Sump pumps fail in predictable ways. The float switch sticks, the impeller jams with silt, the check valve fails and lets water run back into the pit, or the motor simply reaches the end of its life after a decade of cycling.
A pump that runs constantly without lowering the water level usually has a failed check valve or a blocked discharge rather than a dead motor. A pump that does not run at all is more often a switch than a pump.
We repair where a repair holds and replace where it does not. A pump at the end of its service life in a basement that floods is not worth a repair that buys six months.
Technician insight
A pump that runs and runs without the level dropping is nearly always the check valve or a frozen discharge line, not the motor.