Do I need special electrical work for this?

[Rick Vollmer]

I have just discovered that my house is built over a natural stream. I have dug out the crawl space and inserted a sump pump. However, the sump pump will only work on one cord. I have read the instructions and that said to plug in one (can not remember what it was call) then plug the other into the first one. I get nothing. When I hook up just the one cord into the extension cord, it will pump. But I cannot get it to run in the automatic mode. I am using a heavy duty extension cord for right now, and it is pluged into a standard (not GFI) box, which is in my crawl space..

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum. Any assistance would be appreicated, even if you tell me where to post this question.....

Many thanks in advance..

[Michael Roberson]

Not a problem, glad to help.

What you have is a sump with a float switch right? The cord running directly to the pump is hard wired, and the plug with the male/female is connected to a float. (correct me if im wrong) Inside the float is a switch that senses when it is up/on or down/off. It will take some adjusting of the direction and length of cord to get it right with the water level. I DO NOT recommend plugging it into an extension cord. Attached is a pic of a sump extension cord I PERSONALLY took from a house sump system. Recommend its own circuit, GFCI. You can get a GFCI breaker, so you don't have to go in the crawl space if it trips

Any further questions you may ask them or email me at
Pioneer@homeinspectorpro.com

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Does this Sump Pump intend to stay in it current location? If so using the Extention Cord is not an option because it is taking the place of fixed wiring. Install a properly done circuit for this application and install a GFCI receptacle to which you will plug in the PUMPS factor listed cord for a proper installation.

[Michael Roberson]

A video that may help you understand how it works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ozrH...eature=related

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Man I love Videos to explain things....

[mvanek]

They come with 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25-foot-long power cords. Extension cords shouldn't be used with sump pumps. Maybe with a longer cord on the pump you can reach a outlet. Then you can install an GFCI Breaker on that circut if possible.