The water comes back every storm. So does the guy who never finished.

Standing water and a wet basement are a grading and discharge problem before they are a French drain problem. We diagnose where the water actually goes, price the fix as one fixed number, and finish the scope we signed.

Sump Pump Keeps Running in Edwardsville, IL

Direct answer: A sump pump that keeps running is almost never a pump that has gone bad. It is a pump being asked to do something impossible: a float set below the natural water table, a failed check valve returning the same water to the pit, a discharge line that empties beside the foundation, or genuine groundwater arriving faster than one pump can lift it. Replacing the pump without changing the condition produces a new pump on the same schedule.

Four reasons a sump pump keeps running

A stuck or badly set float is first — either physically caught on the pit wall or set at a height that never lets the pump reach its off point. A failed check valve is second: when it stops sealing, the column of water in the discharge pipe falls back into the pit each cycle, so the pump immediately re-triggers on water it just moved.

A discharge line ending too close to the house is third; the water soaks back to the footing and returns. Fourth is the one that is not a fault at all: the basement sits below the seasonal water table, and the pit refills because groundwater is standing at that level across the whole site.

Diagnosis by symptom

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix cost
Restarts seconds after stopping	Failed check valve	$150 – $400
Runs continuously, never shuts off	Float set or stuck too low	$150 – $500
Cycles hard only after storms	Discharge too close to the house	$300 – $1,600
Steady cycling all wet season	Below the water table	$2,000 – $9,000

Edwardsville and Madison County. The first two are the cheapest to check and the most commonly skipped.

The water table case, and why a bigger pump does not help

One homeowner described a pit running every thirty seconds through the whole wet season, and a pump replaced roughly every two years, in a basement sitting several feet below the water table. They had already installed drain tile and rerouted the downspouts, and the standing water outside was gone — the pit kept cycling anyway.

The explanation offered, and the right one, was that the float sat below the natural water table, so the pit refills to that line no matter how much gets pumped out. You cannot out-pump a water table with a bigger motor. What changes the outcome is float height, pit volume, and how much water the perimeter system is delivering.

What continuous running costs you

Short-cycling is the fastest way to kill a sump pump. Most units are built for intermittent duty, and a pump starting several times a minute wears out its switch and motor in a fraction of its rated life — which is why replacement every two years is a symptom rather than bad luck.

It is also a warning about the storm you have not had yet. A pump already running flat out in ordinary conditions has no reserve capacity left, and no margin at all if the power goes out.

Sump pump keeps running: common questions

Why does my sump pump keep running constantly?

The four usual causes are a float stuck or set too low, a failed check valve letting the discharge column fall back into the pit, a discharge line ending close enough to the house that the water soaks back, and a basement sitting below the seasonal water table. The first three are inexpensive to correct; the fourth is a site condition rather than a fault.

Is it bad for a sump pump to run all the time?

Yes. Most pumps are designed for intermittent duty, and continuous running or rapid short-cycling wears the switch and motor out far faster than rated. A pump being replaced every two or three years is usually reporting a setup problem. It also means there is no reserve capacity left for a bigger storm.

Will a bigger sump pump fix constant running?

Not when the cause is the water table. If the float sits below the natural groundwater level, the pit refills to that line regardless of pump capacity, so a larger unit simply moves more water more often. Float height, pit volume, and how much water the perimeter system delivers are what change the outcome.

How do I test whether the check valve has failed?

Watch one cycle. If the pump shuts off and the water level in the pit visibly jumps back up within a few seconds, the column of water in the discharge pipe is falling back through the valve. That is a failed check valve, it is one of the cheapest parts in the system, and it produces exactly the restarts-immediately pattern people mistake for a dying pump.

What we put in writing before anyone digs

Fixed-price written quote before we break ground. Trenching turns up surprises; the price does not move because of them unless you approve a change order in writing first.
Zero-obligation site visit. If the honest answer is that the water is doing what water should do and you do not need a drain, that is the answer you get, in writing, at no cost.
The diagnosis names where the water comes from before it names the product. Grading, downspout discharge, and the water table get checked first; a French drain is a conclusion, not an opening bid.
Full-width trench, wrapped stone, and rigid perforated pipe as standard. We do not install narrow single-pipe trenches or pre-socked corrugated sections, because those are the installs that fail in year three.
Itemized scope showing linear feet, trench depth, stone volume, and discharge point as separate lines. No lump-sum 'drainage work.'
A named discharge point on the plan, with the permit or easement dependency listed separately so you can see which clocks we do not control.
If the system does not move water after the first heavy rain, we come back and correct it at our cost, not yours.