How do you clean your sump pump?

[runwad]

I was reading an article about home maintenace and one thing they said to do once a year in the winter to get ready for spring rains is to clean your sump pump. How do you do that? Do you pour bleach in? It didn't really say. It did say to lift the lever and make sure the motor comes on and if you have a backup battery unplug the unit and do the same thing to make sure the backup works, but I don't know how to actually clean it. Thanks

 

[neatokimmo]

My sump pumps sit in a hole in my basement on rock hard red clay. I just dump a ton of water in it to get any residue in the bottom sucked up.

I wouldn't put bleach in it because I wouldn't want bleach to go through the pumps. Just like I wouldn't suck up bleach with a shop vac.