Obviously there is a problem with the pump or wiring. We cant see it,
so we dont know. If there's a chunk of wood or some junk in the
impeller, it will seize and cause the breaker to trip. The motor
bearings may be siezed, the cord may have a bare spot, switch filled
with water, etc.....

You should RUN and TEST all sump pumps at least twice a year,
preferably more often. Clean out the pit regularly. Have a second
pump in the same or another pit if you are really concerned about
carpeting or other things, and have a separate circuit for that pump.
I'd guess you only have one pump, and have ignored the pump.

All you can do now, is clean up the mess, then determine the problem
with the pump, or just replace it. Then get a second pump, set the
float higher, and use a separate circuit. There are also 12V battery
pumps, but you got to keep the marine battery charged.


On Tue, 8 Jan 2008 19:46:17 -0800 (PST), wrote:

Our basement flooded with about 1" of water in the unfinished area
(concrete) and most of the carpeted area wet. This was after a lot of
rain and melting snow in the last few days in Detroit. Turned out the
breaker on the sump pump outlet had tripped and caused it to stop
pumping. I want to know some reasons why the breaker tripped so I can
prevent this from happening again. Is it just because the pump was
running a lot due to large volume of water, is it due to a failing
pump, could there possibly be a short, or what else can trip a
breaker? I did notice some pebbles getting stuck in the pump's inlet
area. Don't know if they can get sucked into the pump and cause the
motor to draw too much current or is there some sort of screen which
keeps large debris out?? The pump and switch are both functioning with
the breaker reseted.

The pump is about 8 years old Hydromatic with a diaphragm switch
(piggyback electrical plug style). The switch broke in December so I
replaced it with a float style from Lowes (also piggyback electrical
plug style). I would imagine the float switch is pretty simple and not
much can go wrong with it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.