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09-18-2018, 03:36 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 840
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Sump Pumps
We recently downsized into a town house, and was looking at my sump pit. I could not get the pump to kick in. There is power, tried moving float, and could not get it started. What is the experience out there with regards to a remedy. Would the pump / float be kaput? Do I buy a new one? Are they worth repairing, with a new pump around $300.00. Are the stainless any better? I sure the existing is only a 1/2 hp. There was some silt in the bottom of the pit, would this have damaged the pump?
In all the years with our rural septic system, we only had to change out a sump in once in 30 years. The pump in the current pit is only 6 years old (same age as the building).
Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
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09-18-2018, 03:48 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 1,509
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I've had to replace my sump pump a couple of times. I'd say that I usually get 4-5 years out of one.
I've always gotten a new unit and discarded the old one.
Silt will definitely contribute to premature wear.
You might have a broken impeller if the motor is engaging when you lift the float switch yet no fluid is being pumped. I that case you could get a replacement part.
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09-18-2018, 07:56 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Lethbridge
Posts: 117
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Best is to have the pump raised off the bottom. Use a brick or aluminum channel so sand and small grit don’t get in the impellor. Get a spare pump and have it fitted up to exact length as old one. Then when the sump is overflowing and the alarms are screaming you can just loosen the fernco and slip the new one in place and plug er in. Believe metog
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09-18-2018, 08:27 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 340
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It’s insurance
Don’t worry about the price of a pump, worry about the price of it not working when you need it. I keep a spare on the shelf also.
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09-19-2018, 07:45 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Edmonton SW
Posts: 1,565
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Technically, how many years between replacing these should one go in a rural or urban setting? Does rural or urban make a difference if fairly clean sump basin?
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09-19-2018, 07:55 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Sherwood Park
Posts: 363
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin
Technically, how many years between replacing these should one go in a rural or urban setting? Does rural or urban make a difference if fairly clean sump basin?
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I believe they say you should replace the sump every 5 years to be on the safe side.
for around 150$ at Home Depot, its a cheap thing to do to prevent flooding your basement
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09-19-2018, 08:23 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 340
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Urban or rural makes no difference- it’s all about the water table where you live. Some places the pumps run almost constantly. Other neighborhoods they only run for a few minutes after a heavy ,rain or spring melt.
I have one that runs just often enough to prove it still works so I don’t touch it
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09-19-2018, 08:52 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Calgary
Posts: 19,417
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I install quality pumps rather than hardware store stuff built to a price point. Brand names like Barnes, Gould or Liberty. In my own home I’m forgetting the brand I have (it’s one of the first two brands named) but it’s been in for 9 years since I built the house and it works perfectly, it’s serving a 50 gallon drum sump that catches all of my weeping tile. The top of the drum is about 4 to 5 feet below my basement floor so there’s lots of leeway for water volume should it ever need repair, I had to exit the hole I hand dug for it by ladder and built a riser box over it out of pressure treated plywood & lumber. I have a sump alarm wired in and also a back-up manual switch that allows me to test or cycle the pump without even having to lift the sump cover. If my float switch goes defective I can simply engage the pump manually.
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"The trouble with people idiot-proofing things, is the resulting evolution of the idiot." Me
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09-19-2018, 09:29 AM
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Gone Hunting
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: North of Peace River
Posts: 11,346
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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.
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Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
George Bernard Shaw
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09-19-2018, 10:42 PM
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: nsr edmonton
Posts: 2,090
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Liberty pumps are preety good pumps. A block or bricks at the bottom of the sump are good idea. Most pumps i see are on blocks/bricks.
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09-20-2018, 05:51 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: At the end of the Thirsty Beaver Trail, Pinsky lake, Alberta.
Posts: 24,502
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Well,start with where you plug it in....is there power to the outlet? Next the float, replace it, then the pump....
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