Water in sump pit consistantly filling, but stopping at drain pipe. Problem?

I recently had to replace a sump pump (would not turn off -switch must have went bad). The old pump was a submersible only about 8" tall with no external float (was told it was possibly preasure senative) was a Little Giant (like this:http://www.everygenerator.com/Little-Giant-Pumps-6-CIM-R-50627-X-LGP1039.html) . I replaced it with a flowtec with a ball type float (Model FP0S3200A). The switch and float work manually, but I have never seen or heard the pump kick in since I installed a week-ago.

If I engage the switch manually (by lifting the float) it sent everything out. No water comes thru the side pipe in the pit, but the pit fills again in ~5 minutes to a level that never rise an inch or so above the bottom of the side pipe. Under normal cercumstances the water would have to rise another 3" or so for the float to rise high enough. I have disconnected the sump from the check valve before the pit fills to ensure the water is not coming back in thru the pump.

What concerns me is that I emptied the pit 5 times with in about an 1/2 hour after it reached the level of the pipe and water kept coming in. I guess the question is where is the water coming from and why does it stop at the level of the pipe? Sould I be concerned? On reason I am concened is when our house was built (3 years ago) a Radon vent was installed and it operation was completely silent up until 3 days ago and I can't help but think these may be related.

I did purchase a Simer with a 8" vertical float today, thinking that would help the situation, but I don't want to open it if it's not going to fix my problem.


Any help is greatly appriciated.

The water is probably the high water level of your water table under the house/slab/yard. It fluctuates up and down with precipitation levels. You can't pump it dry and if it comes up high enough, it floods the basement etc..

You need to adjust the height of the float switch to the level of the water you want to start pumping at, and how deep you want to pump to before the pump is shut off. IOWs, use the water level to turn the pump on instead of your hand. Or don't pump until the water comes up higher.

You mention the radon system but only say it was silent until 3 days ago, so what is it doing the last three days that makes you think the water under the floor is causing it a problem?

Gary Slusser said:

The water is probably the high water level of your water table under the house/slab/yard. It fluctuates up and down with precipitation levels. You can't pump it dry and if it comes up high enough, it floods the basement etc..

You need to adjust the height of the float switch to the level of the water you want to start pumping at, and how deep you want to pump to before the pump is shut off. IOWs, use the water level to turn the pump on instead of your hand. Or don't pump until the water comes up higher.

You mention the radon system but only say it was silent until 3 days ago, so what is it doing the last three days that makes you think the water under the floor is causing it a problem?

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Thanks for your response.

The thing that strikes be as odd about the sump pit, is that I always remember the pit only have a few inches (1:-2"). at most times. I ended up installing the pump with the vertical float last night (which kicks in at about 8") and it ran about once every 90 seconds (draining to about 3") for 15 minutes, then I had to leave, so it could still be running at that pace. I did notice some water flow coming up from the bottom of the pit, but can not pin point a crack or hole.

The portion of the basement that the radon vent resides in is in now finished, though I could not hear any noise in the basement putting my ear to the wall. However I hear a noticable (from about 10 feet away) motor type humming on the first floor of the home. I didn't know if water was in the base of the pipe causing the fan to virbrate the pipe (I honest really don't know enough). I thought the fan had to be above all living levels (I have a two story home), so it seems strange the the fan motor would be auible on the second floor. It could be pere coincedense too. I am certain that the Radon vent is causing the noise as I can turn it off via the breaker panel, and then hear no noise.