[ericz]

I bought a new house last Oct. I found I had an over active sump pump. The pump works every few hours in dry season and maybe every min. or so in heavy rain season. The water in the pit is crystal clear, no odor.
Can someone tell me the reason? How can I fix this ? Should I just raise the pump?
Thank you very much in advance.

[speedball1]

Hi Eric,

Ever think that your house might be located over a artesian well? Or that there's a really high water table? Talk to your closet neighbors. See what they have to say. In the mean time the sump pump's just doing its job, doing what it's made to do and that's evacuating water out of the sump.
If you're on a slope you might be able to run a line from the sump out and drain it before the pump kicks in but it's hard to fault something when it's operating correctly. Cheers, tom

[theBigkill]

Maybe the float switch is set too low? Wait and notice how far up in your storm pit the water comes up before your sump kicks in too see if its kicking in too soon. Then if so, adjust the little stoppers on the float stem with an allan/hex key until the pump has a range you're comfortable with.

If this isn't the case, and like speedball said you are getting a lot of water from your foundation drains then personally I would invest in a decent sump pump (not one of the cheapie deals with a plastic pump casing), and if you want maybe even a sump alarm to warn you if the pump has failed to kick in, lest you have a flooded basement.

[labman]

If it is kicking on and off every minute or 2, maybe the float is too low. The sump could be too small, or not deep enough. Most motors won't stand up to such short cycles.

Also, check outside for the ground sloping toward the house, gutters and down spouts not carrying rain way from the foundation. You could also have a bad drain form them. Unless improperly connected to the sanitary sewers, the water will be clean and clear. Make sure wherever the pump pumps the water to, it isn't running right back in.