The best 3/4 HP sump pumps

Wayne CDU980E

The only 3/4 HP pump here whose seller publishes a flow figure at a stated lift, in a cast-iron and stainless body with a top-suction intake and five years of warranty.

9.0/10★★★★★Our editorial score: 9.0 out of 10

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Specifications, as published by Wayne Water Systems

Type	Submersible, cast iron and stainless steel
Horsepower	3/4 HP
Electrical	120 V, 10 A
Discharge	1-1/2" NPT
Switch	Vertical float, on at 9", off at 4"
Intake	Top suction, to keep debris out of the impeller
Seals	Carbon/ceramic shaft seal, ball bearings in a sealed oil bath
Flow, by lift	4,600 GPH at 0 ft · 3,500 GPH at 10 ft
Warranty	Five years, limited

This is the pump that makes the class worth writing about. At ten feet of lift — roughly what a pit floor to rim-joist run imposes in an ordinary house — a distributor publishes 3,500 gallons per hour for the CDU980E. Hold that against the 1/3 HP class, where the best published ten-foot figure in our registry is 3,060 GPH, and against the 1/2 HP class, and you can see exactly what the step up buys: volume at the lift you actually have.

The build is the second reason it leads. Cast iron with stainless steel conducts motor heat out into the surrounding water, which is what keeps a pump alive through the six-hour continuous run of a thaw or a three-day storm — the duty cycle most people buy 3/4 HP for in the first place. The top-suction intake is the detail we would pay for: most submersibles draw through a screen inches above whatever has settled on the pit floor, and this one does not, so the impeller sees less grit across a decade.

The honest complaint is about paperwork rather than hardware. Three distributors publish three different maximum flow figures for the same part number, which tells you something about how carefully consumer pump specifications are copied around. We use the conservative pair, 4,600 GPH at zero and 3,500 at ten feet, because it is the only one where the number comes attached to the lift it was measured at. If you see 5,670 GPH on a listing, treat it as marketing and size on 3,500.

Two constraints decide this before performance does: the pit has to be eleven inches across or wider, and the outlet has to be within eight feet. Measure both before you order. If you are not sure what lift your discharge actually imposes, work through what size sump pump do I need first and come back with a number.

Specifications from Wayne CDU980E specification listing, Wayne 58321 CDU980E distributor listing, Wayne CDU980E listing stating 4,600 GPH max and 3,500 GPH at 10 ft (stock verified 2026-10-29), Wayne CDU980E listing stating 120 V / 10 A, 11 in minimum pit, switch on 9 in / off 4 in, five-year warranty.

Superior Pump 92751

4,800 GPH at zero lift from a cast-iron and stainless pump that costs far less than the name brands — and ships with a 2 inch discharge most sump plumbing is not built for.

8.2/10★★★★★Our editorial score: 8.2 out of 10

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Specifications, as published by Superior Pump

Type	Submersible, cast iron and stainless steel
Horsepower	3/4 HP
Electrical	120 V, 7.5 A
Discharge	2" — larger than the 1-1/2" most sump plumbing uses
Switch	Vertical float
Solids handling	1/2"
Flow, by lift	4,800 GPH at 0 ft
Warranty	Three years

There is a lot of real pump here for the money. Cast iron and stainless, half-inch solids handling, 80 gallons a minute at zero lift, and a current draw of 7.5 amps that is genuinely lower than either of the pumps ranked around it. For a homeowner who needs capacity and is pricing the gap between a value brand and a premium one, this is the entry that makes the gap look wide.

The catch is physical and it is easy to miss on a product page. This pump has a 2 inch discharge. Residential sump systems are overwhelmingly plumbed in 1-1/2 inch pipe, which means you are either repiping the run or fitting a reducer at the pump. A reducer works, and it also throttles the flow — so some of the advantage over the Wayne evaporates in a fitting you bought to make the pump fit. Decide that before the box arrives, not after. Sump pump discharge pipe size covers what the run can carry.

The data is the other weakness. Nothing is published at a stated lift, and the maximum head figure is quoted as 25 feet on two listings and 45 feet on two others, which is not a small discrepancy — it is the difference between a basement pump and a pump that could lift water to a second floor. We quote neither as settled. If your lift is modest and your plumbing is already 2 inch or easily changed, this is a strong buy. If you are near the top of what 3/4 HP can do, buy the pump with the published curve.

Specifications from Superior Pump 92751 listing (Home Depot), Superior Pump 92751 distributor listing (stock verified 2026-10-29).

Zoeller 1099 (3/4 HP dual-switch submersible)

The cast-iron 3/4 HP pump from Zoeller's consumer range, with two float switches and almost nothing published to size it by.

