A plumber in Clifton.
Plumbing in Clifton, 20124, for well houses and Fairfax Water, septic, sewer or the Town’s pump and haul, priced from a published list first.
Drain cleaning for one fixture is $200 to $800 and toilet repair is $250 to $900, from our published price list.
- Prices in writing, first
- Camera before any dig
- Dedicated plumbing team
Get your plumbing job priced
A Clifton drain ends at a county sewer, a septic tank or a pump and haul vault.
Where a Clifton drain ends depends on the road. The 1980s subdivisions around Springstone Drive and Centreville High School are on county sewer, which the county’s own map sends to the Upper Occoquan plant. Out on Clifton, Compton and Yates Ford Roads, the county’s plan for the Occoquan watershed says plainly not to bring public sewer, so the house has a septic tank and a drainfield. Inside the Town of Clifton, the most built-up part of town, where the Town’s plan says poor soil and a high water table made septic a struggle, drains to a county pump and haul system, and the rest of the town is on septic fields.
Water comes in two ways too. The Town’s plan says its houses draw from private wells, and the big lots around it were rezoned in the 1980s with no public water planned. On a well there’s no reducing valve and no street pressure: the pump’s pressure switch and the pressure tank set it, so pressure that surges and sags, or a pump that kicks on every time a tap opens, points at the pressure tank.
The ground matters inside the town. The Town’s plan rates its wettest soils poor for septic fields, with a high water table under more than four tenths of the town’s land, and says two of those soils aren’t suited for basements. If your lowest floor takes water in a wet spring, the sump pump and the line it discharges through are where a plumber starts. After a heavy rain, check that the pump ran and emptied the pit, then call us and we’ll look at the pump, its check valve and where the line lets out.
Nearly eight in ten homes in 20124 went up between 1980 and 1999, the stretch when builders were plumbing with grey polybutylene. A well pump cycling all day swings the pressure on whatever pipe you have, so it’s worth knowing which it is; one look at the line coming off the top of the water heater usually settles it.
Clifton houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
The Fairfax County side of 20124
Clifton mail outside the town: five- to ten-acre lots in the Occoquan watershed on Clifton, Compton and Yates Ford Roads, mostly on septic, and the 1980s subdivisions off Springstone Drive and Union Mill Road on county sewer.
ZIP 20124 as a whole, the Town included: its own homes are too few for steady Census figures.
- Median home built1988 Census
- Built before 1980about 1 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 1 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 8 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 1 in 10 Census
- A lot of houses here went up while polybutylene supply pipe was in use, about 1978 to 1995, and it fails at the fittings.
What a plumber costs in Clifton.
The same list as our plumbing page, every line a range because the house decides where it lands. You get the number before the work starts.
- Drain cleaning, one fixture$200 to $800
- Main sewer line cleaning$550 to $1,650
- Sewer camera inspection, added to a visit$89
- Leak detection$200 to $500
- Toilet repair$250 to $900
- Pressure reducing valve replacement$500 to $1,000
- Water heater replacement$2,757 to $10,486
A sewer camera inspection is $89 added to a visit we’re already making. It’s the cheapest way to know what a drain is doing before anybody talks about digging.
With Comfort+ membership, any service is 15% off, and a water heater flush with a sewer camera inspection and a plumbing safety inspection comes every year.
What a plumbing problem in Clifton usually looks like.
The lowest drain gurgles after a week of rain
On septic, a drainfield soaked by rain can’t take water as fast, so the lowest toilet or the basement shower slows first. A sewer camera inspection, $89 when we’re already there, shows whether a pipe is blocked or the field is just saturated, and a saturated field is the septic contractor’s job.
Grey plastic pipe near the water heater
Polybutylene, often stamped PB, went into houses from about 1978 to 1995. It tends to let go at the fittings with no warning, so it’s worth knowing whether you have it.
Water where it shouldn’t be
A damp patch on a ceiling, a warm spot on the floor, a meter that keeps ticking with every tap off. A slow leak inside a wall does most of its damage before it ever shows itself.
A drain that keeps coming back
One slow sink is a sink. Two slow drains on different floors are sharing the pipe out to the street, and a basement drain that gurgles while you run water upstairs is the main line talking.
After a storm in Clifton, check the basement drains.
Heavy rain finds the weak spots in a house’s plumbing. Four checks you can make yourself, then call us and we’ll look at the rest.
