Rain...
I got home last night. My wife had the hatch to the crawl space open and the lights on in the crawl space. "This," I thought, "cannot be good."
She explained: "The sump-pump won't stop." In this house, that is unusual as the house is on high ground. The sump-pump never goes to continuous duty.
I got on some jeans and took the cobweb stick with me (to wave wildly in front of me as I made my way through the crawl space gauntlet of cobwebs). The sump-pump was running and the water level was nearly zero in the sump. A return trip and further wrist exercise, due in no small part to the trusty cobweb stick, allowed me to procure the even more trusty "stuck sump-pump switch fixer," also known as the "hammer." Two whacks on the housing of the switch and the sump pump subsided to await the switch's next call to action. The switch called, the pump answered, the switch shut the pump off. Cycle repeated thrice. On the fourth activation the switch again failed to arrest the pump's mighty efforts to eject air when it ran out of water. The "stuck sump-pump switch fixer" was again applied to the sump-pump switch with satisfactory results.
Little did the sump-pump switch know that there was a Home Depot not more than two blocks from our house!
Thirty minutes later I was again in the crawl space with a brand-new sump pump and switch. After all, the sump-pump was at least six years old and we were both well aware that the pump itself was almost certainly using the switch as a cat's paw to test our response, laying the ground-work for its own later catastrophic failure when we were least expecting it! The new pump would turn out to be exactly the same model as the previous sump-pump, insuring that the replacement would be effortless. I unplugged the old sump-pump and switch and water began filling the sump. I was confident that I could replace the sump-pump before the water level could rise out of the sump. However, little did I realize that submerged hose clamps had not fared well over the years! As the first crumbled to black and red dust I calmly asked my wife to venture again to the Home Depot and obtain four hose clamps for 1 1/2" pipe. I remained by the slowly filling sump, determined that should the need arise I would reassemble sufficient of the plumbing to allow the battery backup pump to lower the rising waters. The minutes stretched like hours while the water slowly rose. I busied myself with what pre-work I could complete while awaiting the hose clamps, even briefly leaving the slowly filling sump to return tools no longer required.
Although it seemed twenty three minutes, it was actually no more than nineteen when my wife returned, hose clamps in hand. I scuttled back into the bowels of the crawl space to complete the connections and lower the sump-pump assembly into the murky waters of the sump. The pipe was reconnected to the check valve after carefully maneuvering the metal cover to the sump into place. With trepidation I plugged in the switch and pump. Lifting the cover I saw the water roiling and for a moment I feared that the pump was not working! It seemed that the water level was not falling. Moments later my fears were relieved as the water level began to drop.
The pump stopped when the water level reached 4 1/2 inches as promised by the owner's manual for the new sump-pump. The sump filled and the switch engaged the pump when the depth reached twelve inches, again, as promised. After five cycles, I was convinced that in spite of the torrential rains, the new sump-pump was adequately plumbed and functioning as intended. I cleaned up and had a very late dinner.
This day, the cobwebs and their allied forces of sticky sump-pump valves and crumbling hose clamps were vanquished! They will not dare attempt another assault on this house for many years!
She explained: "The sump-pump won't stop." In this house, that is unusual as the house is on high ground. The sump-pump never goes to continuous duty.
I got on some jeans and took the cobweb stick with me (to wave wildly in front of me as I made my way through the crawl space gauntlet of cobwebs). The sump-pump was running and the water level was nearly zero in the sump. A return trip and further wrist exercise, due in no small part to the trusty cobweb stick, allowed me to procure the even more trusty "stuck sump-pump switch fixer," also known as the "hammer." Two whacks on the housing of the switch and the sump pump subsided to await the switch's next call to action. The switch called, the pump answered, the switch shut the pump off. Cycle repeated thrice. On the fourth activation the switch again failed to arrest the pump's mighty efforts to eject air when it ran out of water. The "stuck sump-pump switch fixer" was again applied to the sump-pump switch with satisfactory results.
Little did the sump-pump switch know that there was a Home Depot not more than two blocks from our house!
Thirty minutes later I was again in the crawl space with a brand-new sump pump and switch. After all, the sump-pump was at least six years old and we were both well aware that the pump itself was almost certainly using the switch as a cat's paw to test our response, laying the ground-work for its own later catastrophic failure when we were least expecting it! The new pump would turn out to be exactly the same model as the previous sump-pump, insuring that the replacement would be effortless. I unplugged the old sump-pump and switch and water began filling the sump. I was confident that I could replace the sump-pump before the water level could rise out of the sump. However, little did I realize that submerged hose clamps had not fared well over the years! As the first crumbled to black and red dust I calmly asked my wife to venture again to the Home Depot and obtain four hose clamps for 1 1/2" pipe. I remained by the slowly filling sump, determined that should the need arise I would reassemble sufficient of the plumbing to allow the battery backup pump to lower the rising waters. The minutes stretched like hours while the water slowly rose. I busied myself with what pre-work I could complete while awaiting the hose clamps, even briefly leaving the slowly filling sump to return tools no longer required.
Although it seemed twenty three minutes, it was actually no more than nineteen when my wife returned, hose clamps in hand. I scuttled back into the bowels of the crawl space to complete the connections and lower the sump-pump assembly into the murky waters of the sump. The pipe was reconnected to the check valve after carefully maneuvering the metal cover to the sump into place. With trepidation I plugged in the switch and pump. Lifting the cover I saw the water roiling and for a moment I feared that the pump was not working! It seemed that the water level was not falling. Moments later my fears were relieved as the water level began to drop.
The pump stopped when the water level reached 4 1/2 inches as promised by the owner's manual for the new sump-pump. The sump filled and the switch engaged the pump when the depth reached twelve inches, again, as promised. After five cycles, I was convinced that in spite of the torrential rains, the new sump-pump was adequately plumbed and functioning as intended. I cleaned up and had a very late dinner.
This day, the cobwebs and their allied forces of sticky sump-pump valves and crumbling hose clamps were vanquished! They will not dare attempt another assault on this house for many years!