On 6/15/2011 11:22 PM, 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


What you have is a macerator pump. It chops the solids into small bits,
and sucks the mix out. The typical residential pit is around 15"
diameter by 30" deep. Others have explained how the piggy pack float
switch controls the pump. Chances are that the float switch isn't bad,
as sometimes they get hung up on the pipes and other wires in the pit.
If you have to open the pit to free it, you may as well replace it
anyway. There is a seal between the cover and the pit tank. It is there
to keep gasses in the tank, so if you remove the cover, be sure that the
seal remains intact, or replace it. Piggy back float switches are
available at hardware stores and online suppliers.