Yes, you read that right… Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone!  Also, the plumbing part had to do with my adventure fixing our sump pump today/tonight.

This week, I found out that our sump pump had burned up… it wasn’t completely dead, but when it would run for more than a few seconds, it would throw the breaker and some whisps of smoke would come out of the little motor housing.  It would pump some water, but not enough to get the job done before killing the electric.

Well, the project had me trying to determine if the line out of the house where the water discharges was obstructed, to buying a submersible pump to drain the water because I thought the sump pump was still good enough because it would work for a while… I thought maybe there was too much water for it to pump normally… nope.

So, I bought a submersible pump to get the water out of the hole, $89… Then I bought a garden hose to run the discharge water out a known good exit, $17… then I determined that the discharge pipe was good and the sump pump was burnt so then I went and bought a new sump pump, $120.  So, after $200 in costs plus 3 trips to Lowe’s, I now have a working sump pump again.  This one comes with a 3 year warranty at least.

My wife and I went to the city today to spend some time together on Valentines.  We got our White Castles and our favorite Silky’s ice cream.  We brought back Pasta House for a nice dinner at home with a glass of wine.  I really wish we had more time to spend together!