Well Pump Not Working? What to Do When You Have No Water

Most well systems stop for one of a few reasons: no power reaching the pump, a tripped breaker, a pressure switch that has stopped calling the pump, a failed pump or motor, a waterlogged pressure tank, a broken line between the well and the house, or water in the well dropping below the pump. You can safely rule out the first two yourself.

Turn on a light or appliance on a different circuit. If nothing in the house works, you have a power outage, not a pump failure, and the pump will not run until power is back. If the rest of the house works, go to the electrical panel and look for the breaker labeled well, pump or water. Some homes have a separate small panel or switch near the pressure tank in the basement. University of Nebraska Extension advises checking the breaker or fuse for the well pump circuit first and calling a licensed professional if that does not fix it.

If the breaker has tripped, push it fully off and then back on once. Listen near the pressure tank or the well head for the pump starting. If the breaker trips again right away, do not keep resetting it. Repeated tripping can mean a shorted motor, damaged wiring or a failing control box, and those are jobs for a pro.

Most homes on a well have a round blue, gray or tan pressure tank in the basement with a small pressure gauge and a gray box on the pipe next to it. That box is the pressure switch. When pressure drops to a set point, often 30 or 40 psi according to University of Nebraska Extension, the switch tells the pump to start, and it stops the pump about 20 psi higher.

If the gauge reads near zero and the pump is silent even though the breaker is on, the pressure switch, the control box or the pump itself may have failed. Some switches have a low-pressure cutoff lever that must be held to restart, but the switch has live wiring inside the cover. Do not take the cover off or poke at contacts. Call a well or plumbing pro.

If the gauge climbs and drops quickly and the pump clicks on and off every few seconds, the pressure tank may have lost its air cushion. University of Nebraska Extension notes that this short cycling strains the pump. It is not always an emergency, but it can burn out a pump if left alone.

A pump that runs and runs with little or no water at the tap can mean the water level in the well has dropped below the pump, a check valve is stuck, or the water line between the well and the house has broken. A soggy patch in the yard between the well and the house, away from any septic field, can be a sign of a broken supply line.

To check for a leak, close the main valve after the pressure tank and watch the gauge. If the pressure holds steady, the system is likely sealed; if it keeps dropping, there may be a leak or a bad check valve. Either way, switch the pump off at the breaker if it has been running nonstop with no water, because a pump running dry can overheat and fail.

When the water stops, your water heater can still be on. University of Nebraska Extension advises turning off the water heater if water will be off for a while and hot water could drain from the tank, because a dry tank can overheat. For a gas heater, set it to vacation or pilot; for an electric heater, switch off its breaker.

Stop running the dishwasher and washing machine, and avoid flushing more than you need. Fill buckets from stored water for flushing if you have it. If pipes or the line to the well may have frozen during a cold snap, keep the basement and crawl space warm and do not use open flames to thaw pipes.

Pressure in a well system helps keep contaminants out. The CDC advises that if a well lost pressure, people should not drink the water until it has been tested, at least for bacteria, and that the well may need to be disinfected and flushed. Spurting, sputtering water from a tap after power returns is a sign that the system lost pressure.

Health Canada also advises against using faucets, showers and toilets during a power outage, since that drains the remaining pressure, and recommends flushing lines for a few minutes once power is back. Until a test comes back clean, use bottled water for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth and baby formula. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection keeps a list of accredited drinking water labs.

Many homes outside the boroughs of Indiana, Blairsville, Greensburg and Latrobe rely on private wells. Penn State Extension estimates that Pennsylvania has more than one million private water wells serving about 3.5 million people in rural areas.

The state does not set construction, siting or testing standards for private homeowner wells, and both the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Penn State Extension note that upkeep and testing are the homeowner's job. Keep your well log, the pump's age and the name of whoever last serviced it in one place. Penn State Extension says many well logs can be found through the Pennsylvania Groundwater Information System if you do not have a copy.

Winter storms can knock out power for hours in rural areas, and a well pump will not run without it. If you plan to run a pump on a generator, the CDC advises having a well contractor or electrician size it, and never running a generator indoors or within 20 feet of doors, windows or vents.