Defective sump pump?
In May of 2025, our septic tank alarm went off, indicating that the tank was full. We had it pumped and all was well. About 3 weeks later, alarm went off again. Pulled the cover off and sure enough tank is full again. Called the same guys back out and had it pumped again. They said that the pump was likely bad. We’d only lived in the house for about 6 months, but it was built in 2016 and as far as we could tell, the pump had not been replaced in all that time, so it going out after 9 years seemed reasonable. We replaced the sump pump and again, all is well. After about 6 months, the alarm goes off again. Pump is not pumping. Husband troubleshoots and discovers that gently tapping the discharge pipe with a shovel gets the pump working again. For the past 6 months, are septic tank alarm has gone off every 2 to 4 weeks. Pump just isn’t pumping. Every single time, husband has fixed it by gently tapping the discharge pipe with a shovel. The float is fine and is not getting hung up on anything, but we’ve moved it a few times to confirm.
Any idea what could be causing this? Tapping the discharge pipe temporarily fixes it, and I’m hoping that a professional may recognize what is going on.
Do we just have a defective pump?