Lower Sump Pump Level

My sump pump does not turn on soon enough, I need it to come on before water goes above the bottom of the drain tile as I cannot have water sitting in the outside drain. I tried to shorten the tether a bit but that didn't do it. Is there any adjustment on the float, in the float or on the pump that would cause it to come on sooner? or is the only choice to empty out the pit and dig it lower, would that even work or is it attached to the PVC outlet? Thank you, Roger

smileyroget said:

I tried to shorten the tether a bit but that didn't do it.

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Can you also lower the connection point? I dis-attached the tether from the top of my pump and made a bracket and attached it to the vertical discharge pipe. But, it sounds like your sump might be rather shallow.

smileyroget said:

... is the only choice to empty out the pit and dig it lower, would that even work or is it attached to the PVC outlet?

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A picture could be helpful here, but yes, you might need to lower the bottom of the sump in order to lower the pump and switch, and you might need to do that without disturbing the sides of the sump if you do not want to disturb the related plumbing.

buy a different pump

get a zoeller sump pump with a switch
that attaches to the pipe instead of the
pump....you might be able to lower the level
of the water that way...

look at the vertical master switch on the green zoeller pump

What's the model # for that Zoeller mark?


How much is it compared to the M53?


I wouldn't mind changing my product line to something like that and set the float range at a higher elevation to give a better setup for my customers.


That and I could stack that switch above the pump, away from the wall of the pit to prevent any chance of the pump walking to the edge through vibration and hanging up the switch.

NTK ASAP

I dont know for sure

It basically is a Zoeller pump without the
switch intergrated in the body.....

It works out to about the same price
give or take 15 dollars....

the pump is about 80 bucks the
switch is about 28 dollars...


the nice thing is you can either adjust the level up or
down in the pit

and you dont have to worry about the crappy Zoeler switch
failing next year.

master plumber mark said:

It basically is a Zoeller pump without the
switch intergrated in the body.....

It works out to about the same price
give or take 15 dollars....

the pump is about 80 bucks the
switch is about 28 dollars...


the nice thing is you can either adjust the level up or
down in the pit

and you dont have to worry about the crappy Zoeler switch
failing next year.

Click to expand...

N53 instead of M53 is that setup, pump and switch are separate.

The pricing you gave is similar to what my supply house just quoted.

Only thing is, the guy is hesitant to order. WTH?

He said the boss man would be kind of worried to bring in something that won't move, I told him I'd commit to 5 or 10 right now but I told him he needs to put that on display at the counter.

I believe it will sell in transition from the M53 due to setups that are clearly not in the best interest of that switch holding out.


I just replaced one a couple weeks ago that I feel a copper penny was to blame for it's failure; held the #2 check open and fried the pump. Made boiling water practically in the pit.


I'll send ZP this link to see his opinion on the reliability of this different switch. I would hope that this is way better than a tethered switch; I don't like anything that free floats in a pit that can curl around and lodge against the side of the basin or otherwise.

This new setup to me in my opinion will offer a better setup, longer lasting pump system as in the case......those motors never die, it's always the switch.

If the switch fails, unplug it and replace, pump stays in the pit.

I agree with getting the non automatic version of any pump. The Ridgid pump that came with my house worked, but the built in float switch stopped working reliably. I rigged it up to work with a piggyback tethered float switch to get me through until my Zoeller N98 arrived (I realize now the N98 is overkill, I could have gotten away with an N57. I figured my old pump was 1/2HP and I should replace it with on thats also 1/2HP. You live you learn) . I got one of those electronic sump controllers from Stak enterprises that uses sensors to turn the pump on and off. I went with this because my my main sump is kind of narrow and I didn't want a tethered float getting stuck on the sides of the pit. Plus making level adjustments is as easy as shortening or lengthening the sensor cables.

As for what rugged said about leaving the pump in the pit, I couldn't agree more. Yesterday, I spent about an hour with my arms dipped in freezing cold water because I had to take the whole pump out instead of just cutting a couple of zip ties and attaching a new switch. I'll never buy a pump with a built in switch.

My solution was to tie the tether to the PVC outtake pipe below the level that it was screwed into the sump pump. I thought about a metal clamp ring but went with a heavy duty plastic tie. Tied it almost 2 inches below where it was, made sure there was enough room around the float, that it could shut off properly. This is clearly working well and allowing the outside drain to empty out which it never could before. Thanks for the insights here!