PumpSpy WiFi Sump Pump Smart Outlet with Sump Pump Water Level Sensor, 24/7Monitoring & Alerts, Works with any 120V Sump Pump, Has Additional Outlet for Backup System For Sump Pump, White

We live in an area where our sump pump runs fairly often. We installed PumpSpy several months ago. It was very easy to install. We checked the pumpspy reports regularly on our cell phone. All of a sudden, it started to report a ridiculous amount of water being pumped. It was so much water reported, that we suspected that the PumpSpy unit was defective. We emailed tech support a couple of times. They responded quickly, but didnt diagnose the problem perfectly, they did give us a hint. We finally realized that there was a rock stuck in the impeller blades of the sump pump. This caused the pump to not be able to pump water, but, since it was still drawing current, and running most of the time, PumpSpy reported that it was pumping a lot of water. (PumpSpy works by measuring electricity going through it to the pump). We were able to fix the sump pump. Since PumpSpy alerted us that there was a problem, we were able to fix it. Without PumpSpy, we would not have known there was a problem until we had a massive flood.

I’ve had this product for several years now. A sump pump failure during a storm makes you find solutions, and I chose this, as my basin is too small to accommodate a backup pump. Physical installation was a snap. I can say that *when it works* it’s a nice product. I’d get reports on how much it was cycling and when, and I’d also receive power outage alerts which would be helpful. The problem is - this unit would go offline. Frequently. We occasionally get power drops where I live. Sometimes PumpSpy would come back up. Much of the time it wouldn’t. Restoring PumpSpy to operation was seldom easy. I often couldn’t log into the app as it would refuse my credentials. Since I use a password manager, I feel fairly confident that I wasn’t entering them incorrectly. Then at some point it would accept me. Then there are the times I tried to reset the device and start from scratch. Connecting it to my network would often take several time consuming attempts until it was successful. Finally, I use a security monitor on my network. It played nice with the literally dozens of items on it. Except for PumpSpy. Apparently this device is the lone item in my inventory to use a risky unencrypted connection that could leave my network open to malicious actors, and it would refuse to let PumpSpy phone home because of it. So…after several years of use, I have to say this product is not worth the price. I could live with every flaw this product has to offer except unreliability. I have too much to lose to depend on this frequently failing device, and I have to find another solution. My suggestion is that you should too

The device itself seems to be working, hence my 4-star rating. If I had to rate the Android app and the installation process, I would give it zero stars. The app repeatedly asks for login (unlike other apps that remember you), and then churns and churns for random periods of time. Then it shows a black screen for another random period before showing the home screen. It also freezes at various other times during use. This is the first app Ive encountered that does not recognize the phones Back button as the equivalent of the Back function of the app. Instead, if you touch the Back button at the bottom of the phone, it throws you out and you have to log in again, and there goes several more minutes... The installation is also made hard by the fact that your phone must connect to the PumpSpy devices local wifi network (activated by pushing the button on the front of the device) to tell it how to connect to broadband via your homes wifi network; however, while your phone is connected to the device, you cannot create or log into a PumpSpy cloud account because your phone is not connected to broadband. Confused yet? Anyhow, after some effort, it all worked out and hopefully I will never have to do it again.

I have this installed in my basement. I had a problem where my sump pump would run excessively. This would alert me. I was happy. Eventually the switch in the pump failed completely. Given the unusual circumstances of COVID-19, my county being on lockdown, people being advised to stay home, I leveraged the ability of this device to let me know when the pump needed to run so I could limp along until I could order a new pump and find a good time to swap it out. Great. Until I started receiving emails from the company bluntly telling me, and this is from the email, If you do not make the necessary repairs/adjustments, we will temporarily suspend your monitoring service until they are completed. Wow. So I had to stop doing my job (luckily I still have one) so I could drop everything and resolve their problem. Granted, these are extraordinary times, but there was no inquiry about if they could help, no ask if I could address the problem, just a blunt order to fix my pump. Apparently sending emails is too much of a strain for their system. Is this customer service? So again, if you want a cute toy to just tell you things are working fine, you want to see how long your pump runs per cycle, it does the job. It also gets old pretty quick. If you need something to help you out when things go wrong, look elsewhere. Device works great, but the attitude of the company leaves a lot to be desired and really diminishes the value of the device. Pretty pricey toy just to reassure you when things are good, but abandon you when you really need it.

