i am a new home owner and i have concerns about my sump pump. it has been working properly until today. it was making strange sounds this morning so i took the cover off. the water level is below the sump pump, which i have never seen before but yet the pump comes on periodically. Is there a problem with the float, which is cylindrical and attached to the pvc piping? Should the water level be covering the sump pump at all times [IT IS AN OLDER METAL ONE}?
Should the sump pump be running when the water level is below the pump
sump-pump
Related Solutions
It should definately come on before the water gets to that level. Is the float the kind that has its cord clamped to a pipe and it swings up and down? If its that kind, make sure that its not hung up on anything. You may need to manually run the pump to empty the water and troubleshoot the float. Lift it and see if the pump comes on. Does the float have a separate cord that plugs into the outlet and then the pump plugs into the back of the floats plug?
I agree that it should pump more than a half inch per minute. I would think it would be normal to empty the tank in around 20-30 seconds.
As kkeilman points out, your pump is fully submersible, so that part should be no problem.
You can easily just piggy-back a float switch like this one on your existing pump. It has a special plug that you plug the existing sump pump into (no wiring necessary), and this one in particular handles up to 1/2 HP, which is more than enough for your 0.3 HP Zoeller.
The nice thing about these tether floats is you can adjust the heights depending on where you attach it, and how much tether you give it. Just be sure to test it manually moving up and down to be sure it's at the right heights, and it's not going to get hung up on anything (causing it to either stay on, or not turn on when needed). I highly recommend you secure all the wires going into the pit with zip ties or electrical tape to be sure they're not going to fall down in the future.
You can leave the existing float working, which is fine - it will act as an extra safety to shut it off if the pit is dry, but also be sure this one doesn't get hung up - because both floats will have to be "on" to make the pump turn on -- if either is off, the pump is off.
If you don't want to use the existing float, there may be a way to bypass it internally by rewiring the pump, or you can simply zip tie it "up" so it is in the on position all the time.
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Best Answer
Get rid of your mechanical switch.
Go with a HC6000v2, it has two sensors that you place at the activation and de-activation point and they are easy to adjust.
To your question, as long as the pump can pull water and is not sucking air you are good. I typically try to have the pump operate for as long as possible as the pumps are rated for so many activations so preventing it from going on as often will extend the life of the pump.
https://www.amazon.com/HC6000-Hi-Lo-Controller-Float-Switch/dp/B006AU4L4U