Shellback torpedo sump pump

[rodneylyle]

I have just had this second pressure type sump pump installed in my often flooding FINISHED basement. After it rains a substantial amount I can hear the pump trying to turn on. It clicks on and off from 30 to 70 times. I do not hear it "catching" and actually moving water out of the basement. Next thing I know, there is water everywhere.
Why doesn't it actuate as it should when the water reaches a non-flooding level? This is the 3rd Shellback that two different plumbing companies have installed. They offer little help except wanting to charge me for a new pump every time they visit. What can I do or suggest to the plumbers to make this pump work?? HELP!!

[HayZee518]

I looked at several pictures of a torpedo pump. Shaped like a bullet or oval on its side it has an input on one side and an outlet on the other. In the picture I didn't see any kind of device for turning it on or off. what sort of on-off device is on yours? They say it uses the fluid going through it to cool off the motor. Does yours sit right on the floor? is there a foot valve on the intake side? How high of a head does it need to pump to?

[rodneylyle]

It's about 4 ft. long and it fits in a 4" dia. pvc pipe in my floor. There's a rubber donut shaped bladder that fits in the pipe opening and rests adjacent to the pipe when it's installed (the bladder is not pressed tight against pipe however). Some of the shaft and motor (on top) stick out above the pipe about 2 ft. There is a side discharge above the pipe and below the motor that hooks to a pvc outlet that goes up the wall and out of the house (where the water is supposed to exit). The rest of the shaft (about 2 ft.) is below the floor's surface where the basin water collects and it sucks the water up. It works by water pressure..not a float.
There is a test button (no on/off switch) on top to manually test periodically. This may allow it to turn on or start if there is water below to be discharged. Otherwise it will not turn on when water is not present. When the on and off clicking occurs, I sometimes hold down the test button to see if I can get it to catch and stay on. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes doing that stops the lengthy clicking.
My point is that this 60-70 revolutions of clicking on and off without engaging in a smooth running of the motor and subsequent pushing of the water up the pvc pipe (about 6 ft.) and out of the house into the city drainage system is not always happening and soon I'm confident that the motor will burn out (as before).
The pump is supposed to detect water pressure and turn on...it does not always, but clicks on and off 50-60-70 times. The pump has failed to turn on and my basement floods.

[HayZee518]

your description of the clicking indicates to me that the motor is just not getting up to speed. the actual clicking is the centrifugal start switch within the motor itself. it operates off a set of flyballs that are spring loaded. once the rpm's are up then the switch disengages and the motor runs on its run winding. yours evidently is just going on its start winding. yes if this is kept up for any length of time, it will burn out the start winding. the current draw on the start winding is about 125% more than the run amps. if the head [ the distance it needs to pump] is too high [long] it will stay in the start winding mode and eventually burn out. Those prices are'nt cheap either $350 and above! check to see if the vertical check valve is opening all the way. it may be stuck closed. the pump may have been undersized ( tech's fault not yours )

[rodneylyle]

HeyZee,
The plumbing company came out and installed a new Shellback pump (exactly the same) ignoring my objections to the brand/style. Regardless, the tech was very cooperative and installed it a bit different than any of the other four (4) techs did. He tightened or expanded the rubber donut shaped bladder so that it makes tight contact with the 4" pvc pipe in the floor. He plugged it in and the pump started up immediately. We listened to it pumping water out of my house for prox half and hour. He was confident that all was well and left with my thanks...finally !
However, some 3 hours later, I went to the basement to do some flood cleaning and it was still running. I couldn't tell if water was still being pumped out because the noise it made changed to a light roaring/vibrating sound and not the water movement sound we heard earlier. After that length of time and the noticeable hot motor, I pulled the plug. Tried it again this morning and the same results were present....ran for hours and won't shut off !! What do I do now?

[HayZee518]

ok, you said the co ignored your say in installing the SAME pump. Don't you get the final say? I mean its your money and headaches for the pump. OK so they installed it and it still doesn't run right. I'd call them back and tell them to remove and find a suitable substitute. You've put up with the SAME pump three times now and it's still not right. I don't know "how" finished your basement is, but perhaps chipping out some concrete, digging out some dirt and shortening that 4 inch pipe would be in order. THEN put a white plastic bucket with a hole cut out to clear the 4 inch pvc in the hole and back fill the hole and concrete even with your floor. NOW put in a pedestal sump pump with an external float and pipe it into your discharge. This way if the pump should fail to start at least you can manually actuate the pump with the float switch. So what if the motor is above the hole?