Sump pump replacement in Triangle.
Sump pump replacement in Triangle: $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
Book your sump pump replacement
Few Triangle houses sit in a flood zone. The water comes off the hills.
On FEMA’s 2015 flood map, the 100-year floodplain along Quantico Creek, Little Creek and smaller streams covers about a fifth of the land inside the Triangle Census area. The houses mostly sit higher: of roughly 2,550 house and townhouse addresses, the county’s copy puts four inside it, three on Fuller Heights Road and one on Creek Road. So basement water here is far likelier groundwater and yard runoff than a creek: a sump pump’s job.
Fuller Heights Road is the exception. At 7 feet on the Little Creek gauge at Route 1, the National Weather Service says a building along Fuller Heights Road near Fuller Road starts to flood, and at 10.54 feet that intersection sits under three feet of water. On June 2, 2018, floodwater submerged a car at Route 1 and Fuller Road. A pump can’t push back a creek, so on those few lots the flood map comes first.
In Cramers Ridge, 2004 and 2005 streets around Rosings Way and Lady Catherine Circle, about two houses in three stand on what the county’s soil map calls Marr very fine sandy loam, 25 to 50 percent slopes. Every house in Garrison Woods, and three in four in Cramers Ridge, sits on the county’s Category III, a class that takes in marine clay, shrink-swell soil and high groundwater. Rain soaking into an uphill yard travels underground to the basement wall, and the footing drain usually carries it to the pit.
Prince William’s building office wants a sump’s discharge to drain away from the foundation: six inches of fall in the first ten feet, a splash block sloped away, or the pipe carried two feet out to ground that falls away. The weather station at Quantico’s Marine Corps air station, about four miles off, averages 76 nights a year at or below freezing, so a low spot holding water in that pipe can ice up from November into March.
Triangle houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
Triangle
- Median home built2003 Census
- Built before 1980about 4 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 5 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 6 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 8 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 4 in 10 Census
- In a house built since 2000, the pump in the pit may still be the original, and an original is due.
What sump pump replacement costs in Triangle.
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 Triangle needs replacing.
A storm that drops trees can drop the power
Triangle’s storm records are mostly wind: the October 2011 tornado that uprooted trees from the Stafford line into Triangle, a 66 mph gust at Quantico’s air station in the June 2012 derecho, trees down near Route 1 and Cabin Road in August 2022. When the power goes, so does the pump, unless a battery backup takes over.
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.
It starts, stops, then starts again
Water is running back into the pit through a check valve that no longer closes, so the pump moves the same water again and again until it wears out.
After a storm in Triangle, 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 Triangle.
Questions to ask anybody who quotes you, us included.
Did they walk the uphill side of the lot?
On a sloped Triangle lot the water reaching the pit usually starts uphill, at a downspout emptying toward the house or a yard that drains to the foundation. Ask whoever quotes the pump to look on that side too.
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.
What our customers say.
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Sump pump questions from Triangle.
Is my Triangle house in a flood zone?
Almost certainly not: the county’s copy of FEMA’s map puts only four Triangle house or townhouse addresses inside the 100-year floodplain, on Fuller Heights Road and Creek Road. Prince William County’s online County Mapper shows yours, soil included.
I rent in Triangle. Who pays for a new sump pump?
Usually the owner. About 37 percent of Triangle households rent, and Virginia’s landlord law has the owner keep the plumbing and appliances supplied with the home in good and safe working order. Tell the landlord now; a new pump in the existing pit is $697 installed.
How much does sump pump replacement cost in Triangle?
$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 Triangle.
More from SwiftPro in Triangle
A new pump before the next storm.
Call, or book online and pick a window. Often same-day, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Triangle 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.