The Sump Pump Adventure

As most of you know, we have had some water issues here. We have the basement mostly finished, and all we need to do is a few minor things. The other day an electrician came out to fix a few outlets, and the closet light where the sump pump is located. He checked the batter backup (it had a weird error code) and it turned out the battery was fried, and the box was messed up. He recommended getting a new one. He said they are super easy to install since the kits make them practically idiot-proof.  

I bought a new backup sump pump, but when I got it home, I realized it did not come with a batter. I should have noticed that since the box was light and the box said “battery not included.” After getting a battery, I read the instructions, and I thought I could do it. I started off by cleaning out a good bit of water from the hole, then removed the old backup pump. 

Unfortunately, it was not nearly as easy as the paper made it seem. The old pump was set up differently to the new one. As I tried to figure out what to do, something happened…

Water started coming into the hole, the primary pump kicked on, but since the check valve was removed, it just kept dumping the water back into the hole, which then caused the pump to run constantly. I unplugged the primary, grabbed an elbow pipe, connected the new pump to the check valve and then used the elbow to connect it all to the primary. It is great being so knowledgeable about plumbing. 

Just kidding, once water started pouring out, I unplugged the primary pump and called a plumber. I will try stuff, but if I cannot figure it out, I call someone. The guy came out, and it took him about an hour to get completely installed. He was confused by the setup at first as well and said that if the primary pump was the same as the backup, I would have gotten it easily.