I went back down in the basement to look at my water problem a little more. I said before that the sump was dry, but I thought I should lift the lid anyway just to check it out. Well that was the problem. The sump had water right up to the rim. It must have all come in Friday when we had rain all day, and then had Saturday and most of today to dry out. The sump gets a steady trickle of water during rain storms and the water is usually pretty clear, which explains why there wasn't any telltale stains. The water is really clear and didn't leave any sediment. When it stopped raining, the water stopped coming in and it just dried up there.

Sheri is going to take a cup and bail as much water as she can tomorrow from the sump to expose where the pump attaches to the PVC pipe that exits the house. When I get home I will detach the pipe from the pump and see what size the replacement pump needs to be, and then go to Home Depot and buy a new one. I will also check the hose clamp and anything else that is down there to see if they are in good repair or if I need to pick up new attaching hardware when I buy the new pump.

I feel a lot better knowing where the water came from. My worry was that I was going to have to hire an excavator to come in and dig up a broken pipe in the backyard or there was a major foundation flaw.

I checked the weather and we are not supposed to get rain for at least the next four days.

Once I have the new pump installed and I understand how everything attaches I think I will buy another pump to keep on hand as a spare. I can imagine the helpless feeling I would have if the pump failed during a rain storm late at night and no hardware stores were open to buy a new pump, and we just had to stand there and watch the water fill up the basement.