Liberty Pumps 287 1/2-Horse Power 1-1/2-Inch Discharge 280-Series Automatic Submersible Sump Pump with VMF Switch

Great pump! Very solid construction and I really appreciate that it is made in the United States (and not China, like most things these days). Time will tell how well it holds out, but in my basement during the spring and heavy rain storms it has worked perfectly.

I have a "problem" basement and have bought 5 pumps in the last 10 years. The best I'd found locally was a 1/2 hp cast iron Star which worked well but just didn't last very long. I finally got online, researched, and found some higher quality pumps. I settled on either a Zoeller or a Liberty. I went with the Liberty because I have a 10" diameter sump (I'd like to get my hands on the idiot who decided to put in a 10" sump!). The Liberty was beautifully packaged in it's own box and then double boxed by the seller. Arrived in perfect condition. It's clearly in a different class than anything I've had before. It's much heavier, has a great powder coat finish, stainless shaft and fasteners, etc. Looks to me like you get a lot for the extra $50 over what I'd been buying. I also like that it's made in the USA and has a well written honest-to-goodness manual. I've had the pump installed for a couple of weeks and had a good rain. It moves a LOT more water than the other 1/2 hp pumps I've had! And, it does it quietly. I'm well pleased with the pump and plan to buy another to keep on hand for a quick changeover if needed.4/25/15 update: I recently had an intermittent problem with one of the pumps starting. I messaged Liberty Customer Service (via their website) and was instructed to send the pump back. If it was within the 3 yr warranty and showed no signs of abuse it was to be replaced. 10 days after shipping the pump to Liberty I received a brand new one! What a pleasure to deal with a USA company that still cares about customer service. THANK YOU LIBERTY PUMP!!!4/26/13 update: I've now received my second pump and it is just as great as the first one - with one exception. I had trouble threading the adapter into the discharge port. The manual says "hand tighten only". Hand tightening gave less than one full thread engagement. An inspection of the threads quickly showed the cause. The threads were cut just fine but hadn't been cleaned properly before the powder coating process. There was crud in the threads and it was kind of bonded in place by the powder coat. Spent about an hour cleaning the threads with scraper, small wire brush, q-tips and solvent. Finally got the threads cleaned up and everything was fine. This pump is almost a "work of art" and it's really sad to see this inattention to detail. But, it's still an excellent pump.

The pump was so easy to install. I can't believe how powerful and yet quiet it is.

If you're looking at a Liberty Pump, you're most likely also comparing it to a Zoeller Pump. First off, both are excellent choices and plenty of people in their reviews will tell you that they are far superior to what you'll find at the 'big box' stores. I wholeheartedly agree. Both brands offer several pumps on Amazon that are excellent values, given their construction, price, features and U.S. manufacture/assembly. Given all of that has been covered by others, I thought I'd focus on why I chose Liberty, and in the process hopefully point out some little-discussed points that differentiate two excellent brands. I do own a Zoeller M53 which has provided me with trouble free service for some time. I purchased the Liberty 287 because of its increased power (1/2 vs. 1/3hp) and corresponding water output. I've had a couple of close calls where the amount of water coming into my sump nearly exceeded the capacity of my smaller Zoeller pump and almost flooded my finished basement.1. Switch Design: Liberty and Zoeller use various switch designs including floats, etc. However, for for this discussion, I will focus on what appear to be the most popular designs from each respective manufacturer. The Zoeller Mxx series generally use a mechanical switch actuated by a float/rod/arm assembly. The Liberty 2xx series generally use a magnetic/reed switch actuated by a motor body-conformal rod/float assembly. In my research, I found several instances of switch failure on the Zoeller, either apparently caused by water intrusion into the switch housing or mechanical failure. My opinion is the magnetic/reed switch is a superior design because the switch housing containing a reed switch doesn't need to have a rubber seal/gasket to seal the switch arm, therefore eliminating this failure mode.2. Motor shaft: Deep in the specifications of the Liberty pump (available at their website), one will find that the motor shaft is specified as being manufactured from stainless steel. I could find no such material specification for the motor shaft for the Zoeller pumps. Why does this matter? Quite simply because corrosion and pitting of the rotor shaft can cause the shaft to seize in the motor housing, causing the motor windings to overheat and the insulation to fail. Also, pitting of the shaft can cause premature shaft seal failure through accelerated abrasion of the rubber or elastomeric shaft seals. Finally, in sumps where brine water discharge from a water softener is introduced, a stainless shaft may be the difference between a trouble-free pump and a failure. (the ideal solution in this situation is a bronze pump, which resists salt corrosion far better than the cast iron pumps reviewed here. Both Zoeller and Liberty manufacture bronze pumps).3. Bearings: Liberty specifies (again in the specification documents available on their website) that the motor shaft is supported by ball bearings. Zoeller references bushings made from the same material as the motor housing (cast iron). Generally, higher quality motors use ball bearings and in this case, where the pump may be used very frequently or infrequently, I think ball bearings are a superior anti-friction bearing to cast iron bushings.Other thoughts: Some may find that the cast iron impeller used by Zoeller on some models may be reason to purchase over the engineered plastic impeller in Liberty pumps, particularly if the pump is operated in environments with lots of particulates in the drain water (i.e. sandy or silty environments) In my application the above features that I've highlighted outweigh the potential benefits of a cast iron impeller.Again, both are excellent brands that represent the best that American manufacturing offer. Neither is a bad choice as both offer a wide range of products for a variety of applications. I do think the above features are tangible reasons to go with a Liberty pump over the Zoeller and reflect Liberty's focus on product innovation and improvement._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________UPDATE 12/2014_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The pump continues to operate flawlessly and impress me with its quiet operation. I've yet to have a big storm to test its abilities relative to the Zoeller but I'm quite happy with how well its performed thus far.Year 8 UpdateThe pump continues to operate flawlessly. In the spring, we often get a lot of rain and the pump runs as frequently as every 15-20 seconds. In the summer, it may not run for weeks on end. Still runs great.I now have the pump hooked up to a low frequency inverter-charger with 2 lead-acid batteries. When the power is on, it operates as normal with the inverter-charger passing through utility power. When there’s an outage, it switches to the inverter. Works great and the pump doesn’t seem bothered by the source of power. I also have a 12v backup pump but given the amount of water we sometimes get, I never felt comfortable relying on that as the sole backup.I have also installed a level sense system that reports water level, temperature, etc. as my pit is covered with a bolted-on cover.It’s a great pump. Sad to see that Amazon is reporting that it’s made in China (which was not the case when I bought mine). Hopefully an error.

Upgraded my Liberty 233 1/3 hp to this 287 1/2 horse due to increased flow of ground water this spring. Glad i did... Pumping 20GPM with 15' of head on 90' of hose so getting the job done with ease. Have a Liberty 442-10 battery back-up pump to take over if the power goes out or to assist if needed. Well built strong pumps to get the job done!