Need Help With Sump Pump

[Murpheeee]

So I heard the pump going in our basement for a long time.
I went to check it out.....the pump is going like crazy, but the water does not seem to be going anywhere.

Pump was red hot, so I have no idea how long it's been going.
Normally in my experience the pump will run for a few seconds until it empties the sump drain, then it takes a while for ground water to fill it up again. We have an unfinished basement BTW. Ground water is pretty common in spring.

So I disconnected the pump and checked the pipes and the one-way valve for blockages, all seems fine......but I guess there could be a blockage further up the drain.

Or could it just be that there is so much ground water that it is having to run constantly? There is a lot with all the snow melting.

Just wanted another opinion or two before I call a plumber

 

[Analog]

is the check valve actually working? You can check the whole system by letting it pump directly back into the sump, just to see if its moving water.

 

[Murpheeee]

yes it is pumping

I disconnected it from drain and fired it up to test - spurted water all over floor

 

[Ornery]

What about the impeller? Maybe it's shear pin sheared.

Edit: "spurted water all over floor" Oops, guess that ain't it. How high does it have to pump? Could you connect a temporary hose to the outlet and see if the level goes down when it pumps it outside?

 

[Murpheeee]

well it pump vertically about 3 feet then it connects to a horizontal drain out through wall to ouside drain.

Good idea about testing with hose but I don't have a hose that woudl fit - pipe is about 2" diameter 🙁

 

[arcas]

Okay. So the pump itself is working. It's quite possible that there's simply too much water pouring into the sump basin for a single pump (most sump pumps are rated at around 40-60gpm). Our basin has 2 4-inch pipes and a few 2 1/2-inch pipes draining into it. After a few inches of rain, the draining water easily overwhelms a single pump. So we have 2 pumps in the basin with another portable pump on standby (I recall one particular storm where all three pumps were just able to keep the water from rising any further but they weren't enough to make any headway...this went one for about 2 hours, pumps running constantly...pumping out 200+ gallons/minute).

Flexible drain hoses are cheap. You can get a 20' one at Lowe's for less than $10. These are black plastic ribbed hoses 1 1/2" or 2" in diameter (not the collapsable roll-up hoses you see on swimming pool pumps). Make sure you buy a couple hose clamps and, depending on how your existing PVC pipe attaches to your pump, a connector. All in all, shouldn't cost more than $15 and probably closer to $10. Hook this up and run the hose outside and see if your sump pump makes any headway. If it does, you might have a blockage in your pipes though if that were happening, I'd expect the pump to shut off or start squirting water elsewhere.

Before you call a plumber, consider spending $60 on a submersible utility pump and a hose and stick the pump in the basin too, temporarily. It'd suck to pay $100 to a plumber only for him/her to tell you there's nothing wrong except that your sump pump isn't large enough. Utility pumps are a good thing to have on hand for emergencies anyway, so it's not like you'll be throwing $60 away.