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I ended up with no choice. Our family dynamics required I get the basement shower working again immediately and could not wait to select and order a pump. My available time to do the work was Saturday and we needed it done. First we pulled the pump out, cleaned it thoroughly and tested it. It ran while laying on its side and the impeller turned freely. However when I stood it up in a wheelbarrow filled with water, it woudl not run at all. When we laid it back on its side, it still woudl not run at all. I finally gave up and decided we needed to replace it.
Zoeller is only sold by plumbing supply houses who are not open on Saturday, or online. I was left with a choice between Home Depot, Menards, or Tractor Supply. Lowes does not seem to carry any. All the brands carried by the places open on Saturday seemed pretty much the same. I gambled and got a Coutry(something) brand pump at tractor supply. I upgraded to 3/4 HP because it was clearly better made than the 1/2 HP which was only a little bit cheaper anyway. Even the 3/4 hp one is clearly less robust than the 1/2 HP Zoeller we removed. It has a 5 year warranty for whatever good that will do. It also has a tethered float rather than a vertical float which concerns me. Still, it is in an working (now if I can just get the backflow preventer to stop leaking).
There is a place not too far away that rebuilds pumps. They did a great job on our pool pump for something like $40. I will see whether they will rebuild a sewer pump. They might not because of the health issues but I hate to just toss the $800 Zoeller pump.
I think I have a new worst job you can possibly do in home repair. The stench from the pit is overwhelming. I dumped about 2 gallons of bleach in it just so I could get near it. The stupid cover is next to impossible to line up the holes to get the bolts through the gasket in into the holes. This is a really dumb design. If they would just use studs with nuts instead of bolts it would take seconds rather than more than an hour to get the stupid lid tacked back down. Given you are leaning over a pit of vile guck soup which is producing the worst smell ever, and trying to reach your finger under the lid to find the holes, keep the gasket lined up, and guide the bolt into the hole. Then every fourth or fifth hole would fill up with crud while you are trying to get others aligned and you have to remove the whole thing and clean out the hole with a paperclip, then you start all over trying to align the bolts with the holes. Although we thoroughly vacuumed everything to remove all the crud, somehow more crud magically appeared to fill in the holes over and over. All this because whomever designed this thing never thought of using studs and nuts rather than bolts. Obviously, they never had to ire-install the lid with the it full of toxic smelly bio-hazard guck.
On top of all that, the tub is plastic and sealed by using steel bots going into plastic threads. Needless to say the bolts will start stripping out the plastic after only a few times opening and closing it. (this is the fourth time for us and 3/20 bolt holes are stripped out - prior to this time, we always had a plumber do it, so they may have over-tightened them - not sure)
So for anyone who puts one of these in, look carefully at the brands of tubs and how they seal and think about how much time you are going to have to sit there with your head over a hole filled with disgusting filth to put that lid back on some day in the future. If I could go back in time, I gladly pay a hundred or two extra back then for a better designed tub and lid system.
Not sure if the setup you’re using is similar to a grey water or laundry sump, but Menards has a new laundry sump / tub available for like $30. I recently installed a laundry sump/tub with pump & was debating buying the “kit” that included the pump & tub, or buying components separately. The laundry sump /tub is like six gallons & seals with a gasket/ bolts & nuts, airtight gasket for the pump cord, etc.
If/when it dies again, you might spare yourself some misery & just install a new tub? If menards carries them, a real plumbing supply store should have them as well.
Thhis is a full sewage pump not jsut laundry. It handles a shower, toilet, three sinks and the laundry wastewater.
Thanks for the heads up on the tub at Menards. I have been thinking about going to the new Menards that is fairly near us. It is humongous. I am a go get the thing and leave type shopper, so not a big fan of giant places where you have to walk around for an hour to find your thing. Eventually I will get there. I will look at what they have. Not looking for cheap thoug, if I replace the tub I want a well designed quality one. I do not want another one with a completely stupid lid fastener/seal design like we have. Would be happy to pay more for one that is not like this one.
I am not sure how big a job it is to switch them out. What holds them in? Emptying it would not be fun.
The pumps are crazy expensive. The one I got was $300. The Zoeller we took out was $800 probably six years ago. The first pump lasted about six years, the Zoeller lasted six years. The new one has a five yer warranty. I am seeing a pattern. If I find myself replacing hte pump again in another six years, I will probably replace the tub then too. With three bolts stripped out, it is not going to seal well for much longer anyway.
[quote=duster1979;51077195]As I read this I kept waiting for the part where you say "....so we replaced the bolts with studs so we won't have this problem next time." But it never came.[/QUOTE
We thought about it but going to the stores to find the studs and nuts and then putting them all in would take more than an hour (probably two hours) and then you still have the work to do. We kept thinking we were going to get the dub thing situated any minute, it cannot possibly be this difficult, so we never though it would take us an hour to do it, until it did. If we have to do it again, we will probably need to replace the tub anyway. three bolts are stripped out. We might try slightly larger studs in the stripped out holes next time, but the walls are pretty thin, larger studs may well just split them.
Frankly I hope to never have to open that hellish pit again. But i know better.
We thought about it but going to the stores to find the studs and nuts and then putting them all in would take more than an hour (probably two hours) and then you still have the work to do. We kept thinking we were going to get the dub thing situated any minute, it cannot possibly be this difficult, so we never though it would take us an hour to do it, until it did. If we have to do it again, we will probably need to replace the tub anyway. three bolts are stripped out. We might try slightly larger studs in the stripped out holes next time, but the walls are pretty thin, larger studs may well just split them.
Frankly I hope to never have to open that hellish pit again. But i know better.
So why not do it now and avoid the hassle next time? You wouldn't even have to remove the lid, just pull a bolt out, put a stud in, put the nut on, and move on to the next one. Don't put in bigger studs, just use some epoxy to hold them in place.
So why not do it now and avoid the hassle next time? You wouldn't even have to remove the lid, just pull a bolt out, put a stud in, put the nut on, and move on to the next one. Don't put in bigger studs, just use some epoxy to hold them in place.
Not a bad idea. But not right now. Once I get the back flow prevented to stop leaking I am going to stay away from the pit for a while. No more nightmares!
The trick would be to get the epoxy into the bolt holes without removing the lid and without accidentally gluing it permanently in place. Would have to run it though a tiny tube and make sure there was no excess squishing out.
I will look for a model number on it. Not sure what needs to be fixed. I doubt it is a defective switch because it did run one time and when it did not run, you could hear the switch trigger. The impeller turns freely. I would guess a problem with the winding, but I do not know a lot about pump insides. It does not trip the breaker, so it is probably not a short.
well i can find out tomorrow once i have a model . some pumps are just so small hp wise they are not worth fixing .
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