Unplug it and stop the drip
Shut off the branch circuit or unplug the pump before you lift it out of the pit. A float switch can start the motor while your hands are on the housing. Disconnect the discharge hose over a bucket and let the water in the volute drain there, not across the basement floor and not into the truck. Gritty water and any oily film do not belong in a storm drain. Empty the bucket into a utility sink if your local wastewater utility allows that, or ask the disposal site how they want a small volume of dirty pump water handled. Do not arrive with a pump sitting in a pan of water. Free liquids get loads turned around. Coil the cord and bag the hose clamps.
Metal pump, plastic pump, or both
Some sump pumps are mostly metal and a scrap yard will take them. Others are plastic housings with a sealed motor, and a yard may refuse the mix. Call and describe the pump instead of assuming it is copper and steel. A transfer station may accept it as bulky trash or as small scrap if you ask. The check valve, the rigid discharge pipe, and the pump are three pieces. Sort them if staff want plastic pipe kept out of the metal pile. A battery backup attached to the system is a separate item. Tape the battery terminals and take rechargeable batteries to a battery program. Do not crush them or toss them in the household trash.
Keep the pit covered after the pull
Once the pump is out, cover the empty pit so nobody steps into it while you are loading the truck. The pump itself can ride in a milk crate so residual grit stays contained. Strap the crate. At the site, tell staff you have a drained sump pump and follow the bay they name. If they refuse it because of oil in the housing, take it back and ask where oily appliances should go. Do not rinse the oil into the parking lot. A second pump, the backup, should be drained the same way. Leave the float and the cord attached unless the yard told you to remove them.
Before you go
- Unplug the pump and drain the housing and hose into a bucket.
- Keep dirty or oily water out of the storm drain and out of the truck.
- Ask whether the pump is scrap or trash, and tape any backup-battery terminals.
- Cover the open pit at home and unload the drained pump in the assigned bay.
Tossing a sealed lead or lithium backup battery into the trash because it was strapped to the pump.
Questions people ask
Can the discharge pipe stay on the pump?
It can travel with the pump if it is drained. Ask the yard whether plastic pipe must be cut off before the metal is accepted.
What if the pit still has water?
Leave that water in the pit or deal with it at home as your utility allows. Do not bail a pit into the truck bed and call it a solid load.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.