Sump pump replacement in Reston.
Sump pump replacement in Reston: $697 installed in your existing pit. A new pit, a battery backup, outside drain work or new wiring is extra.
- Cast iron pump, quiet check valve
- Extras priced in writing first
- Dedicated plumbing team
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Reston pits by ZIP code, and RA’s rule for where the water lands.
The Census never asks about basements, so no one can honestly say how many Reston homes have a sump pit. It does describe the housing: about a third of homes sit in condo and apartment buildings, roughly three in ten are townhouses and about two in ten single-family houses. In 20190, around Lake Anne and Reston Town Center, those buildings hold more than half the homes, and a pit serving one is the association’s.
How many pumps a pit has gone through depends on the ZIP. In 20191, around Hunters Woods and South Lakes, nearly half the homes date from the 1970s, and a pit there may be original or dug later by an owner tired of a damp floor. Either way it gets a look before a new pump drops in, since $697 assumes a sound pit. North Point and the rest of 20194 went up in the 1980s and 90s, so a pit from 1990 is several pumps along by now.
Before anything else, we follow the pipe. Fairfax County calls a sump pump hooked to the sanitary sewer without a permit illegal, because the added water can overload the system until raw sewage spills into streams, streets and basements. In a 1970s house that check is part of the job, and rerouting a tie-in to the outside is discharge line work, priced in writing before we start.
Reston Association’s single-family guideline for gutters and downspouts never mentions sump pumps, but it’s the closest rule RA has for moving water across a yard: no application for a buried perforated drainpipe, or an extension of three feet or less tucked into plants, as long as the water stays on your lot and never crosses a neighbor’s yard or common area. The same page reminds owners that Virginia and Fairfax County forbid sending water across a property line without permission or an easement.
Sump pumps across Reston, place by place.
Census figures for the owner-occupied homes in each place, and what to check on a sump pump in houses that age.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reston | 1981 | condo and apartment buildings, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 5 in 10 | 1980s and 90s basements: an original pump is long overdue. |
| Great Falls Crossing | 1993 | single-family houses, about 9 in 10 | gas, about 8 in 10 | 1980s and 90s basements: an original pump is long overdue. |
Reston houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
What sump pump replacement costs in Reston.
The same price as our sump pump replacement page: one flat number for a new pump in a pit that’s still sound, with what costs extra named right beside it.
- Sump pump replacement, installed in your existing pit$697
- Sump pump and battery backup, installed together$3,200
- A new or deeper pit, discharge line work outside, or a dedicated circuitPriced in writing before we start
$697 covers a new cast iron pump, a quiet check valve, new PVC up to your existing discharge line, a battery water alarm by the pit, the old pump hauled away and a bucket test before we leave.
A battery backup keeps pumping through a power outage, and the outage usually comes with the storm. With a new pump, the pair is $3,200 installed. The sump pump estimator helps you decide whether you need one.
When a sump pump in Reston needs replacing.
It came with the house, and nobody knows its age
About four in ten occupied Reston homes are rented, and plenty of owners inherited the pump with the keys. If its label shows no date and no receipt sits in the house file, treat it as old and test it before spring.
You’re in Fairfax County and want a backup
The county’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Program pays back half of a battery backup, up to its cap, after the work is done and paid for. Not the pump itself, and not homes in the Town of Vienna, the Town of Herndon or the City of Fairfax.
It’s past seven years old
Zoeller, who make a lot of the pumps around here, puts a sump pump’s life at seven to ten years. Past seven, replace it on your schedule instead of the storm’s.
After a storm in Reston, check the sump pump.
Six checks you can make yourself once the rain lets up, none of them with your hands in the pit. Then call us and we’ll check it all.
Does the pump kick on?
Watch the pit during the rain or right after. The pump should start as the water rises, empty the pit and shut off. A full pit, or a pump that hums and moves nothing, isn’t keeping up.
Is there water where it shouldn’t be?
Walk the basement: the corners, the walls, the floor by the pit, under the water heater and the furnace. Photograph any wet spot before you mop, so we can see where it came in.
Is the discharge line clear?
Outside, find where the pump’s pipe ends. It should be open, not crushed, buried or full of leaves, and aimed away from the house so the water doesn’t run back to the foundation.
Does the check valve hold?
Listen when the pump shuts off. Water rushing back into the pit means the check valve isn’t closing, and the pump has to move that water again.
Did the power go out?
The pump stops when the power does, often at the height of the storm. If the basement took water during an outage, that’s the job a battery backup does.
Water near an outlet? Stay out.
If water is standing near the pit, an outlet or anything plugged in, don’t wade in to check. Call us, and only switch the power off at the panel from somewhere dry.
Not sure what you saw? Call us after a storm and we’ll check it all: the pump, the float, the check valve, the discharge line and where the water came in. If the pump can’t keep up, a new one is $697 installed in your existing pit; a new or deeper pit, a battery backup, discharge line work outside and a dedicated circuit are extra, priced in writing before we start.
How to pick the best plumber for a sump pump in Reston.
Questions to ask anybody who quotes you, us included.
Will they say where the water ends up?
A new pump that empties toward the next unit in a cluster row, or onto common area, swaps one problem for another. Ask where the discharge line ends and whether that spot keeps the water on your lot.
Is the price for the whole job?
Ask what the number covers: the pump, the check valve, the pipe, hauling the old one off, a test before they leave. Then ask what costs extra, and get it in writing.
What’s the new pump made of?
Cast iron, ideally. Plastic pumps cost less and are usually the ones that quit early. Ask before the old one comes out.
Do they look at where the water goes?
A discharge line that’s cracked, buried or frozen shut every January leaves the new pump pushing against a closed pipe. Whoever replaces it should check the outside end too.
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Sump pump questions from Reston.
Does Fairfax County’s battery backup program cover Reston?
Yes. Reston is unincorporated Fairfax County, and the county’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Program pays back half the cost of a battery backup, up to its cap, for homes anywhere in the county outside the Town of Vienna, the Town of Herndon or the City of Fairfax. Renters can apply with the owner’s approval, and a cluster or condo association with its board’s. Finish and pay for the work, then apply.
Does swapping a sump pump in Reston need RA’s approval?
The swap itself, no: the new pump sits in the same pit, indoors. A new outlet or a line buried across the yard is the part to check with RA or your cluster first.
Is a Reston basement safe from storms if it’s nowhere near a stream?
Not by itself. On July 8, 2019, a downpour left at least three feet of water standing in the Wiehle-Reston parking lot beside the W&OD trail and closed Sunset Hills Road at Metro Center Drive. On September 1, 2021, the remnants of Ida stranded two cars in high water on Metro Center Drive. FEMA’s flood map rates that corner minimal flood hazard. Rain that fast has to go somewhere, and around a basement it goes into the ground and the footing drain. Watch the pump during the storm. If it ran without stopping or water showed up on the floor, call us after the storm and we’ll check it all, and if the pump can’t keep up, a new one is $697 installed.
How much does sump pump replacement cost in Reston?
$697 installed in your existing pit: a new cast iron pump, a quiet check valve, new PVC to your discharge line, a battery water alarm, the old pump hauled away and a bucket test. A new or deeper pit, discharge line work outside, a battery backup and a dedicated circuit are extra, priced in writing before we start. A new pump and a battery backup installed together are $3,200.
Can I check my sump pump myself?
Yes. Pour five gallons of water into the pit. The float should rise, the pump should start within a few seconds, and it should shut off clean once the water’s down. If you hear water rushing back into the pit after it stops, that’s the check valve.
More from SwiftPro in Reston.
More from SwiftPro in Reston
A new pump before the next storm.
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