One of my clients has a rental house with a primitive water heater set up. It's in a slightly enlarged part of the crawl space - it has a door off the back yard and you step down into an area about 3x3 in front of the heater, which is on a slightly lower level, about 6 inches above a crushed rock floor, with a 2' diameter sump, maybe 2' deep below it. It's on a bit of a hill - seems like water flows to the spot easily, it rises pretty reliably during heavy rain. I first worked on this when I installed a new float switch. The previous switch would work after jostling it which is a sign of leakage and corrosion in my experience (turns out it was wet inside).

I spliced the cord with some 3/4 " dia. clear tubing filled with sikaflex over the joint, hoping to have ultimate waterproofness. Perhaps not necessary as the splice was positioned well above the likely high water mark but who knows. Seemed to work pretty well - then I get a call from the lady yesterday telling me it's not working and that the water rose enough to put out the pilot light again, this 3 months after the original repair.

Turns out it runs well enough, but pops the GFCI whenever the float goes down and shuts off the pump. I discovered this after re-setting the GFCI and watching it all pump out (thank God, I didn't have an aux. pump with me). Makes no sense, except that perhaps the sudden change in current is misinterpreted. I put in a new GFCI as sometimes they get over sensitive when old, but no change.

I then hardwired the pump into the box, bypassing the GFCI. This is not like a hairdryer in a bathroom, people don't hang onto the pump. Works reliably now, I reached down and quickly touched the wet stones, checking for any shock. Couldn't find any. Not sure how else to check for the sort of low current that would be passing through water. Stepping in it for a test would not be wise. I'm wondering about the definition and function of grounding. The water in that sump is in contact with water over a wide area. Would the charge be dissipated so widely that you wouldn't get shocked? I've read that you can get shocked in a flooded basement and often that to will be connected to ground water but maybe not as thoroughly. Jeez, the stuff I don't know.

I found some backup on the web for bypassing a GFCI for a sump pump but I don't feel I've got a complete grasp of this. I know I don't want to replace the pump - it's in a very awkward spot to work in - replacing the switch was bad enough.

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