Sump Pumps in Duluth, GA

Is the pump failing?

• Rising water in the basin while the pump stays off
• Long run times with little drop in the water level
• Cycling on for a second or two, then off, over and over
• A thud in the pipe when the pump stops
• Water stains along the basement wall or a damp crawl space
• A unit that rattles, grinds or smells hot

Duluth homes and utilities

Duluth is a Gwinnett County suburb bounded by the Chattahoochee River to the north, with a historic railroad-era core and large areas of 1980s and 1990s subdivisions. Census survey data put the median home at 1994. Many of those houses have crawl spaces or basements where a pump was installed at construction and has run through decades of Georgia storms.

Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources provides water and sewer. The county's resident-responsibility page puts everything on the customer's side of the meter on the owner, including the entire sewer lateral. A sump pump tied into that lateral or a floor drain sends groundwater into county sewer, so the discharge should go outdoors instead.

Gwinnett DWR also runs the backflow and cross-connection program, with devices tested by testers on the county's approved list and reports filed online. If you want a backup pump that runs on water pressure, ask the plumber whether it needs a backflow device under that program.

Cost depends on

• Part repair versus full pump replacement
• Pump horsepower and pit size
• How hard the pit is to reach
• New discharge piping or a longer outdoor run
• Backup pump and alarm options

What happens next

Calling the number connects you with an independent plumber who works in Duluth. Have a sense of what the pump is doing, where the pit is and how fast the water is rising. Shut off power to the pump circuit if water is near it, and move anything stored on the basement floor up and out of the way. Duluth's Community Development & Engineering department handles trade permits through the city's GovWell portal, so if the work goes beyond replacing a pump in place, the plumber can say whether a permit is needed.