What To Do When Your Residential Water Well Stops Working

Residential water wells are very common for homes located in rural areas where a municipal water connection is not possible. Most of the time, these wells work fine, but knowing what to do and what to check when water stops flowing is vital, and there are a few things you can do to determine if you need a water well pump repair service to resolve the issue.

No Water Flow

If the water stops flowing from your residential well suddenly, you may have an issue with the pump in the well, the water level, or an electrical supply issue between the house and the pump. Determining the problem is usually best left to a professional well pump repair service, but you can check the breakers in the electrical panel to see if the pump breaker is tripped.

If the breaker is tripped, reset it and see what happens. If it goes out again, you most likely have a short in the line, and it is best to leave the breaker off until you get someone to look at it. The cause of the breaker trip could be a fault at the pump, a problem with the wiring feeding it, or just a bad breaker that needs replacement.

You can have the breaker checked by an electrician or have a well pump repair service come and check the entire system. Often it is faster to call the well pump service first, and if the issue is not the pump, they can help diagnose and fix the problems in many cases.

Pump Replacement

If the well pump repair service determines that the well pump is the issue, replacing it can take some time because the pump, water line, and electrical wiring must come out of the well. If the well is deep, it can be challenging to pull out and can require special equipment to lift it out.

Once the pump is out of the well, the repair service might be able to fix it, but typically replacing the pump with a new one is a better option. The typical life span of a submersible well pump is ten to fifteen years, so depending on how old yours is, this might be an excellent opportunity to install a new pump for your residential well.

The entire job can often take a couple of hours to complete, but a good well repair service can do it faster if they send a couple of techs with the right equipment to do the job. Before pulling the pump from the well, the repair service will check the pump to see if it is running, inspect the rest of the system to ensure the problem is not something topside, then pull the well pump as a last resort for inspection and testing.