SumpJet SJ10 Liberty Pumps | Water-powered backup | 1,188 GPH at a 4 ft head and 60 PSI inlet pressure (19.8 GPM) — Liberty's own figure; no 10-ft-head number is published | Works with a separate float switch (not included) | PVC | 2 years | A water-powered backup with no motor and no battery — it runs on municipal water pressure alone, for as long as the taps keep flowing. More+ No electricity, no motor, and no battery to ever charge or replace — it runs for as long as municipal water pressure holds, which is exactly the scenario where an electric backup eventually runs dry – Needs 20–100 PSI of municipal (or well-pressure-tank) water supply to function at all, uses roughly a gallon of tap water for every gallon it pumps out of the pit, and does nothing for a well-water home once the well pump itself loses power | |
Wayne ESP25 Wayne | Battery backup (12V DC) | 2,900 GPH at 0 ft head (Wayne's own figure); no 10-ft-head number published | Included float switch | Epoxy-coated steel and cast iron | Not stated on the product page | A 12-volt battery backup rated to move 2,900 GPH at zero head — Amazon.ca reviewers report pairing it with a Wayne CDU980E and running both pumps through heavy snowmelt without issue. More+ Rated to move up to 2,900 GPH at zero head — the strongest flow figure of any backup in this table — and several Canadian buyers report years of reliable service once it's wired alongside a primary pump – The 12-volt deep-cycle battery that actually powers it is sold completely separately, typically adding another $150–$300, and more than one Canadian reviewer reports no local parts or warranty service once something inside fails | |
Basement Watchdog Big Dog (BWD12-120C) Basement Watchdog | Battery backup (12V DC) | 2,200 GPH per the product title; no 10-ft-head number is published, and Amazon's own spec table lists a conflicting, implausible 3,500 GPM figure we do not repeat here | Dual float switch (built-in redundancy) | Plastic | Not stated on the product page | A dual-float-switch battery backup rated at 2,200 GPH, with the option to wire two batteries in parallel and roughly double its runtime. More+ A dual float switch gives a second layer of redundancy out of the box, and wiring two of the required batteries in parallel can roughly double the backup's run time – The priciest of the three battery backups in this table, its stated 10-ft max lift is the shortest of the three, and — like the Wayne ESP25 — the battery itself is sold completely separately | |
Zoeller Aquanot Fit (508-0014) Zoeller | Battery backup (12V DC) with WiFi monitoring | 2,100 GPH at a 10 ft head (35 GPM at 12.7 V) — Zoeller's own stated figure | Redundant high-water float switch | Polyethylene | Not stated on the product page | The only backup in this table with a merchant-published GPH figure at a real 10-foot head — 2,100 GPH — plus built-in WiFi that alerts your phone the moment it switches on. More+ Built-in WiFi sends a phone alert the moment the backup activates — the only product in this table that tells you it's running instead of leaving you to find out later — and it's the only backup here with a real 10-ft-head GPH figure rather than only a 0-ft number – By far the priciest product in this entire category — more than a primary pump and a battery backup combined — and like the Wayne ESP25, the 12V battery itself is sold completely separately |
Prices and specs read directly from each merchant's Canadian product page on the date shown — never a guess. A product never appears here until we've verified it first-hand.
Also on Amazon.ca
A few things most owners of the systems above end up buying anyway — verified on Amazon.ca's own page, same rules as the table.
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Wadoy 1-1/2 in Silent Check Valve (CV150)
Every pump above needs a check valve on its discharge line, or the standing water in the pipe drains straight back into the pit after every cycle — making the pump short-cycle and wear out years early.
Mighty Max Battery 12V 75Ah SLA Battery (for Wayne ESP25)
Both the Wayne ESP25 and Zoeller Aquanot Fit above ship with no battery at all — this is the deep-cycle sealed battery Amazon.ca pairs with the ESP25 kit.
15 x 13 x 11.5 in Perforated Sump Pump Basin with Lid
A pump dropped straight into bare soil or gravel clogs on silt within weeks; a perforated basin with a lid keeps debris off the impeller and muffles pump noise.
Reviewed by John Moelker
Founder, CompareLocal.ca · Oxford County, Ontario · Updated Oct 6, 2026 · How we choose
Near you: Woodstock, Stratford, St. Thomas — local water, utility and installer notes for water.
