Patent ID: 9696360
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: F04B,F04D,G01R

Claim:
1. A sump pump monitor for a sump pump including a pump, an AC electric power source plug, and an automatic float switch, said sump pump monitor comprising: (a) a portable housing; (b) an on/off switch physically supported by the housing and having an on position and an off position; (c) an electric plug receptacle physically supported by the housing and configured to receive the AC electrical power source plug of the sump pump to enable the sump pump to continuously receive electric current through the sump pump monitor when the on/off switch is in the on position to enable the automatic float switch of the sump pump to turn the pump of the sump pump on when a water level rises above a predetermined level and to turn the pump of the sump pump off when the water level is below the predetermined level; (d) a power cord physically supported by the housing and configured to be plugged into an AC electrical power source, the housing, the electric plug receptacle, and the power cord configured to enable the sump pump to continuously receive electric current through the sump pump monitor when the on/off switch is in the on position and enable the sump pump to turn itself on and off; (e) a transmitter physically supported by the housing; (f) an amperage detector physically supported by the housing and configured to continuously monitor amperage of electric current supplied through the sump pump monitor to the sump pump; (g) an onboard computer physically supported by the housing and configured to: (i) operate with the transmitter to wirelessly send out at least one signal indicating normal operation of the sump pump to a remote signal receiving device to cause a user access device separate from the remote signal receiving device to display an indication of normal operation of the sump pump; (ii) determine variation in starting amperage from a first normal starting amperage level above zero for the sump pump to a second different non-normal starting amperage level above zero for the sump pump; (iii) determine variation in operating amperage from a first normal operating amperage level above zero for the sump pump to a second different non-normal operating amperage level above zero for the sump pump, (iv) use any such determined variations in starting amperage itself and in operating amperage itself to directly determine a predicted failure or actual failure of at least part of the sump pump; and (v) operate with the transmitter to wirelessly send out at least one signal regarding the predicted failure or actual failure of at least part of the sump pump to the remote signal receiving device to cause the user access device to display a warning regarding the predicted failure or actual failure of at least part of the sump pump; and (h) an input device physically supported by the housing and connected to the onboard computer and configured to enable an input of the normal starting amperage level of the sump pump and an input of the normal operating amperage level of the sump pump.