sump pump has water on top of the lid: how to open the lid to check the pump?

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fengyuwuzu

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I have two sump pumps in my basement. Please see the pictures. I guess pump1 is the primary pump, located in the big room with AC/furnace/boiler, and pump2 is the secondary pump2 located in a small room.

Recently sump pump2 has some water on top of the pit lid. I saw the water on 12/24/2022, when there was strong wind and we lost power a few times. Power was back in a few seconds and every time we got power back we heard very noisy alarms.

The water has been there for over one week and I guess the pump is dead (the house was built in 2011 so the pump has been 11 years old). There is power in the wall plug-in. I unplug and plug back in and there is no reaction. I am not familiar with the sump pumps; how do I open the lid of the pit? Shall I clean around all the screws and remove these screws if I want to open the lid, check the pump and replace it? I checked youtube videos and all the sump pumps there are like the sump pump1.

Main_pump.png
Second_pump.png
Second_pump_2.png
 
Last edited:
The second pump is a sewer ejector pump. I confirmed with the inspector who inspected this home a few months ago. He also gave the suggestion to separate the two pieces of the plug and only pluejector_pump_plug2.pngg in the cord of the pump, and the pump worked. Probably I have a bad switch.
 
The switch is likely inside a float that is tethered inside the tank. It could be bad or it could be snagged or stuck somehow inside the tank. I had one on my grinder sewage pump where a zip-tie had broke and it allowed the float to not turn fully upright.



You will have to open the unit and see what is going on.
 
After cleaning, I see there is a smaller cover, called "access cover", and also labeled "cord seal". I think it is too small to get access to the float or pump.

But the larger cover has 8 screws. I can only see 3 of them; the rest 5 are covered by concrete. Probably when it was installed the concrete was not cleaned well.
 

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I think the small cover would allow you to get to the float switch and even change it, but not the pump & motor. Open that cover and the float may well come out with the cover.
 
bud16415 said:
I think the small cover would allow you to get to the float switch and even change it, but not the pump & motor. Open that cover and the float may well come out with the cover.
Click to expand...

I just checked up and it is possible to access the float from the smaller cover
 

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fengyuwuzu said:
I just checked up and it is possible to access the float from the smaller cover
Click to expand...
There you go. You can check the float switch once you open it up with a continuity tester or your multi-meter.

Keep us posted on what you find.
 
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