Alert for GFCI switch trip

Hardware
1

Hello! I’ve got a sump pump in my basement connected to a GFCI outlet. Very occasionally, the splashback from the pump will trip the GFCI breaker and turn off the power. I have a backup battery which will keep pumping during an emergency for another day or so. But then my basement will flood.

I’m looking for a way to use my network (Zigbee) to monitor and alert me when the GFCI switch is flipped.

i bought a smart switch (Third Reality Smart Plug Gen2) which enables current monitoring but it’s got an on/off switch so I’m afraid of using it for fear of accidentally disabling the electrical connection and flooding my basement.

Is this the right hardware choice? If so, how should I set it up?

Thanks in advance!

2

There are power monitoring plugs without a relay inside to avoid this situation.

However, given you’ve already bought the plug, simply disable the switch entity. That way nothing can switch it off remotely

3

Ideally this would be solved somehow. Are you sure it’s water splash and not some interference?
Also, if the basement is used for something beyond flood reservoir, I personally would use CT-clamp sensor or voltage presence sensor to be sure any failure of the sensor itself does’t cut power to the pump.

4

I assume the gfci is a duplex outlet. Can you plug the zigbee switch into one outlet and the sump pump into the other outlet ? Then just monitor the zigbee switch availability in HA, with no worries of the sump pump getting powered off.

5

However for that particular plug, you would also need to set the power on behavior to “on”

6

What about placing something plastic under the outlet or wherever it is splashing to keep the water from splashing on the outlet and stop the problem at its source?

7

I like the concept of this idea; simple, easy to implement …

My experience with Zigbee tells me you’d get a lot of false reports.

A DIY device that supports this function (Tasmotized-ESP-12F and 3.3V power supply) could be made for about USD$5 (plus enclosure) HA requirements: Tasmota and MQTT integrations.

8

I heartily recommend the approach of putting a device on the second plug of the duplex outlet (or any other outlet that’s downstream on the circuit from the GFCI). I’ve been running that exact setup in my garage for several years, to protect from freezers going offline. (Ask me how I know that’s an expensive event.)

I’m using a WiFi ESPHome device which has a “Status” entity to tell me if the device is online or offline. My alarm automation has a trigger if the device has been offline for more than a minute (or two?). That gives enough time to cover power line glitches, and any quirk of connectivity.

I too have grave reservations about putting any power switching device inline with critical appliances like freezers. So I want to simply monitor whether the mains circuit has power.