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Found a dead simple way to stop my basement sump pump from cycling every 2 minutes
My sump pump was turning on and off like crazy after every rain. I figured the pump was shot or the float switch was bad. Turned out the discharge pipe outside had a tiny crack letting water drain back into the pit. I patched it with a rubber coupling and some hose clamps from Ace Hardware for about 8 bucks. Hasn't short cycled in 3 weeks now. Anyone else dealt with a phantom sump pump issue and found a fix that wasn't replacing the whole thing?
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grant.felix27d ago
Man that's frustrating. Good find on the crack though, stuff like that can drive you nuts trying to track down. I had a similar thing happen with a washing machine drain once, drove me crazy for weeks before I found the problem.
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nora_park27d ago
Wait, a WASHING MACHINE drain? Honestly, that's terrifying to think about. Ngl, a hairline crack in a PVC fitting under the sink is bad enough, but with a washing machine pumping out all that water under pressure? That could've flooded a whole basement if it let go completely. Tbh, you got lucky catching it before it caused serious damage.
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murphy.abby27d ago
Yeah I had a similar issue with a drain pipe under my kitchen sink last year. Water was seeping out so slow you almost couldn't see it unless you ran it for a while. Took me forever to realize there was a tiny hairline crack right where the pvc meets the metal fitting. A little plumber's epoxy fixed it right up but man the search was brutal. Sometimes you just gotta let things dry out completely and then watch real close when you run the water again.
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