No Water From Your Well: What to Check in the First 10 Minutes

The 10-minute triage

1. Is it only you? Try a cold tap at the lowest point in the house, close to the pressure tank. If that one works, the problem is in the house plumbing or a clogged filter, not the well.
2. Check the power. Is there power in the house at all? Find the pump's breaker (usually a two-pole breaker). If it has tripped, push it fully off, then on — once. Check for a separate disconnect or switch near the tank or the well house.
3. Read the pressure gauge. It's on the fitting at the pressure tank. Zero or near zero means the tank is empty. A normal reading with no water at the taps means something between the tank and the faucets is closed, clogged or frozen.
4. Look at the pressure switch — from the outside. If it has a small lever on its side, it has a low-pressure cutoff that may have tripped (see below).
5. Listen. Open a faucet and listen at the pressure switch and, for a jet pump, at the pump. A click with no pump points to the motor or control box. A humming pump with no water points to the well or the pipe. Silence points to power or the switch.
6. Think about what changed. Storm, outage, freeze, drought, heavy watering, recent plumbing or treatment work. Write it down for the contractor.

What your results mean

If your switch has a low-pressure cutoff lever

Some pressure switches include a safety feature that shuts the pump off when pressure collapses, so the pump can't run dry. Square D calls it a low-pressure cut-out (Form M4) and describes how it behaves in its troubleshooting bulletin:^[1]

• If pressure is below cut-in and the switch has this feature, holding the lever in the run (start) position should make the pump turn on and run. The lever is held until pressure climbs to within 10 psi of the cut-in pressure.
• If the cutoff trips the pump off again when you release the lever, the water source is low.
• In that case Square D says not to actuate the lever again until the source has recharged — until the well has water in it.

Weather-related causes

• Freezing. Exposed pipe in a well house, pit or crawl space freezes first. Thaw with warm air or a heat lamp at a safe distance — never a flame. Pentair's manual lists frozen pipes among the causes of a pump that delivers no water and advises burying pipes below the frost line and heating the pit or pump house.^[2]
• Drought or heavy use. Franklin Electric's advice when the water level is low: shut the pump off and wait for the well to recover.^[3]
• Power outage. No power, no pump — and only the water left in the pressure tank. See what size generator runs a well pump.
• Flooding. If floodwater reached the wellhead, have the water tested before drinking it; the CDC recommends testing after flooding.^[4]

While you wait for help

• Leave the pump's breaker off if it tripped twice or the pump ran without pressure.
• Don't run the dishwasher or washing machine in case water returns partway through a cycle.
• Tell the contractor your pump type, what the gauge read, whether the breaker tripped, and what changed recently. The list in know your system covers what they'll ask.