Mysteries of the marketplace: I’m looking to buy a condensate removal pump. My old one’s pooped out, and a visiting engineer told me you just have to throw it away & buy another one.

So I log on to the Home Depot website, key in “condensate removal pump,” hit Search and get this for $54.58.

Hmm. Let’s see if I can do better. I go to the Lowe’s website, type in the same search argument, and get this for $357.14. Whoa!

That’s some spread on the same item. And yes, this is an un-subtle way of blegging for advice from Corner readers.

(My existing pump, the one that died, is this precise one, from the Little Giant Pump Company of Oklahoma City. Keen as I am to be sure I’m buying American, I can’t find a supplier closer than Maryland.)