Replacement
Pedestal or submersible units replaced and correctly sized to the pit and to how much water the basement actually takes on.
Drain & Sewer · Northern Virginia
The one appliance you find out about at the worst possible moment.
Quick answer
A sump pump moves groundwater out of a basement pit before it reaches the floor. It is a single point of failure that almost always fails during exactly the storm you needed it for, so testing it before the season, replacing it before it dies, and adding battery backup matter more here than for most equipment. LeMaster Plumber services and replaces sump pumps across Northern Virginia.
A sump pump spends most of its life doing nothing, which is precisely the problem: there is no gradual decline to notice. It works, and then one night during heavy rain it does not, and you find out by stepping into it. Everything worth doing about a sump pump is done in advance.
Pedestal or submersible units replaced and correctly sized to the pit and to how much water the basement actually takes on.
Float and switch operation, check valve, discharge flow and cycle behaviour tested properly — not just switched on for five seconds.
A backup pump that runs when the power is out. Storms are what cause both the water and the outage, which is exactly when the primary pump is useless.
A failed check valve makes the pump re-pump the same water forever. Discharge routing matters just as much — water sent back against the foundation returns to the pit.
A pit that is too small makes a healthy pump short-cycle itself to death. We look at the whole arrangement, not just the pump.
Being clear about the edges of a job is how you avoid a surprise halfway through it:
Constant running, short cycling, humming and silence are four different faults. So is a pump that works fine while water arrives some other way.
We fill the pit and watch a full cycle — float, pump, check valve, discharge — rather than judging it by a moment of noise.
Sometimes it is a stuck float or a failed check valve. We will tell you when that is all it is.
Matched to the pit and the water volume, with the check valve and discharge set up so the pump is not fighting itself.
If a failure would genuinely flood a finished basement, backup is worth it. If it would put an inch of water in an unfinished storage room, that is a different calculation, and we will say so.
Why LeMaster Plumber
You approve the price before we start — no surprises and no pressure. You’ll always know the cost before any work begins.
Every job is backed by proper training, the right permits, and a workmanship guarantee.
We show up on time, protect your space, and leave the job cleaner than we found it.
We quote every job upfront and you approve the price before any work begins. What we cannot do honestly is put a number on this page without seeing your situation — so here is what actually moves it:
Submersible versus pedestal, and the horsepower and flow rate the basement actually needs.
Replacing like for like in a sound pit is quick. A pit, float or discharge arrangement that was wrong to begin with adds work — and we would rather fix it than build on it.
A backup pump, battery and controller is a second system, priced separately, and worth it in proportion to what is downstairs.
Replacing a failed check valve, or re-routing discharge that is sending water back toward the house.
An open, accessible pit is straightforward. A pit under finished flooring or behind storage takes longer.
A failure during an active storm is emergency work; a planned replacement in dry weather is not. Which is the argument for doing it in dry weather.
Sump pump replacement is not usually permitted work, but where the discharge goes very much matters. Fairfax County lists an illegal foundation drain connection and a roof drain connection among the inflow sources that put rainwater into the sanitary sewer, alongside storm sewer cross-connections and uncapped cleanouts (Fairfax County, Sanitary Sewer House Lateral). A sump pump discharging into the sanitary system is exactly that kind of connection — it contributes to the storm-driven backups that flood basements across the county, including possibly your own.
So sump discharge belongs outside, routed far enough from the foundation that the water does not simply drain back to the pit, and never into a sanitary line. If your existing pump discharges somewhere you are unsure about, that is worth checking as part of the visit.
Groundwater is also a live issue in the lower-lying parts of the area we serve. Around Cameron Run and the low ground near the river, a working pump and a sensible discharge route are not optional equipment — which is why we would rather test yours in dry weather than meet it during a storm.
Ready to get it sorted? Pick your own appointment time online.
Or call (703) 832-9090 — we answer 24/7.
We cover all of Fairfax County — Fairfax, Centreville, Chantilly, Vienna, Reston, Herndon, Burke, Springfield, McLean, Annandale and every community in between — plus Ashburn, Sterling and South Riding in Loudoun, and neighboring Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and Manassas.
There is no reliable number, which is the honest answer, but pumps commonly start becoming unreliable somewhere around the seven-to-ten-year mark depending on how hard they work. Because the failure mode is sudden and expensive, replacing an old pump before the season beats discovering it during one.
It depends on what is downstairs. Storms cause both the groundwater and the power cuts, so a mains-only pump is offline exactly when it is needed. If a failure would flood a finished basement, backup is straightforwardly worth it. If it would put water on an unfinished storage floor, that is a fair judgement call and we will say so.
It usually means something specific: a failed check valve letting the same water fall back into the pit, a stuck float, a pit too small for the water arriving, or genuinely high groundwater. The first two are cheap fixes. Constant running wears a pump out fast, so it is worth diagnosing rather than living with.
Yes, and you should — pour water into the pit until the float rises and watch a full cycle: it should switch on, move the water out, and switch off without the level rising again. Do it before storm season rather than during it. If it hums, hesitates or the water comes back, call.
Outside, far enough from the foundation that the water does not run straight back to the pit, and never into the sanitary sewer. Fairfax County names illegal foundation drain and roof drain connections among the inflow sources that overload the sanitary system during storms and cause basement backups.
It handles groundwater collecting in the pit. It does nothing about water entering through a crack, over a poorly graded threshold, or from a failed downspout. If that is what is happening, a bigger pump will not help, and we would rather tell you that than sell you one.
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