Before the pump itself, the rules here care about where its water ends up. Loudoun Water says a sump pump should not be connected to the sanitary sewer: the plumbing code Loudoun County enforces keeps storm water out of sewers meant for sewage only, and in a big storm that extra water can push sewage back up into houses. The discharge line should carry the water out onto the yard, far enough from the foundation that it can’t soak back down and return to the pit.
Your association has a say about the outside end. Ashburn Village wants any drain pipe extension longer than six feet buried, and kept out of the common areas and the neighbors’ yards. Brambleton’s guidelines want drainage tubing buried with no runs above ground, ending inside your own lot, never aimed at a neighbor’s yard, a street or a sidewalk, and a tie-in to a county storm drain needs Loudoun County’s approval first. Neither document names sump pumps, so check any outside line work against your association’s rules before anyone digs.
How old the pump is follows the street. Around Ashburn Farm and Ashburn Village the typical owner home dates to 1998, so a pit there probably isn’t on its first pump, or its second. In Brambleton, Loudoun Valley Estates, Moorefield and One Loudoun, where the medians run from 2011 to 2015, the builder’s pump may well be the one still running, and it’s living on borrowed time.
The Census survey behind these figures doesn’t ask about basements, so it can’t say how many Ashburn homes have a pit. It does say nearly four in ten homes here are townhouses, and more than half of all homes in Loudoun Valley Estates, Moorefield and Goose Creek Village. In a townhouse with a finished lower level, the pit often ends up under the stairs or behind a storage room panel. About one home in five is in a condo or apartment building, where a flat above ground has no pit of its own.