I’m writing my PumpSpy review after using it for over two months now, and I’m very happy with the product capabilities, and peace of mind for my primary sump pump. Installation and use of the smart phone app (iOS in my case) was very easy if you follow the directions carefully. Be sure during installation to take time to test the alarm set and clear notifications for each of the monitored functions. PumpSpy Technical Support is only available by email, and they are very responsive in resolving issues. My original PumpSpy out of the box kept alarming on high water level even without the sensor attached, so PumpSpy sent a replacement under warranty right away, and it has been working fine. Similar to other reviews I read, I experienced issues with my WiFi network. I tried a WiFi range extender and that didn’t help either. Since PumpSpy monitors and alerts when WiFi signal is lost, I got loss of signal alerts all the time, and had to reboot my router every couple of days. I didn’t realize my WiFi network was that bad since I hadn’t been monitoring it that closely until I had PumpSpy to alert me when it wasn’t working. But then I realized other devices lost WiFi signal too when PumpSpy reported it. My solution there was to replace my old traditional WiFi router and range extender with a eero Pro 3-pack mesh router. That product is amazing, and resolved all my WiFi issues. I now have a strong WiFi signal that is almost as fast as a wired port, on each level of my home, and there have been zero interruptions. I haven’t had a PumpSpy WiFi alert since installing the eero! One thing that surprised me with the PumpSpy is how often my primary sump pump cycles. I really didn’t believe it at first until I timed it and observed it running and reporting the cycles. It runs hundreds of times a day after it rains. It’s interesting to see the cycle history to compare the cycles when it has been dry, or is raining. Overall, PumpSpy is a great product that does what it says it will do, but you might need to upgrade your WiFi, which you will also be glad you did!

5/19/23 Update - Posting an update to my original review below. After months of troubleshooting and communication with tech support, unit is now working. The issue was that my AT&T Smart Home Manager app was blocking outbound traffic on port 8081 (although it was not clearly telling me that) which the PumpSpy outlet uses. Note that the Outlet indicates red status if there is a problem connecting to WiFi or contacting the PumpSpy server. The Setup App implies (although not totally clear) that Red means there is an issue connecting to WiFi. I suggested to tech support to update their documentation to state that they use port 8081 to help others with troubleshooting. Although sporadic at times, PumpSpy tech support stayed in contact with me for over 6 months trying to figure out what the problem was. They also sent me a newer version of the outlet at no charge. So I really felt like they were standing behind their product and trying to make it right. For anyone who is shopping around, what I believe makes this product unique are the combination of 3 things: 1) Does not charge for monthly monitoring 2) Is not integrated into the pump itself (while this reduces the ability to monitor pump health, in makes for easy installation and compatibility across all pumps) 3) does not have shut off circuitry (some products have a built-in switch to kill the power remotely, but if that switch fails your pump loses power). There are still some issues with the app, which is why I rated at 4 stars instead of 5. Ive passed the details to tech support, and I know they have looked at them. Hoping at some point I will see an update to the app the addresses the issues. If that happens, will change my rating to 5 stars. ********************************************************************************************************************** I previously owned a pump spy outlet that, while a little quirky at times, seemed to operate fairly reliably for several years. Eventually it lost connection to the WiFi network, and despite hours and hours of troubleshooting, not only could I not get it to reconnect, I could not even get it to enter setup mode. The setup button would stick sometimes as well, so I finally concluded that there was probably a short or open on the circuit board, and it was a lost cause. Since it worked well for several years, I decided to purchase another one. The new one easily went into setup mode, but every time it would connect to the WiFi network, it turned the status to red (nonfunctional). I am fairly tech savvy, so I was confident I wasnt making some type of basic mistake. I could see from my router device list, it was connected to my WiFi network, but it always stayed in the red status. I tried using both IOS and Android devices, with no success. I tried all the different setup alternatives in the instructions including some other instructions tech support sent me. Every time, same result. I finally returned it for a replacement, and the replacement had the exact same problem (I was expecting it would but needed to rule out any issues specific to the prior unit). I reached out to tech support several times. Got a couple responses, but after I explained all the troubleshooting I had already done, they went radio silent. Technical details on how the system is designed are pretty sparse. I assume my issue is one or a combination of the following items: 1) firewall preventing unit from contacting PumpSpy server, handshake problem between outlet and Pumpspy server, and/or compatibly with the PumpSpy client. Having had good success with this unit in the past, I really wanted it to work. I offered to troubleshoot anything they wanted in hopes that would lead to a client or firmware update that would resolve the issue, but like I said after a few email exchanges, they stopped communicated. I suspect this is a small company with a small engineering staff and theyve probably had some turnover and lost some of the secret sauce. Just my speculation, but in the absence of communication all I can do is speculate. Kudos to Amazon for quickly sending me a replacement, and taking both units back for a full refund. I have no reason to believe these units are broken. All indications are they have a design flaw.

