Pump running nonstop, humming without moving water, or silent while the pit fills? A failed sump is usually found in a storm, which is the worst time to find it.
Number for Waterproofing & Sump Pumps
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Most pump failures come down to a handful of causes. Knowing which one you're looking at tells you whether it's a quick fix or a new pump.
The float rises with the water and turns the pump on. If it catches on the side of the pit, the power cord or debris, the pump never starts, even with the pit full. Sometimes it sticks in the "on" position instead and the pump runs dry until it burns out. A float that doesn't move freely is the single most common failure.
In a wet Bergen County basement, a pump can cycle hundreds of times in a single storm. Motors wear out. Signs include a hum with no water moving, loud grinding or rattling, a pump that trips the breaker, or one that runs but moves water slowly.
The area averages about 26 inches of snow a year, and January nights drop to around 26°F. Where the discharge pipe exits the house, water left in it can freeze solid. The pump runs, but nothing gets out. Lines buried in the yard can also be crushed or clogged by roots and debris.
The storms that fill your pit are often the same ones that knock out power. After Sandy in 2012, a NJ DEP study with Rutgers found flooding in some upland areas lasted at least five days because pump stations lost power. At home, a pump without power is a pump that isn't there. That's what backups are for.
Pit filling and the pump isn't keeping up? Call (201) 377-3819. Calls answered 24/7. You're under no obligation to book.
Call (201) 377-3819Some problems are small fixes. Others mean the pump has reached the end of its life. A rough guide:
Repair usually makes sense when: - The float switch is stuck or damaged. - The check valve is failing (you hear water rushing back into the pit after the pump shuts off). - The intake screen is clogged with silt or debris. - The discharge line is frozen, disconnected or clogged.
Sump pump replacement usually makes sense when: - The motor hums but doesn't pump, or has burned out. - The pump is old and noisy, or cycles far more than it used to. - It can't keep up with the water in heavy rain; it may be undersized. - The housing is cracked or corroded.
If the pump is old and the repair is major, a new pump plus a backup is often the better choice.
A backup pump sits in the same pit, a little higher than the main pump, and takes over if the main pump fails or the power goes out. A good sump pump backup system is the most useful upgrade most basements can get.
A battery backup runs a second pump off a large rechargeable battery when the power fails. It works anywhere. The limit is runtime: depending on the battery and how often the pump cycles, it may run for hours, not days. In a long outage with heavy groundwater, it can run out. Batteries also need replacing every few years.
A water powered backup sump pump uses the pressure of your city water supply to pull water out of the pit, with no electricity at all. Hackensack is served by Veolia's public water system, so pressure is available. It runs as long as the city water does. The trade-offs: it uses city water while it runs, it needs adequate water pressure, and local plumbing rules usually require a backflow preventer so pit water can't be drawn into drinking water. A licensed plumber should install it.
An alarm sounds when the water in the pit rises above the normal level, which means the pump isn't keeping up. Wi-Fi models send an alert to your phone, which matters most when you're at work or away.
About 36 percent of Hackensack homes were built between 1940 and 1969, many with block foundations and no sump at all. Here's what a proper installation looks like.
Sump pit installation starts with the lowest point in the basement, or where water shows up first. A hole is broken through the slab and dug out, and a plastic basin with holes in its sides goes in, set in gravel so groundwater can flow in. Ideally the pit connects to an interior drain along the walls.
The pump goes in the basin, with a check valve on the discharge pipe so water doesn't flow back into the pit. It should have its own outlet, ideally a GFCI-protected one on its own circuit, so a tripped breaker elsewhere doesn't shut it off. Electrical work may need a permit.
The water has to go somewhere legal:
Pour water into the pit until the float rises, and watch the pump start, empty the pit and shut off cleanly. Then add a battery or water-powered backup and a high-water alarm.
A pump on its own only collects the water that happens to reach the pit. In a basement that leaks along the walls, the pit is usually the end point of an interior drain: perforated pipe under the floor along the walls, carrying water to the sump. The drain collects; the pump lifts. See french drains for the drain side, and basement waterproofing for choosing a whole system.
