Down in the sumps....

Sometimes it never seems to end!

I'm just getting caught up on stuff around here and I come down to the Dungeon tonight and I see water on the floor around the sump....

I unplugged the sump pump and opened the lid, the water was warm...

I dragged out the sump pump and the float switch



The thing was HOT, not good.

I pulled it apart and it looks like it's toast.



If you look carefully you can see water inside the case at the bottom there....



The bottom bearing on the armature is not seized, but it certainly does not turn easy.

Off tomorrow to pick up a new sump pump I guess.

Oh well, no real damage done I guess.

UGH!! That could have been worse I suppose...hopefully nothing got soaked or rusty?

Is that your wife's new driver I see you're putting to use?

Plumbing issues always are a pain, hopefully a new pump takes care of it. Must not get too bad, otherwise I'd consider a battery backup pump on it too when you replace it.

I could not help but laugh as this thread showed up next to your "One Advantage of the Underground Shop". I think you should have named this thread, "One Disadvantage of the Underground Shop".

Darren Wright said:

Is that your wife's new driver I see you're putting to use?

Click to expand...

What are you completely insane
Not on your life, that is my old version of the same driver, her tool is for her use only, I'd never even think to borrow it, I might not get my hand back!

Darren Wright said:

Plumbing issues always are a pain, hopefully a new pump takes care of it. Must not get too bad, otherwise I'd consider a battery backup pump on it too when you replace it.

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Looks like a very simple fix, I bought the same pump, and it will swap right out. The messy thing is I'll have to clean the pit out, but after 12 years I guess it needs it.

I'm thinking of something to keep the pump a little bit off the floor of the pit, maybe a couple of bricks or something to raise it up an inch or so. We shall see.

No need for a battery back up, I've lived here 23 years and we only once ever had a black out but that was due to a construction crew that dropped one of the large steel and concrete cover slabs into an access pit for the underground electrical wires, chopped the wire in half!

What I need is a water level sensor, the pit is about 60cm x 60cm by 60cm deep but I had the float switch set up to allow it to only fill about half way, I'll get a sensor and put it so that if it fills 3/4 of the way the alarm will go off. One of those things I was meaning to do a LONG time ago....

Cheers!

I got a new sump pump, cost just under $100, same make, but an updated model of the worn out pump. That one lasted at least 10 years, so I thought I'd stick with it. The next rank up in sump pumps cost about $250, and I doubt that they would last 25 years, so I'll stick with what I have. It has the exact same fitting on it so it was easy to swap out. I put the float switch in a bit different spot this time, trying to get it lower so that I could have the pump come on sooner with the pit being only about half full, and it will empty the pit a bit more too.


New pump at the top of the picture with the float switch at the right, this is the level that the switch turns on the pump. The pit is just about half full.


Here it is with the pump shut off and the float switch hanging down. The pump is sitting on some half thickness bricks which are about an inch thick, this should keep the sludge out of the pump.

I emptied a full 5 gallon bucket of sludge out of the pit, most of the sand stuff was from sharpening stones I guess.

Now I need to find a water level sensor and install that, and then make a new lid for the pit. I'll be on the lookout for some old table top on trash day!

Glad this is done, now I have to clean up and get back to work!

Cheers!

Done!



I hope I don't have to worry about it for another 10 years at least....

Nicely done, Stu.

Hey Stu,
Glad it all worked out... it could have been worse... (it could have been at my house).... I hate plumbing and think to date, I have changed about half the fittings under my house in the 8 years we've been here... we live in a modular that has plastic pipe and until I put a pressure reducer on the house, we were blowing fittings about once a month. It ain't fun changing a fitting that's draining the hotwater tank in your face.

I gotta say it.. that fix was really sump..thin..!!

Only thing I'd watch is that the lower float switch doesn't cause the pump to short cycle more or it will burn out quicker - I don't know the rate of water inflow; if its low should be no problem.

Awe...sump! job, Stu.

Bunch of comedians we have here....

Just using my limited space the best I can....



... added a little shelving unit.

Is that a jug of 'walking' water over the sink?

Water in my shop is walk to the office, fill jug(s), walk it(them) back to the shop, haul up the ladder to mezz, pour into tank. Thus shop has 'walking' vs running water.

Ed Thomas said:

Is that a jug of 'walking' water over the sink?

Water in my shop is walk to the office, fill jug(s), walk it(them) back to the shop, haul up the ladder to mezz, pour into tank. Thus shop has 'walking' vs running water.

Click to expand...

Sort of, maybe Dripping water would be better for me.

The AC water drips into that jug in the summer, in the winter I have to manually fill it.