Tony wrote:
A little background...

I bought my house with a full finished basement in 2004. A sump pump
is located in the boiler room and is there for the toilet, sink and
shower in the basement bathroom We never used that bathroom, except
for a few months back in 2008 when we were remodeling the main floor
bathroom. It always worked fine and would kick on when we showered. I
havent used it since. A while back, I wanted to hear it work so I ran
the sink, shower, flushed a few times and it never went on. I thought
that maybe the level was so low from non use that it didnt fill high
enough to turn itself on.

I am now selling my house and an engineer was here today and told me
the sump pump does not work. The pump has two wires coming from the
big round base. It was plugged into the wall by one of the plugs, and
the other plug was connected to the back of that plug so that it only
used one outlet. After he left, I decided to put each plug into its
own outlet and it went on. I heard the pump and the water. The
problem is that it never stops, even after 5 hours. I hear a loud hum
coming from the ground and it sounds like a washer machine with water
being swished around. Does anyone have any idea what it is doing? I
know absolutely nothing about these things. Thanks.

Here is a link to a picture in case that helps:

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...11783/pump.jpg


Tony

The plug with the male and female ends on it is hooked to the float switch
in the pit. This is what cycles the pump. The one with the male ends is
hooked directly to the pump. When you plugged them both into individual
outlets, it negated the switch and powered the pump full time. It will never
turn off in this configuration. If it ran for 5 hours, it is possible that
you have done damage to the pump as I am sure it was running dry. It needs
the water in the sump pit to cool the pump. I would check the pump out by
putting water in the pit and see if it pumps it out. You will have to take
the cover off to see. Sounds like maybe the float switch has gone bad. You
may have to get a new float switch. If the pump runs when you plug it in and
pumps water, then it sounds like the switch has gone bad. You will have to
open the pit up and replace it.

R