Your pump alarm is sounding: a safe troubleshooting guide

A high-level alarm means the wet well is filling faster than it is emptying. You usually have hours, not days, before it surcharges. Here is what to check safely — and where to stop.

First: reduce the load

Before anything else, cut water use on the property. Hold off on washing machines, dishwashers, showers and non-essential flushing. Every litre you send down now has to be pumped out later, and reducing inflow buys real time.

Safe checks in order

1. 1Check the control panel for a tripped breaker or RCD. Reset it once. If it trips again immediately, stop — that is an electrical fault, not a nuisance trip.
2. 2Look for a fault or overload lamp on the panel and note exactly what it says; it saves the engineer diagnostic time.
3. 3Confirm there is no wider power cut affecting the panel supply.
4. 4Check whether one pump is running. On a duty/standby station, a single working pump may hold the level while you arrange a repair.
5. 5Check the alarm is not simply a failed float stuck in the up position — but do not reach into the chamber to free it.

What the symptoms usually mean

• Pump hums but does not move liquid — blocked impeller, usually rag or wipes
• Pump runs constantly and level does not drop — failed non-return valve, blocked rising main or a burnt-out impeller
• Nothing at all, no panel lights — supply fault or tripped upstream protection
• Repeated trips within seconds — winding fault, seized pump or damaged cable
• Alarm with an empty-looking chamber — failed or stuck float, or a level probe fault

When to call immediately

• Effluent is at or near the chamber lid
• Waste is backing up into ground floor fixtures inside the building
• Both pumps on a duty/standby station are down
• The breaker trips repeatedly, or there is a burning smell from the panel
• The station serves a commercial site, care setting or multiple homes

Where a repair will take time, a tanker can empty the chamber and keep the property usable in the meantime — which is why having drainage and pump capability on the same call-out matters.