On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:34:36 -0800 (PST), "Chris (SilverUnicorn)"
wrote:
Well it's at it again. We got a new sump pump and now it's doing the
same thing the old one was doing.
The water level in the pit is low, but high enough to trip the pump.
That's fine the pump starts, and pumps out some wayer ( needs to go 7'
vertical than out the discharge).
Problem is, that 7 feet is enough to empty the pit enough so the pump
shuts off. I can only assume the check valves don't work, because the
pit fills up enough again to restart the pump.
My sump raises the water also 7 feet or maybe over 8, and I don't have
a check valve but when the water falls back, it only raises the sump
level 2 or 3 inches.
Maybe you have another source of water. How fast is other water
pouring into your sump? When the water table outside is higher than
your sump entry pipes, there is in practice an unlimited supply of
water. The higher the water table the faster it enters.
Maybe if you raised the float level there would be fewer periods when
the pump would run.
This happens every 2
minutes or less.
I don't have a check valve and have never had one. The pump turns off
when there are two inches in the sump, and when the pump turns off and
the pipe water falls back, it rises to 4 or 5 inches
Five inches is a far cry from the height needed to start the pump
again, which is about 12 inches, and that is still 3 inches from the
top.)
If my water level rose 7 inches in 2 minutes, it wouldn't take much
longer to rise 10 inches.
(I think these numbers are right. I'll check if you want.)
I would think if your check valve were backwards, there wouldn't be
much water coming out. Can you check outside the house if and how
much the sump pump is discharging?
It is just recycling the same water over and over. The electric
company will love me 
Any ideas on how to fix this? Thsi is our THIRS check valve. I can not
imagine these are designed so poorly.
I put a check valve on my basement sink drain, but it doesn't work. I
tried hard to keep lint from the washing machine from getting in but
maybe that ruined it.
The checl valves are made by Flotec. The pump is a Rigid brand that
was purchased at Hiome Depot about a year ago.
Chris