So I'll start by saying that (a) I've learned to stay away from projects I don't adequately understand & which can cause damage if I mess them up, and (b) my wife doesn't want anyone in the house during the quarantine.

With that said... We have two sump pumps, installed many years ago when we used to have serious drainage problems that have since been fixed (gutters drain to an underground pit, grading around house improved). Water used to rush into the wells when it rained heavily, now they only fill up when the water table rises & never more than 1/2-2/3 to the top at the worst. The other day I was working in my basement office, where one of the wells is, and it was running constantly - motor sounds like it's running healthy & water moving rapidly around the well - but the level isn't going down. I shook the pump once & it drained, then the next time that didn't work so I yanked the plug.

I looked on the internet and it seems this is either caused by a blockage or it's air locked. The discharge pipe goes up close to the ceiling so I can't lift the pump out without breaking a pipe connection, which I guess I could do. I can't get into the well deep enough to either drill a hole (plus there's not enough room & it's still 1/3 filled) or properly check for a blockage. I happen to have a spare pump, brand new, in the house, but without being able to run to the hardware store (family not letting me do that either) I'm concerned I'm going to break it altogether and be out of luck until whenever we can get the plumber here.

I don't have too much concern about it overflowing, especially as I'm in the house all the time so if it rains hard I can keep a close eye on it, but I'd like to try & fix it if I can do so with some confidence as to what I'm looking for and where to start.

So with that non-specific question, which I assume needs some more detail or maybe photos, any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any guidance, and of course everyone stay safe!

Andy

 

So I tried to read this but is there a specific-non-specific question in here?

 

is there not a check valve in the discharge pipe directly above the pump? there should be. if you don't have a check valve you need to add one. the addition of the check valve itself may or may not solve your problem, but with the check valve in place you will be able to easily remove the pump and do what you have to do to get it pumping or replace it.

do you know where your discharge pipe discharges to? can you confirm it is clear? it should discharge into a 4" drain pipe right outside the house with an air gap. the 4" pipe should run to daylight somewhere. if there is no gap and you can't find the end of the pipe then it is probably burried and blocked and that's why you're not pumping water. if the sump also goes to the drywell that your gutters drain to then the drywell is probably full and causing the backup. does the drywell have an overflow?

 

Usually if you see the water moving around in the pit there would be a bleeder hole in the line.
Next time you work on the pit..... hold the float to get the water to drain to the bottom of the pump.
You should be able to see if there is water coming out of a bleeder.

 

Thanks for the responses, apologies if the question was hard to follow - question was are there any simple things I can try to do. So yes there is a check valve (first photo), it looks like it's a little closer to the pump than I'm reading it should be. It sounds like it's probably not air-locked since the water is moving around the well - makes sense & I'm sure the hole was drilled when it was installed. So there has to be a blockage somewhere in the line, or the check valve is stuck closed, or else just the pump is shot but again it sounds like the motor is running fine. Our other pump has been discharging fine & the gutters drained fine in the last rainstorm so I don't think it's blocked that far down the line or the drywell is full. More likely the problem is the pump itself (screen clogged, pump cracked) or the check valve.

I'd like to start by disconnecting the pump so I can look closer. If nothing is apparent I can just replace it with the new one - it's old & owes me nothing. But I don't think I can do that without cutting the discharge line, like I said it can't just be lifted out because the discharge line runs straight up to the ceiling (second photo) so it hits the ceiling when I try to pull it up. There's no way I can disconnect by hand without doing this, right? I don't have any replacement PVC or PVC cement at home. Thoughts? And thanks again for the patience with novice questions.

Andy

 

I don't see a check valve in the picture although it's hard to tell what is at the bottom.
It looks like an adapter fitting from your pump to something. It looks like it's leaking at that point.

When a check valve is installed low.... like down near the pump..... it has a tendency to bang closed based on the amount of vertical line above it and the weight of the water.




In the future when you can get to the store..... you could install a glue-in union in the drain line.
It makes servicing the pump easier as nothing needs to be cut.
PVC union

 

Thanks PJMax. The white thing is what I assumed is the check valve, and yeah it seems low. How can you tell it's leaking, from the gap you're pointing to? Would that be enough of a leak to prevent the water level from going down? It seems like it would slow it, not stop it.

Appreciate the advice, so just to confirm what you're saying, it looks like I would need to cut the pipe to get the pump out of the well?