The pump keeps running days after the rain stops
On ground this slow to drain, water collects against the foundation, and a pump cycling for a day or two after a storm can be normal. One running steadily for a week is wearing itself out.
Centreville, Virginia
Sump pump replacement in Centreville.
Sump pump replacement in Centreville: $697 installed in your existing pit. A new pit, a battery backup, outside drain work or new wiring is extra.
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Rather talk now? (703) 997-9757
- Cast iron pump, quiet check valve
- Extras priced in writing first
- Dedicated plumbing team
5.0 stars across 1,132 reviews
Two of our technicians in a basement mechanical room, beside the furnace and a gas water heater.
Licensed and insuredVirginia Class A contractor #2705192276
24/7 emergency serviceOften same-day, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
Our own plumbers, our own trucksNobody here is a subcontractor with a magnet on the door
The price is settled before the workYou see the number in writing before anything is taken apart
What it costs
What sump pump replacement costs in Centreville.
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
or $53/mo at 0% APR for 60 months
A new or deeper pit, discharge line work outside, or a dedicated circuit
Priced in writing before we start
Monthly figures: 60mo @ 0% APR on each starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Longer plans lower the payment and cost more in total. The lender sets the final terms. How financing works
$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.
What’s different in Centreville
Centreville pits dug into slow-draining red ground, most of them thirty years in.
The Census counts how old Centreville’s houses are, not whether they have a basement, so nobody can honestly say how many have a sump pit. It does show a median owner home from 1990, nearly half of all homes townhouses and about three in ten single-family. Many from those years have a lower level dug partly into the ground, and where there’s a pit, it usually sits in the unfinished utility room.
Fairfax County’s soils guide puts the county’s west end, Centreville named in it, on the Triassic Basin: red shale and sandstone, often 2 to 10 feet down, under broad flats that drain slowly. For one upland soil there it describes water perching on the rock a foot and a half to two and a half feet below the surface, with foundation drains often needed to keep basements dry. Along Bull Run’s low terraces it wants drains inside and outside the foundation. The sump pump is where those drains empty.
A pit dug in 1990 has outlived a few pumps, and the pit has worn too: a cracked liner, gravel washed in, a lid long gone. So before a new pump goes in, we check that the pit can still hold it, since $697 assumes one that’s sound. Homes built since 2000, about a fifth here, may still run the builder’s pump, and an original that age is due.
Fairfax County’s wastewater office calls a sump pump, downspout or French drain tied into the sanitary sewer an illegal connection, since the extra water can overload the system and push sewage into streams, streets or basements. In a townhouse with a small yard, the discharge sometimes runs to a floor drain instead of outside. Moving it is discharge line work, priced in writing before we start.
By the numbers
Centreville houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
Centreville
- Median home built1990 Census
- Built before 1980about 1 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes aretownhouses, about 5 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 7 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 3 in 10 Census
- A basement from the 1980s or 90s is several pumps in by now, or overdue for its next one.
When it’s time
When a sump pump in Centreville needs replacing.
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 heavy rain
After a storm in Centreville, 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.
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
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.
- 4
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.
- 5
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.
- 6
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.
Choosing who replaces it
How to pick the best plumber for a sump pump in Centreville.
Questions to ask anybody who quotes you, us included.
Will they trace where the old pump empties?
Some older setups empty the pit into a floor drain or the house drain, which Fairfax County treats as an illegal connection. Whoever swaps the pump is standing next to that pipe, so ask them to follow it and tell you where it ends.
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.
Two of our crew going over a work order before the day's calls.
From our Google reviews
What our customers say.
5.0 stars across 1,132 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Replaced 2 sump pumps. Very professional, proficient, and courteous.
Questions
Sump pump questions from Centreville.
Can a renter in Centreville get the county’s battery backup reimbursement?
Yes, with the owner’s sign-off. About a quarter of Centreville homes are rented, and Fairfax County’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Program accepts renters who show the owner approved the work. Homeowners associations and condo associations can apply too, for projects on community property. The program leaves out homes in the Town of Vienna, the Town of Herndon or the City of Fairfax, none of which takes in a Centreville address.
Is a wet Centreville basement always a sump pump problem?
No. On ground this slow, water can come in through a window well, a wall crack or a downspout emptying against the foundation, and the pump never sees it. Wet floor and a dry pit: look outside first. Full pit and a quiet pump: it’s the pump.
How often does Centreville get rain heavy enough to test a sump pump?
Often enough to plan for it. NOAA’s storm records show Lee Highway closed by flooding at Clifton Road or Stringfellow Road three times between August and November 2018, and on December 17, 2023, a storm that brought 1.5 to 4 inches across the region left water two feet deep at New Braddock Road and Singletons Way. On this slow red ground a storm like that feeds the foundation drain for days. When it ends, see that the pump kicks on, empties the pit and shuts off, and if it didn’t or the basement took water, call us and we’ll check the pump, the check valve and where the line ends.
How much does sump pump replacement cost in Centreville?
$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.
Ready when you are
A new pump before the next storm.
Call, or send the form at the top. Often same-day, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
4230 Lafayette Center Dr N, Chantilly, VA 20151
44679 Endicott Dr, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147
Virginia Class A contractor license #2705192276
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Centreville and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 1,132 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
From SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in Chantilly. Housing figures are the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024, for each place named; permit, water and sewer facts link to each office’s own page and were checked in September and October 2026.