7.6/10★★★★★Our editorial score: 7.6 out of 10

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Specifications, as published by Zoeller

Type	Submersible, cast iron, dual switch
Horsepower	3/4 HP
Switch	Vertical float
Line	Zoeller at Home consumer range, sold through Lowe's
Flow, by lift	4,800 GPH at 0 ft

Zoeller runs two ranges: the professional line the plumbing trade buys, and the Zoeller at Home consumer range sold through retail. The 1099 lives in the consumer range, and on 29 October 2026 it was the only 3/4 HP sump pump listed there. It is cast iron, it is a Zoeller, and the dual-switch arrangement is a genuinely good idea — two independent floats mean the most common failure in a sump system, a switch that sticks, has a second chance to not matter.

It ranks third because of what the manufacturer does not say. The consumer listing gives horsepower, housing and switch type. It does not give flow at any stated lift, a maximum head, a current draw or trip points. We will not borrow those figures from a sibling model and present the result as a specification for this one. That is frustrating precisely because the same company publishes a full curve for its professional pumps — the M53 sheet is one of the most useful documents in this category.

Buy it if your decision is being made in a store aisle, or if the dual switch is what you want. If you can order a pump, the Wayne above tells you what it does at the lift you have, and that is worth more than a badge.

Specifications from Zoeller at Home sump pump range (1099-0001 listed, checked 2026-10-29), Zoeller 1099-0001 retail listing stating 3/4 HP, 80 GPM, cast iron, vertical float.

Liberty Pumps 287

A 1/2 HP one-piece cast-iron pump with 37 feet of maximum head — more reach than any 3/4 HP pump on this page, from a smaller motor.

8.4/10★★★★★Our editorial score: 8.4 out of 10

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Specifications, as published by Liberty Pumps

Type	Submersible, one-piece "Uni-Body" cast iron
Horsepower	1/2 HP
Electrical	115 V, single phase
Discharge	1-1/2"
Solids handling	3/4"
Maximum head	37 ft
Switch	Vertical magnetic float, quick-disconnect 10 ft cord
Warranty	Three years

This entry is here to break an assumption, and it is the most useful thing on the page. People shop for 3/4 HP because they believe horsepower equals reach. In this group it does not. The Liberty 287 is a half-horsepower pump with 37 feet of maximum head, which is more than anything above it can document, and it does that from a smaller motor on a standard 1-1/2 inch discharge.

What horsepower actually buys in this class is gallons per minute at a given height, not a higher ceiling. If your discharge climbs fourteen feet before it runs horizontally and the pit refills at a leisurely pace, the problem you have is head, and this is the pump for it. If the pit fills faster than a 1/3 HP pump can empty it at ten feet, the problem is volume, and the Wayne is the pump for that. Two completely different complaints send people to the same search box.

The casting is worth a line of its own. Liberty pours the motor housing and the volute as a single piece of cast iron, so there is no bolted joint and no gasket between them — on a machine that spends a decade submerged, deleting a seam matters more than most of the features printed on the box. The honest weakness is the same one Liberty has elsewhere: nothing is published at ten feet, and two distributor sheets disagree on the zero-lift flow, so you are sizing on endpoints.

Specifications from Liberty 287 distributor listing, Liberty 287 (115 V) product page.

Wayne CDU790

3,060 GPH at ten feet from a 1/3 HP pump — within fifteen percent of the 3/4 HP winner, for a fraction of the current draw and the cost.

8.5/10★★★★★Our editorial score: 8.5 out of 10

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Specifications, as published by Wayne Water Systems

Type	Submersible, epoxy-coated cast iron
Horsepower	1/3 HP
Electrical	120 V, 9.5 A, PSC oil-filled motor
Discharge	1-1/2" NPT
Cord	8 ft
Switch	Vertical float
Flow, by lift	4,600 GPH at 0 ft · 3,060 GPH at 10 ft
Warranty	Three years (the CDU790SS stainless variant is five)

Before you spend 3/4 HP money, look at this number: 3,060 gallons per hour at ten feet of lift, from a 1/3 HP pump. The 3/4 HP winner on this page does 3,500 at the same height. That is about fourteen percent more water for more than double the horsepower, a bigger price and a heavier current draw — and that is the honest shape of this class.

Horsepower in a sump pump is not a performance rating; it is an input. What comes out the other end depends on the impeller, the volute and the lift, and the relationship is nowhere near linear. We have put this pump on a 3/4 HP page deliberately, because a meaningful share of people searching for 3/4 HP are buying a bigger number rather than a measured shortfall.

The way to tell which you are: during steady rain, let the pit fill to the switch-on point, unplug the pump, and time how long the water takes to rise one inch. In a standard 18 x 22 inch basin, one inch is roughly 1.4 gallons. One inch a minute is about 84 gallons an hour of inflow, which every pump on this page laughs at. One inch every five seconds is about 1,000 GPH, and now the gap between 3,060 and 3,500 is a real decision. How often should a sump pump run puts the rest of that test in context.

Specifications from Wayne CDU790 specification listing, Wayne CDU790 distributor listing.