the part of the device that floats and turns the sump pump on when water rises.
Clothes Pin MacGyver
The automatic on/off function wasn't working on our old sump pump. After I bent a metal bar back into it's proper shape, the float was able to rise and fall with no problem, but the on/off switch still wasn't working reliably. Wifey took one look at the float bar, grabbed a clothes pin, clipped it to the top of the bar and the problem was fixed. She's always a MacGyver. I love that about her.
Not shallow enough...
The sump pump is fine, but the floating switch sometimes doesn't turn on, and sometimes doesn't turn off. Guess which happened here.
(Also note the licence plate. My wife says it's pronounced 'crazy' but I'm sure it's 'cra-ZED'!)