How we chose
We only publish a pump once we've opened its own Amazon.ca listing ourselves and read the price and specs off it; see the "as of" date and source link on every row. Sizing a sump pump starts with three numbers, not one: the diameter of your sump pit (a narrow 10-inch pit rules out some vertical-float pumps entirely — Liberty's 257 is built around a magnetically operated float switch specifically for that case), the vertical head height from the bottom of the pit to where the discharge line exits the house, and the pump's flow rate (GPH) at that actual head height, not at zero head. Horsepower alone is a trap: a 1/3 HP pump and a 3/4 HP pump can move nearly the same volume at a shallow head, because the bigger motor's real advantage only shows up once you add height to the job — Wayne's CDU980E is the one pump in our table whose own listing publishes a GPH figure at a real 10-foot head (3,500 GPH) rather than only the inflated zero-head number every other listing leads with, and we say so plainly in its row rather than pretending the comparison is apples to apples. For backups, we'd put a battery backup first for anyone who has taken on water even once: it needs no water pressure and works on a well, but the battery itself is sold separately on every battery backup in our table and typically needs replacing every 3–5 years — budget that into the real cost. A water-powered backup like Liberty's SumpJet never needs a battery and keeps running as long as municipal water pressure holds, but it's a genuinely bad fit for a well-water home, since the well pump feeding it needs the same electricity the outage just took away, and it uses close to a gallon of tap water for every gallon it discharges. Every pump here needs a check valve on its discharge line or it short-cycles itself to an early death, and any discharge line that runs outside through an Ontario winter needs to pitch away from the house, sit below the frost line, or have a freeze-relief hole drilled in it — a line that freezes solid backs the whole system up into the pit with nowhere left for the water to go. We are not plumbers: a sump pit flooding faster than any pump here can keep up with, a discharge line that needs trenching through a foundation wall, or a backup system wired into your home's electrical panel is a job for a licensed plumber, not a DIY install out of an Amazon box.
A power outage is exactly when a sump pump needs its backup the most. Compare backup power for pumps and the rest of the house →
Already fighting a damp basement on top of flood risk? Compare dehumidifiers for basements and crawl spaces →
Frequently asked questions
What actually matters more than horsepower when sizing a sump pump?
Flow rate (GPH) at your pit's actual head height — the vertical distance from the pump to where the discharge line exits your house — not horsepower, and not the zero-head number most listings lead with. Our table makes the gap visible: Wayne's CDU980E is the only pump here whose listing states both numbers, 4,600 GPH at 0 ft head but only 3,500 GPH once you add a realistic 10-foot lift, a 24% drop. Every other pump in our table only publishes the flattering zero-head figure, so when comparing two pumps' horsepower or "GPH" ratings, assume the real number at your actual head height runs meaningfully lower than whatever's printed on the box, and size up rather than down if you're close to a pump's rated capacity.
What's the real difference between a vertical float switch and a tethered float switch?
A vertical float switch rides up and down on a rigid rod attached to the pump and needs very little side-to-side room, which is why most pumps in our table (Zoeller's M53, Wayne's CDU980E, Superior's 92341 and 92372) use one. A tethered float switch — Red Lion's RL-SP33T in our table — hangs on a cord and swings in a wider arc as the water rises and falls, which actually needs more side clearance in the pit, not less; it's the right call mainly when a pit is too narrow or too crowded (two pumps sharing one pit, for instance) for a vertical float's fixed mounting point to clear the walls or the other pump. Liberty's 257 splits the difference with a magnetically operated float (VMF) rated for pits as narrow as 10 inches, without the rigid vertical rod's footprint.
Do I need a battery backup, a water-powered backup, or both?
A battery backup (Wayne's ESP25, Basement Watchdog's Big Dog, or Zoeller's Aquanot Fit in our table) works on any home, including a well, because it never needs water pressure — but the 12V battery itself is sold separately on every one of these, typically adding $150–$300 and needing replacement every 3–5 years. A water-powered backup like Liberty's SumpJet never needs a battery and keeps working for as long as the outage lasts, but only on municipal water (or a pressure tank) at 20–100 PSI — it does nothing on a well, since the well pump needs the same grid power the outage just cut, and it uses roughly a gallon of tap water per gallon pumped out. A home on municipal water that's flooded before is the one case where running both makes sense: water-powered for the long haul, battery for the redundancy.
Can a sump pump's discharge line actually freeze or back up in an Ontario winter?
Yes — any discharge line that runs outside through a Canadian winter can freeze solid if it doesn't pitch continuously away from the house, sit below the frost line, or include a freeze-relief hole drilled a few inches above grade (so trapped water has somewhere to escape instead of backing the whole line, and eventually the pump itself, up into the pit). A check valve is a separate but related must-have on every pump in our table — without one, the column of water sitting in the discharge pipe drains straight back into the pit the instant the pump shuts off, which makes the pump cycle on and off far more often than it needs to and wears it out years early.
My basement has never flooded — do I still need a backup pump?
A primary pump alone is only as reliable as the power grid and the pump's own motor, and both fail eventually — most commonly during the exact ice storm or spring thaw that's putting the most water into your pit in the first place. If you're on municipal water, Liberty's SumpJet in our table is a genuinely low-maintenance first backup: no battery, nothing to charge, and it only runs when the power (and therefore the primary pump) is already out. If you're on a well, a battery backup is the only kind that works at all, since a water-powered unit's municipal-pressure requirement doesn't exist for you — budget for the separate battery, and expect to replace it every 3–5 years whether or not it's ever been called on.
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