Indesit IDCE 8450 BH water/H20 issue

The dryer’s 7 years old. For a year or 2 it’s been beeping erratically when drying, especially at the start of the cycle (I always have it set to 1 – eco cotton). Thought of selling it while it still worked, but I held on. About a month ago, it started giving a H20 warning. However, the water collection tray isn’t full. I opened the back condensation tray where the pump and float unit are. It had fluff, even though the filter is cleaned every wash, and the condenser once a month. Cleaned it, did it again, got less fluff. Either the pump has zero tolerance for fluff, and a hidden filter’s kept it clean for 7 years, or it can handle a little bit of fluff, which is the culmination of 7 years of proper management.

Watched some videos and found 4 points of failure:

1. the float isn’t rising with the water

2. the float switch isn’t triggering when the float hits the top

3. the microprocessors aren’t sending signals to the pump

4. the pump isn’t working
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1: the float looks good as new. It’s a black float, and there’s no grime on it like the 2nd hand white floats for sale

2. tested the switch with a multimeter continuity setting. It registers being pressed

3. no way of testing. No result from multimeter

4. impeller isn’t broken, pump looks brand new
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I’ve seen a video say that even a good-looking float can wear out with age. I have no way of testing whether the impeller floats, or that it activates the pump, without opening the pump-float unit while it’s on and pressing it. Every warning I’ve read says to never work on a machine while plugged in, so I can only hope that this pump I bought fixes everything when I install it.

The reason I think it’s the pump is because I just tried using it now, and the collection tray was bone dry. Is there more fluff, despite cleaning the filter and condenser again, and hoovering out what I could? Maybe, but some water should get past the fluff and make it to the collection tray. The pump impeller and hole leading to the collector tray pipe were cleaned and debris-free. The collection and overflow pipes were cleared.

No water is going to the collection tray, which means the pump isn’t turning on. I know the switch works. The float is fairly simple and unlikely to break. The microprocessors have given no other issues. A video said that there’s a timeout for when the condensation tray is left full for too long. I suspect that has something to do with the beeping. I don’t think it’s a heat/thermistor issue, as the dryer has good ventilation at the front.

Given the facts, am I right to replace the pump? There’s still time to cancel. Thing is, a pump is £13, while a float is £10. And the old pump gets you a £3 impeller, so it’s probably the best outcome as well.