sump groundwater · TN LLP #5045 · verify.tn.gov
Sump Pump Repair
Pumps that will not start, run without stopping, or cycle on a stuck float.
Quick answer
We repair sump pumps across the whole service area — Charleston, Cleveland, Athens, the US-11 corridor, and inside Chattanooga city limits. We work on the pump, the float, the check valve, and the discharge line. We do not wire the circuit: if the fault turns out to be the receptacle or the breaker, that is an electrician's work and we will tell you so rather than guess at it.
A sump pump only matters on the day it is needed, which is why most of them fail quietly months before anybody finds out. By the time you notice, there is usually water where it should not be.
Most sump pump calls come in during a storm, and most of them turn out to be one of four things: a float that has hung up on the side of the pit, a check valve that has stopped holding, a discharge line that is blocked, or a motor that has finally worn out. Only the last one is a new pump.
That distinction is worth money to you. A pump that will not start is not automatically a pump that needs replacing, and we would rather test the thing than sell you a new one on a bad afternoon.
What the job covers
- Float switch diagnosis and replacement, the most common fault by far
- Check valve replacement when the pit refills itself after every cycle
- Clearing and re-routing blocked or frozen discharge lines
- Impeller and motor faults, and a straight call on repair versus replacement
- Testing whether the fault is the pump at all, or the circuit feeding it
How to tell
Signs you need sump pump repair
- The pit fills and the pump never starts
- The pump runs but the water level does not drop
- It runs constantly, or kicks on every couple of minutes in dry weather
- A grinding or rattling noise from the pit
- A hard bang in the discharge pipe every time it shuts off
- Water standing in the crawlspace or basement after a storm that used to stay dry
What usually fails, in order
The float switch is the most common failure by a wide margin. It is the part that tells the pump the water has come up, and in a narrow pit it can catch on the wall, on the discharge pipe, or on its own cord. A pump with a hung float is a working pump that never gets the message.
Next is the check valve, the one-way valve in the discharge line. When it stops sealing, the water the pump just lifted runs straight back down into the pit, so the pump starts again, lifts the same water, and wears itself out doing it. Short-cycling like that will kill a good pump in a season.
After that comes the discharge line itself, then the impeller, and only then the motor. We work down that list rather than starting at the expensive end.
Where our work stops and an electrician's begins
A sump pump belongs on its own properly protected circuit. Running that circuit, replacing a receptacle, or chasing a breaker that keeps tripping is an electrician's license, not a plumber's, and we do not do it.
What we will do is find out whether that is your problem. It is a quick check, and it is a common one: a pump that is dead at the outlet is not a pump fault at all. Being told plainly that you need an electrician is a better outcome than a plumber selling you a pump you did not need.
Crawlspaces, not basements
Full basements are rare across this corridor. Most of what we work on sits in a crawlspace, and that changes the job: the pit is shallower, access is tight, the discharge run is often longer, and a pump that fails under a house goes unnoticed far longer than one in a basement somebody walks past every day.
It also means most of the sump advice you find online was written about a different house. Sizing, pit depth, and freeze exposure on the discharge all read differently under a crawlspace on clay.
How we work
How we handle sump pump repair
Test before we sell
We fill the pit and watch the pump do its actual job, rather than diagnosing it from the symptom you described on the phone.
Work the cheap causes first
Float, check valve, and discharge line come before impeller and motor, because that is the order things actually fail in.
Check whether it is even a plumbing fault
If the pump is dead at the outlet, we say so and you need an electrician, not us.
Repair or replace, with the reason
We tell you which one you are looking at and why, including when the honest answer is that the pump has years left in it.
Confirm it cycles clean
We run it through a full cycle and make sure it shuts off, holds, and does not restart on its own water.
Permits
Some plumbing work requires a permit and an inspection, and some does not. Whether one is required for your job is determined by the Authority Having Jurisdiction — the city or county building and codes office for your address — and it is at their discretion.
Usually requires a permit
- Water heater replacement and tankless conversion
- Whole-house repiping
- Water service line and sewer line replacement
- Gas line installation and repair
- Relocating a fixture to a new position
Usually does not
- Drain cleaning and clearing blockages
- Emergency and repair work
- Like-for-like fixture replacement
- Water heater repair
- Camera inspection and diagnostics
This is general guidance rather than a ruling, and it can differ from one town to the next. The Authority Having Jurisdiction makes the determination. Across the Bradley–McMinn corridor we pull the permit and book the inspection ourselves. Inside Hamilton County and Chattanooga the permit office does not accept an application from our license class, so permit-required jobs there are referred to a licensed partner who does the work and meets the inspector.
Common questions
Sump Pump Repair: your questions answered
My sump pump will not turn on. Is it dead?
Do you do the electrical side too?
Can you get out during a storm?
My pump runs all the time. Is that bad?
Do you work on crawlspace pumps?
What kind of warranty do you offer?
Will I get a price before the work starts?
Are you actually licensed?
Get service
Book Drain Pros TN for sump pump repair.
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TN Limited Licensed Plumber · #5045 · verify at verify.tn.gov
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