Water coming up a floor drain?
Clear water with no smell is usually groundwater. Gray water, or a sewer smell, means the main line is backing up: stop running water in the house and call us.
Drains slow or gurgling since the rain?
A main line with a cracked joint or roots in it can take in groundwater during a storm and slow down. A sewer camera inspection, $89 added to a visit, shows where.
Is the sump pump running?
If the house has one, watch it once: it should start as the pit fills, empty it and shut off. Our sump pump replacement page has the rest of the checks.
Did water reach the water heater?
If floodwater got to a gas water heater’s burner or controls, leave it off. Don’t relight it until a plumber has checked it.
Call us after a storm and we’ll check it all: the floor drains, the main line, the sump pump and the water heater. Any repair gets its price in writing before the work starts.
Who owns what under the street in Clifton.
Town of Clifton
The Town has no sewer main to a treatment plant. Since about 1970 a county pump and haul station at the end of Chapel Street has collected from the properties on its lines, and the county plan says public sewer should go no further; the Town’s plan counts every other property on its own septic field. Source.
The Town’s 2009 plan says its houses draw from private wells, apart from five small public wells that serve a handful of churches, businesses and public buildings. On a well no water utility sets the pressure: the pump’s pressure switch and the pressure tank do, so a pressure reducing valve is the exception here. Source.
Fairfax County
In Fairfax County the homeowner owns the whole sewer lateral, from the house to the county main, including the stretch under the street. Replacing it takes a county plumbing permit, plus a VDOT permit under a state road. Source.
Fairfax Water promises 20 psi at the main and no uniform pressure, and the pressure reducing valve on your side of the meter is yours to buy and keep up. Over 80 psi, the Virginia Residential Code calls for one, and an expansion tank with it. Source.
How to pick the best plumber in Clifton.
Questions worth asking anybody who comes out, us included.
Do they ask where your water comes from and where it goes?
In Clifton there are five possible answers: a well or Fairfax Water coming in, and county sewer, septic or the Town’s pump and haul going out. A plumber who doesn’t ask can’t tell you whether a slow drain or a pressure problem is even theirs to fix.
Is the plumber licensed in Virginia?
Anyone can check on the state’s license lookup in about a minute. It’s the one question that takes the guesswork out of the rest.
Will they put a camera in before they talk about digging?
A sewer camera inspection is cheap next to any dig, and it shows whether the problem is a root, a sag or a break. A quote to dig without one is a guess.
Do you get the price before the work?
Every plumbing job on our list has a range. A plumber who won’t say where yours lands until the wall’s open is asking for a blank check.
What our customers say.
Great job. Very professional. Came promptly to the house to cover a pipe leak in progress.
5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Plumbing questions from Clifton.
Is a garbage disposal a problem on a Clifton septic system?
It can be. The Town’s plan names solids and grease building up in the drainfield as a primary cause of a septic system failing early, and a disposal sends more solids to the tank. If you keep one, plan on pumping sooner than the county’s five-year minimum, and keep grease out of the sink either way.
My Clifton house is on a well. What’s plumbing and what isn’t?
From the pressure tank into the house is plumbing: the pipes, fixtures, water heater and drains, out to the septic tank. The drilled well and the pump down in it belong to a contractor licensed for well work. When pressure acts up, we’ll test at the tank and say which side of that line the trouble is on.
How do I find out when my Clifton septic tank was last pumped?
Look the property up in Fairfax County’s PLUS system, where whoever pumps the tank has to log the date. County code wants it done at least every five years, and in the town’s wetter soils a field that’s already struggling is one more reason to keep to that.
How much does a plumber cost in Clifton?
It depends on the job, and every one has a published range: drain cleaning for one fixture $200 to $800, main sewer line cleaning $550 to $1,650, leak detection $200 to $500, a pressure reducing valve replacement $500 to $1,000, toilet repair $250 to $900. A sewer camera inspection added to a visit is $89.
Plumbers in the towns next door.
- Plumbing in Fairfax Station
- Plumbing in Burke
- Plumbing in Manassas
- Plumbing in Centreville
- Plumbing in Fairfax
More from SwiftPro in Clifton
Tell us what the water is doing.
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SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Clifton and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, 4230 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, (703) 997-9757. Book online, read our reviews, or see every town we serve.