Well Pump Repair When You Are the Water Utility

42.5 million people in the United States get their water from a private well. Nobody tests it for them, nobody reports an outage, and nobody else is going to notice the pump failing.

The short of it

On a private well you are your own water utility: nobody monitors it and nobody tests it for you. Most faults turn out to be the pressure tank or the pressure switch rather than the pump, which matters because the pump is the expensive part to reach.

PumpDepth is a referral service, not a contractor. We connect homeowners with independent contractors. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands. Every state page sets out who licenses plumbers there and where to check, so you can confirm before work begins. We carry out no work, we sell no equipment, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything — the contractors in our network pay us when we route them a call.

What this site is for

Almost everything written about household plumbing assumes a public supply. On a well, the supply is equipment you own: a pump, a pressure tank, a switch, and a hole in the ground with a water level in it. When something fails there is no utility to call.

USGS puts self-supplied households at 42,501,500 people against 282,517,400 on a public supply — 13.1% of the country.

Source: US Geological Survey, Domestic Water Use, and the county-level data release for 2015.

The four things that go wrong

Nothing at the tap is power or the pressure switch far more often than it is the pump. Rapid on-off cycling is nearly always the tank, and it destroys pumps while it continues. A pump that never stops is a leak, a worn pump or a well that cannot keep up. Sand at the tap is the well itself and it is wearing the pump on the way past.

Where your pump is decides what a repair costs

A jet pump sits in your basement. A submersible sits at the bottom of the well and has to be pulled to be touched. Telling them apart takes ten seconds and explains why a contractor tests the tank and the switch before anything is lifted.

And the part nobody does

Penn State Extension recommends testing annually for total coliform and E. coli, pH and total dissolved solids every three years, and a professional inspection every ten. Almost nobody does the last one, which is why so many of these calls are emergencies.

Source: Penn State Extension, Water Well Maintenance and Rehabilitation.

On a well, nobody else is going to notice it failing.If the pressure has gone or the pump is cycling, that is worth a call today rather than next week. We route to contractors who work on wells specifically and cover your area, matched on the ZIP code you give, and you are never charged. Nor does it have to be the well; any plumbing work is routed the same way.

Call (888) 493-0912