Often, the manual for the pump is available on line. Your existing pump may have a safety feature.

if reliability is a concern, add a backup pump or an alarm. An alarm maybe able to let you know if you have water issues.

I use UPS for my electronics, a deep cycle battery with a charger for my pump.

I am in Norther CA,

Your UPS is more likely to fail before the sump pump. They don't like running motors and can get unreliable quickly. And unless you get a massive one, it won't run very long after a power failure.

I'd start with a simple high-level alarm (if you have an alarm system for the house, these can also be added to that for remote monitoring). And maybe a battery-powered second pump mounted a bit higher. You'd want the secondary to be set high enough to *just* prevent flooding for as long as possible, to maximize battery life.

If that's not going to be enough, an automatic generator will be the next step, along with the high-level alarm (to detect an actual pump failure).

Does your UPS have a “minutes remaining” display. I am curious how long your pump will run on battery, a couple of hours?

Assuming we’re talking about a UPS for a computer, you aren’t going to get much run time unless it’s a really big unit. Even a 1/4 hp pump is going to be at least 600 watts (5 amps x 120 volts), more at start-up. If you are concerned with flooding, invest in a battery back-up pump. Run time is entirely dependent on the size of the battery (or batteries) which can be rather expensive. They’ll protect not only during a power outage but also if the main pump fails.

You can buy an alarm for less than $15 at the home center. Unfortunately they don’t do much good unless you’re home to hear it go off.