In December, Angela found a puddle of water in our basement. It turns out that our condensate pump had bit the dust. Thanks to a little help from Sandy, I was able to get a new pump shipped to me by Teresa Parcel Service, with instructions on how to install it, and I was back up and running in early January.

This is a "before and after" photo. The "before" photo is actually after I removed the old pump that was overflowing with water. I scrounged around for some materials in my workshop, and rigged up this contraption using a piece of flexible drainage tubing, a short garden hose, two hose clamps, and - of course - duct tape. This held up for the few weeks that I had to go without a working pump.

The second photo is the finished product. The new pump is in place and working like a charm! I think the old pump gave up the ghost shortly after I turned on the humidifier. It couldn't handle the extra water, I guess.

The old pump had an overflow switch, but it wasn't connected to anything. I found out when I installed the new pump that my furnace has a "communicating thermostat", which means there is no easy way to connect an overflow switch from a condensate pump. (Not that I've found, anyway.) However, I'm not so sure which I would prefer in the case of an overflow: Some water in my basement, or the entire furnace shutting off and my house freezing to death? Maybe it is better to leave the overflow switch disconnected.

Technical details: This photo was taken using by 5D Mark II + Tamron 28-75 at (47mm, 54mm), ISO 1600, f/2.8 for (1/50th, 1/40th) of a second.