I would have given 5 stars but for some reason the app ran very slow on my phone. It should be pointed out that the installation is phone based and not thru web site. I was a little prepared because I read a lot of the reviews online before the purchase. I have an android based phone therefore downloaded the purple PumpSpy app. For some reason the app runs slow for me so patience was the key. It took a good 40 minutes to get PumpSpy connected to my Wifi. I have a FIOS and so happens PumpSpy is less than 10 feet from my WiFi router. I rebooted my phone twice and re-read the instructions like 10 times and followed each step. And finally their app pulled up my Wifi so I could enter password, otherwise I was going to contact them. I have tested power outage, high water and getting pump cycle info.

Well, the device itself works great. I get push notifications when events occur. Thats the good, the not so good is that you cannot install the device on your wifi network with any Android device. You need to install with an Apple device and then it will appear on your Android device. Unfortunately, once you have the app up and running, it is really hit or miss if you can open it and have it connect to your PumpSpy device. Really frustrating. The push notifications seem to always work but the device sets 300 minutes as the threshold where it announces the pump is running too long. My pump usually runs for 330 minutes to empty my sump. It would be nice to be able to set a custom threshold that makes sense for your particular system. So, while this product is a great concept and it seems to work for Apple devices the software is buggy to the point where it really diminishes the value of the price and time investment in installing. Would not recommend. Many, many folks confirm the software is poor or totally non-functional. Not worth the time I have to spend to re-install the app over and over again.

Long term update: PumpSpy stopped working after 3.5 years. The ring went dark and Pump can no longer connect to Wi-Fi. I unplugged PumpSpy for a few minutes and plugged to a different AC outlet. It was still dead. I originally rated 4 stars. I removed 2 stars for 1) short life. For the price, I expect it to last longer than 3.5 years. 2) I contacted customer support and got no response. Pros: - Email and text alerts work. - Detailed cycle info - Last Cycle time, Last Cycle Length, Today Cycles count, and Cycle History. - Reliable Wi-Fi connection. I have not lost a connection since it was installed 2 weeks ago. - Connection menu on app shows useful Wi-Fi signal strength. - High water sensor (with alert) - Power outage and restore alerts - Illuminated ring green and red colors are useful for quick status check at glance - Works with a pump controller FloodFree which constantly draws about 0.06 mA when the main pump is not activated. I was afraid the low current draw of the pump controller would falsely trigger Pump Spy as a main pump cycle. - Cycle duration time reported is accurate. - Monitoring is FREE! Cons: - App Edit location always crashes on my phone with the latest Android 9 update. - Alert history cannot be deleted. Users should be able to delete old alerts and alerts generated when testing the device. - No setting for Gallon/minute so that an estimated gallons for cycles is more accurate. - I had to add the device manually to my phone running the latest Android 9 by following the included instructions Note: The instruction for adding device manually is not available on Pump Spy site.

The Pump Spy is excellent at monitoring the water level and run times/frequency of the sump pump. Notifications can be set up and work as expected. Great to be able to see how many times the pump runs each day and of course if there is a power outage. We had a basement flood due to a sump pump failure and this product provides extra peace of mind. App/website are not the flashiest but they provide the data required and no issue with functionality. With heavy rains, I need to know if I have sump pump issues as basement can flood. I have a back up pump, connected into a different power circuit in case the original circuit trips and I have a back up generator. Support is above and beyond the best! Email support helped me on a Saturday afternoon and during Sunday to get it working. Best Support EVER!! I love this device and am now recommending to all my friends and work groups.