8 signs your sump pump is about to fail

A sump pump is the one piece of equipment in your house whose entire job is to work perfectly on the worst night of the year. Most of them fail on exactly that night, and almost none of them fail without warning.

Here is what the warning looks like.

1. It runs constantly, even when it has not rained

A pump cycling every few minutes on a dry week is either sitting too low, fighting a stuck float, or telling you the water table under your house has risen. Constant running also burns out the motor years early.

2. It runs for a long time on every cycle

A healthy pump empties the pit in a short burst. Long runs mean it is moving less water per minute than it used to, usually from a worn impeller or a partially blocked discharge line.

3. Grinding, rattling or a loud hum

Grinding is a damaged impeller. Rattling is usually a jammed check valve. A hum with no water movement means the motor is energised but the impeller is not turning, which is a pump that has already failed and does not know it.

4. It cycles on and off rapidly

Short cycling normally means the pit is too small for the pump, or the float switch is set with too little travel. Every cycle is wear, and rapid cycling ages a pump fast.

5. Visible rust or a brown ring in the pit

Rust on the pump body is a fair sign of age. Brown staining in the water is often iron bacteria, which builds a sludge that clogs the impeller and the discharge line over a season or two.

6. It does not start when you test it

The two minute test: pour a bucket of water into the pit slowly and watch. The float should rise, the pump should start on its own, the water should drop, the pump should shut off, and the check valve should thump once. Any step that does not happen is your answer.

7. The discharge line freezes, kinks or dumps too close to the house

This one is specific to our climate. A discharge that freezes shut in October turns your pump into a motor pushing against a wall. And a line that empties four feet from the foundation is just recycling the same water back into your pit.

8. There is no backup, and no alarm

A primary pump with no battery backup and no high water alarm means the first time you learn it failed is when you step onto wet carpet. A water alarm costs very little and buys you the chance to act.

If your pump is over eight years old and has no backup, you do not have a sump system. You have a single point of failure.

What to do next

Run the bucket test this week. It takes two minutes and it either reassures you or saves your basement.

If anything looks off, send us a photo or a short video of the pit and we will tell you what we are seeing, at no cost. If it needs replacing, we will tell you what that costs before we come out.

Related reading: what waterproofing costs in Edmonton and the fall freeze-up checklist.

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