[KegRiver]

We bought this house nine years ago. The sump pump was not new and we have not replaced it, it was working yesterday.
It works more often then any place I've lived in before, during the summer it can kick in a couple of times a day and run for ten minutes or more each time.

And it's a hardware store pump. Ever now and again it'll suck a pebble into the impeller which jambs it up good.
I'll think it's finally given up the ghost. When I lift the float, nothing happens.
If I listen real close I can hear it hum but that's all.

Being the inquisitive soul I am, the first time it happened I took the impeller cover off to see if there was anything in there and found the first pebble.
I popped that out with a small screwdriver and wouldn't you know, it worked perfectly again.

Since then it's happened twice again. I put bug screen around the intake but somehow a pebble still managed to find it's way in.

In my other place, that pump is at least twenty years old. Again, it came with the property. It still works as well.

I'm no expert, just a guy that owns a couple of houses in a high water table area.
What works for me may or may not work for others.