Installing a sump pump is home improvement work under New Jersey law. The Division of Consumer Affairs checklist says contractors must register every year and show the registration number on ads, contracts and vehicles. For all but very small jobs, the contract must be in writing, with start and completion dates and insurance details, and you can cancel before midnight of the third business day after receiving it.
Some local waterproofing companies advertise multi-year sump pump warranties. Ask what the warranty actually covers: the pump itself, the labor, the damage if it fails, or only replacement parts.
Undercroft Restoration is a referral service. When you call (201) 377-3819, you're connected with an independent, third-party contractor that serves your area. That company inspects, quotes and does the work. Undercroft Restoration doesn't do the work, set prices, hold contractor registrations or offer warranties. For how the line works across every service, see the home page.
About this example. Undercroft Restoration connects callers with independent companies and doesn't publish their customers' jobs. This is an illustrative example, not a record of a real job. It's set during a real event: Tropical Storm Elsa on the night of July 8 to 9, 2021, when heavy rain began in New Jersey just after midnight and 4 to 5 inches fell across the region.
A split-level in Bergen County with a finished lower level and a 12-year-old sump pump. Heavy rain starts after midnight. Around 2 a.m. the owner wakes to a beeping sound: the high-water alarm he installed two years earlier and forgot about.
The pump is humming but not moving water. The motor has seized. There's no backup. Water is at the rim of the pit and starting to spread across the floor.
He shuts off the breaker to the pump and calls. By the time a crew gets water moving with a portable pump, about an inch has spread across the laundry room and one corner of the den carpet. That part becomes a small flooded basement cleanup job.
The contractor replaces the pump with a slightly larger one, adds a new check valve, and installs a battery backup set higher in the pit, with the alarm kept. The discharge line gets checked all the way to its outlet.
The lesson: the alarm saved the den. A backup would have saved the night.
Pump out, tear out and dry: flooded basement cleanup.
Interior drain tile along the walls: french drains.
Why basements leak and how to fix it for good: basement waterproofing.
Calls come from Hackensack's single-family streets in the Fairmount section and the Johnson Avenue area, and from towns across the county. Calls from Teaneck, Paramus and Fort Lee are connected the same way. More on water damage in Hackensack and the full Bergen County service area.
Calls answered 24/7. Have your town and what the pump is doing ready when you call.
Undercroft Restoration is a free referral service, not a restoration company. Calls are connected to independent local service providers that serve your area, and calls may be recorded. The work is done by those providers, not by this site.
Calls answered 24/7. Pick the number for your problem, then say your town and what happened.
Often around 7 to 10 years, less in basements where the pump runs constantly. Age alone isn't a reason to replace a pump that tests well, but an old pump deserves a backup.
Usually a high water table after a wet stretch, a float stuck in the "on" position, or a failed check valve letting water flow back into the pit. If it runs with no rain for days, have it checked.
Not into the sanitary sewer. River Edge and many other New Jersey towns ban it. In Hackensack, only stormwater goes into the city storm sewer, and any tie-in needs city approval.
Whether a new pit has to be dug or an old pump replaced, the pump type and size, whether a backup and alarm are added, how long the discharge line runs, and any electrical work. Call (201) 377-3819 and ask for a written scope before any work starts.
Replacing a pump in an existing pit can take a few hours. A new pit through the slab, with a discharge line and outlet, usually takes a day. Adding an interior drain takes longer.
If your pump runs during storms, yes. The same storms that fill the pit often knock out the power. A backup and an alarm protect a finished basement.
When the problem is a stuck float, a bad check valve, a clogged intake or a frozen line, and the pump itself is fairly new and runs well. If the motor hums and won't pump, replacement is usually the answer.
Usually only if you added a water backup or sump overflow endorsement, and then up to that endorsement's limit. Check your declarations page before storm season.
Yes. Slowly pour a bucket of water into the pit until the float rises. The pump should start, empty the pit and shut off. Test before spring rains and hurricane season.
The water may not be reaching the pit. If it comes through the walls or up at the floor joint, you likely need an interior drain feeding the pump. See basement waterproofing.