Deluge for days, sump pump died today. Need advice , please

[yy4me]

We live in a 200 year old house that has only a partial cellar and some of it is dirt. The way things are set up, we have very little problem with water. Once or twice a year one of our pumps may go on because the water comes up from the bottom. As a precaution, we had a secondary, submersible pump installed in a small area that will flood if we get severe rain. Bought it last January and used it one or 2 times last summer. It worked as a secondary on and off for 3 or 4 days. Well, with this weather we're having today we need it and guess what, it died. Now we have a flood and the area is siphoning down to the big pump that is going almost constantly.I'm afraid it might burn out. We put that one (pedestal) in 3 years ago on general principal, the one there was 20 years old.
Can anyone recommend a good submersible sump pump? We paid a little over $100.00 for the Flotec Submersible. I don't know the model number as it is now in a pit that is about 4 inches below floor level. Bought at Home Depot. I cannot seem to get the Flotec web page to read about their product, all I come up with is "this page cannot be displayed. Are they out of business? I'm sure we will be having a lot of trouble drying out this mess. Best laid plans!

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Are you sure its dead?

Have you checked the float linkage? The float itself? The circuit breaker? The inlet screen?

I have a Flotec I bought a few years ago at my local indie hardware store. It replaced one I replaced maybe 20 years ago. Nvere had a problem with either (replaced the old one 'just because').

Here's a link to a site with lots of PDFs of Flotech printed material. You find what you need here.

http://www.depcopump.com/dataflotec.htm

I also got a notice when trying to connect to flotec's site, so it is either down or moved.

[yy4me]

2. Not sure if it is dead, must wait until some of this water goes

down before we can get at the pump. Our area north of Boston is getting severe rain, no pumps to be bought anywhere. Have had 10.5 inches today and we are on day 4 of this storm. Should let up tomorrow with another band due in Tuesday. Perhaps we can get the pump out tomorrow to check the parts. I went to the web site you suggested and the pump illustrated looks like our model. No way to know until we get it out. We will check your suggested trouble spots. Would be nice if it was just a plugged inlet screen. Thanks for your help.

[NMDemDist2]

3. hang in there, looks like you NEers are getting hammered! hope it

is something simple and you'll get by relatively unscathed

[Digit]

4. I had an old house once with the same situation

I had a sump pump installed, but also had what was known as a cistern that would fill up with water if we received torrential rains. It really was the water table getting too high and the water would then find it's way into my basement.
I would use a couple of Flotecs connected to garden hoses to send the water to far back in the back of my lot with one hose and to the front street with the other hose.

Yeah, I would have to stand vigil all night long to do this as the pumps worked quickly and would burn out of they went "dry" for too long.
You did not say if you had one of these pits to assist your regular sump pump.

Otherwise, can you get one of those corrugated black pipes to connect to your downspouts to send the water farther away from your foundation? Not one with the irrigation holes, but instead solid.

Best of luck...I feel your pain.

[Lefty48197]

5. Dirt can stop the works of a sump pump

Rocks can get caught in the mechanism causing the pump to stop working. If you can get to the pump, there are probably 3 screws on the bottom that you can remove to open it up. You can try spinning it with your hand UNPLUG IT FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Usually just working it back and forth a little bit will free it up. Gently tap on the pump while working the mechanism to help dislodge any rocks that might be holding it up.
If the problem was caused by a rock, you can usually get it working again pretty easily, although it could possibly burn the motor out permanently. Usually when sump pumps (even cheap ones) get to a certain temperature, they just sort of shut down before they permanently burn out. It's worth a try!