My (submersed) sump pump keeps running although the sump remains full with no discharge. How is that possible? (Obviously, the sump pump inlet is flooded.)
What’s happening? You might argue the inlet may be blocked by something which fell into the sump and sank, but this is highly unlikely. The sump has a cover bolted into the cement floor of the basement. Unless some mud slipped from the wall of the sump…
Anyway, what’s the SDoper’s take on this? I’m amazed the motor didn’t burn out as I can feel heta coming off the cover to the sump. So, it’s been running like this for quite awhile, I WAG.
I’ve repaired a few sump pumps that had a shear link in the drive such that if the impeller was not allowed to turn, the motor would not burn out. Also verify that the outlet isn’t blocked, or the pump is simply dead-heading against a column of water.
A co-worker told me a pleasant tale of how he found a mouse (or two) in his discharge line. It apparently had died a while back, but its corpse remained behind to produce exactly the behavior you describe.
He said that when he disconnected the outlet pipe from the pump and all of the glop fell out on the basement floor, the nauseating stench filled the room instantly. Yuck!