Home Improvement → Sump Pump question, Help!

I've got a 12~15 year old Zoeller pumping it's heart out right now. It's been going for almost three weeks with about 1 minute cycles, and I'm figuring at least 3 gallons per (I think i's more like 4 myself). That's over 4k gallons a day. My backyard is like a swamp ..... I don't worry a bit about the pump failing. It's doing what it was made to do. I can't say enough good about the brand.

You should. It's 12~15 years old and all equipment can and will fail at some point. You are probably getting close to the end of life on that pump.

I sort of am jealous that you guys actually need your sump pumps.

My house had a sump pit that was filled with gravel.
I dug it all out, patched the cracks, patched the bottom, make it all nice and smooth, cleared the weeping tile, put a nice quality pump in there... and nothing.

Nothing happened in the fall, nothing happened in the spring.

Well, at least I have a nice sump pit.

I know, it's been one of those things as you can't swap it out while it's running and you don't think about it when it's dry. I also need to rig up an alarm too. One good thing getting the alarm just at the right height is that if you get it right it will trip before the water rises to the point that it starts to fill in the area between the drainage pipes and the bottom of the slab. My drainage pipes are at least 6" below the bottom of the slab at the high side and about 8~9 " at the low side. I had to get an extra deep pit so the pump was below the pipes entering the pit. A worse case thing is the basement flooding 2', at that point the water table is as high as it gets. I found that out when I was digging out the basement and didn't have the pump setup yet.

The water table seems to go in cycles. There was a 3~5 year period when no matter how much it rained, the pump would barely go on. And then in the wet cycle it'll pump for 10~15 days after a rain.

Agreed. When your pump fails here's what you end up with.
»Re: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot 2013

BTW: It was working when I went to bed. That's what I woke up too Thursday morning.

Don't be cheap. They're not that expensive, just replace the damn things.

Really it's most at what 50-90 dollars. Cheap insurance for something that can prevent thousands of dollars in damage, also get a back up sump pump.

Ours was $240. I'd be a little worried about the $50-$90 dollar ones, although I'm sure they would be fine. That being said, I'd rather have a $50-$90 new one than an old one that's possibly failing.

Well I think at this point, that's prob all that's left from after the all the storms. Yes any new pump is prob better than a old one.

Yeah, no doubt!

I was at HD the other day and they were completely restocked. That's just the one by me though. Others could still be sold out.

My wife and I were just talking, that those companies that make those pumps and those Service Master must drool when a big storm is forecasted.

If the new sump pumps are better than the old ones they will be one of the few things where new items are better than old! Most new items such as appliances, automobiles, or whatever seemed to be designed to fail and be disposed of instead of repaired!

The old ones were cast iron and steel, the new ones are plastic and tin.

True, except for the new ones that are cast iron and steel.

I was wrong, looking back in Quiken the pump is 20 years old. Whooooo I didn't see that coming.

That's how it was in our building in the city 3 years ago except it was 2 feet of water, the Hydromatic just kept going and going til it was all drained out around 1 PM. I was thoroughly impressed that a single sump pump could do all that in about 4 hours. The water was coming in from everywhere.

So here is an update..

I replaced the Sump pump, the one that was in there was a VERY cheap model that I was surprised worked with my sump pit.

My pit isn't a normal sized the one, the old sump pump was
»www.homedepot.com/p/Flot ··· 03070298
The float wouldn't go off correctly since, when we tested it, the float was completely under water and still wouldn't turn on..

so I went ahead and bought this one and it seems to work since it has a ball as a float..

»www.homedepot.com/p/Flot ··· PSC3350A

Good. I think you'll be far safer. I seems like a pretty good unit as well. Cast iron and can pump up to 1/2" solids.

So you went from a 1/3 HP unit to a 1/3 HP unit? One that pumps less water than the previous one (check the specs)? And your first post indicated that your sump pump never shut off recently, barely keeping up with the water draining into the sump? What am I missing? If you replace, UPGRADE.

Back when I had a home with a sump and a pump and water in the pit, I always had a 3/4 HP pump with battery back up to the 3/4 HP pump (a home built AC/DC inverter hooked to two deep cycle marine batteries) for short term outages, and a generator in the garage to back up the battery back up for longer term outages.

Don't screw around with water in the house. Keep it out.

[NG]Owner

I think you're missing reading his post.

"It drains the water really quick, but runs after ALL the water is drained, I am scared the motor might burn out."

Actually, you should probably read the entire thread. You'd be surprised what you learn about the issues OP is experiencing.