itbedave
Member
Been awhile since I've posted, but I've got a new girlfriend and have questions about her plumbing. (No pun intended) 😂
She has a fairly new house - built in last 10 years - with a sump pit in the basement and a Zoeller pump she says she had a plumber install about 4 years ago. It seems to be working fine, but we've had torrential rains and flooding in SW Ohio this week, and right now, the pump is cycling every 25 seconds. I know that can't be good on a pump, but it is working. I've gone down a couple of times to watch it lower the water level only to see it fill right back up to activate the float switch quickly.
One of the issues might be that the pump is sitting on the bottom of the pit, which looks to be about 2' across and maybe 30" deep? I know raising the pump would prevent it from cycling so much in times like this. And I will say that most of the time, it never runs at all and the pit stays pretty dry. But I also know raising the pump means tearing into the plumbing, so I wondered about the advantages of installing a switch instead?
The second issue may be the check valve. The one I have at my house is very quiet and just has a flap. This one looks similar from the outside, but what I hear sounds like there's a ball in there that's falling down the pipe and bouncing to a stop when the flow stops? Am I crazy? Do those exist? I thought it was just a flap?
So, after watching the cycling process a few times, i see the float rise, the pump kicks on, I hear the flow of water up the pipe for about 5 seconds and the water level in the pit drop but not completely, as the pump nears the stopping point, I see water shooting out the vent hole in the side of the PVC, and then when the pump stops, I hear and see a lot of water drain back out of the pipe back into the pit, and hear that sound like a ball falling to a stop in the check valve.
I'm wondering if that check valve isn't doing its job and allowing too much water to drain back into the pit? Or not letting it flow out fast enough because of the ball? It's placed about 18" above the top of the pit FWIW. I've replaced my own before, so I was going to start there tomorrow.
So my questions:
- is the constant cycling like this under these extreme weather conditions going to kill this pump?
- should I raise it or get a switch to adjust the level at which it kicks on?
- should I replace the check valve?
- what have I missed?
Thanks in advance!
She has a fairly new house - built in last 10 years - with a sump pit in the basement and a Zoeller pump she says she had a plumber install about 4 years ago. It seems to be working fine, but we've had torrential rains and flooding in SW Ohio this week, and right now, the pump is cycling every 25 seconds. I know that can't be good on a pump, but it is working. I've gone down a couple of times to watch it lower the water level only to see it fill right back up to activate the float switch quickly.
One of the issues might be that the pump is sitting on the bottom of the pit, which looks to be about 2' across and maybe 30" deep? I know raising the pump would prevent it from cycling so much in times like this. And I will say that most of the time, it never runs at all and the pit stays pretty dry. But I also know raising the pump means tearing into the plumbing, so I wondered about the advantages of installing a switch instead?
The second issue may be the check valve. The one I have at my house is very quiet and just has a flap. This one looks similar from the outside, but what I hear sounds like there's a ball in there that's falling down the pipe and bouncing to a stop when the flow stops? Am I crazy? Do those exist? I thought it was just a flap?
So, after watching the cycling process a few times, i see the float rise, the pump kicks on, I hear the flow of water up the pipe for about 5 seconds and the water level in the pit drop but not completely, as the pump nears the stopping point, I see water shooting out the vent hole in the side of the PVC, and then when the pump stops, I hear and see a lot of water drain back out of the pipe back into the pit, and hear that sound like a ball falling to a stop in the check valve.
I'm wondering if that check valve isn't doing its job and allowing too much water to drain back into the pit? Or not letting it flow out fast enough because of the ball? It's placed about 18" above the top of the pit FWIW. I've replaced my own before, so I was going to start there tomorrow.
So my questions:
- is the constant cycling like this under these extreme weather conditions going to kill this pump?
- should I raise it or get a switch to adjust the level at which it kicks on?
- should I replace the check valve?
- what have I missed?
Thanks in advance!