When a private well’s water stops, weakens or the pump won’t behave, the first checks are the same: read the pressure gauge by the tank, check the pump’s breaker, look for water being used or lost, and time one on-off cycle. Those are owner checks in the makers’ own documents. Past them, the makers hand the job to a qualified electrician or a licensed pump installer: a breaker that trips again, a flooded pump, a tank that has lost its air, wiring, the control box and anything down the well. This guide sorts the problems by what you see and hear, and sends you to the page with the checks in order.
General information, not professional advice. Your pump and tank makers’ manuals and a licensed well or pump contractor decide what’s safe for your system; your state or county decides what needs a permit or a licence.
Not sure which problem you have? Start with well pump troubleshooting, symptom by symptom: owner checks, where the makers stop and what the installer tests, for each symptom. Every owner step on these pages names its maker’s or agency’s document, page and read date (11 November 2026); your own manuals win where they differ.
Four rules before any check
- Power off first before anything touches a switch, a tank drain or a pump housing. Square D: disconnect all power before wiring or servicing (sheet 65013-005-39, September 2025, p. 1). Franklin Electric warns that more than one disconnect may be needed and some controls hold a lethal voltage after the power is off (AIM Manual M1311, 2026 edition, printed p. 3). Nothing here asks you to remove a cover.
- Wiring is not owner work. “All electrical work must be performed by a qualified technician” (Goulds IM096 Rev 14, p. 1).
- Never run a pump dry (Goulds IM457 Rev 2, p. 1). A pump running while the gauge stays at zero goes off at the breaker.
- Flooded? Leave it off. EPA: “DO NOT TURN ON THE PUMP” until a qualified electrician, well contractor or pump contractor has checked the wiring (EPA 816-F-05-021). And don’t enter a well pit, where gases and vapors can build up (CDC, 29 May 2025). All read 11 November 2026.
Find your problem
First: is it every tap, or one? One dry or weak tap with the rest fine is that fixture or its pipe, not the well. Then write down what the gauge reads. It points to the right page below, and the installer will ask for it.
No water at any tap
Usually the power and control side: a tripped breaker, a switch that has cut out, a pump that has shut itself off, or a wiring or pump fault. Less often the water has dropped below the pump; USGS says a well “is said to have gone dry when water levels drop below a pump intake” (USGS, page dated 17 Sep 2026). Suddenly no water from your well gives the checks in order, what each gauge reading points to, and what to do when the well itself runs low.
The pump does nothing
No hum, no click. The owner checks are power to the house, the gauge, the pump’s breaker or disconnect, a hot motor resting on its overload (Goulds: a tripped thermal protector resets once the motor cools, IM096 Rev 14, p. 15) and a low-pressure switch lever. A breaker that trips again stays off. Well pump not working takes the five in order and explains the tests that come after.
It runs, but the gauge stays low
The pump turns without lifting water. Stop it first: Grundfos says a pump whose flow suddenly falls “must immediately be stopped and the fault corrected” (SQ/SQE 3835175, p. 10). The causes in the makers’ tables (a closed valve, a broken pipe, a lost prime, a stuck check valve, water below the pump, a worn pump) are mostly below ground. See pump runs but no water pressure.
It won’t shut off
Either the switch never reaches its cut-out, the pressure at which it stops the pump (water used, a leak, a pump that can’t push that high), or it reaches it and fails to open. Watch the gauge with every tap closed. Above the cut-out with the pump still running, the breaker goes off and stays off: Franklin lists welded switch contacts as a cause (AIM, printed p. 26). See well pump keeps running.
It clicks on and off
Short cycling: starts and stops every few seconds while water runs. The usual cause is a waterlogged tank that has lost its air cushion; others are a check valve leaking back, a leak or a switch out of adjustment. Every start heats the motor: Franklin asks for at least one minute of running per start and limits starts a day, 300 for its motors up to 0.75 HP and 100 for single-phase motors of 1 to 5.5 HP (AIM, printed p. 4). Don’t add air: Amtrol says not to after a loss of air, with visible corrosion, or when the pump’s cycle time has dropped, because the tank could rupture (Amtrol 9015-939, 04/18, p. 2 and p. 4). See well pump short cycling.
No water after a power cut
A pump on a standard pressure switch normally restarts by itself. If it doesn’t: flooding first, then the breaker, then time. Franklin warns that restarting one of its 2-wire motors within 5 seconds of power loss may trip the overload (AIM, printed p. 11). On a Square D Form M4 switch with a lever, once the fault is corrected you hold the lever at Start, cover on, until the pressure keeps the contacts closed (65013-005-39, p. 1). See how to restart a well pump after a power outage.
A jet pump has lost its prime
Only jet pumps, the kind above ground beside the tank, are primed: “Priming means filling the pump and suction pipe with water” (Goulds IM102 Revision 13, June 2025, p. 6). How to prime a shallow-well jet pump gives Goulds’ and Pentair’s steps, power off and pressure out first. A pump that keeps losing its prime has an air leak, a foot valve problem or a falling water level: the installer’s work.
Weak pressure at every tap
One fixture, a restriction in the pipes, a system set low, or a pump or well that can’t keep up. Read the gauge through one full cycle. A bigger tank doesn’t raise pressure: the switch sets the pressure, the tank sets how much water you get between starts. A higher switch setting needs a higher precharge (Goulds: 2 psi below cut-in, IM096 Rev 14, p. 3), which Amtrol reserves for qualified professionals. See low water pressure from a well, and the precharge and switch settings calculator for the makers’ figures.
Where the makers stop
The owner’s part is mostly looking: the gauge, the breaker, a timed cycle, a lever held at Start, a jet pump primed as its maker prints it. Goulds’ table ends almost every “motor not running” cause with a qualified electrician (IM096 Rev 14, p. 15), and Square D says its switches should be “installed, operated and maintained only by qualified personnel” (65013-005-39, p. 2). A breaker that trips again, a burned smell, the control box and its capacitors, a tank that has lost its air and a well that keeps running dry are past the line. Some states let owners work on the pump at their own home; that doesn’t change what the makers say. Can I replace my own well pump? sets the state rules we have read beside the makers’ line.
What the installer tests
They measure from the surface before anything comes out of the well, because pulling the pump is the expensive step. Franklin’s tests before a motor is removed: line voltage, the current on every motor wire, insulation resistance to ground and winding resistance (AIM, printed p. 28). Grundfos doesn’t allow insulation-resistance testers on its SQ pumps (3835175, p. 13), so the installer follows your pump maker’s method. Franklin says a worn pump’s signs are similar to a leaking drop pipe or a low water level (AIM, printed p. 26): the readings decide, not the pump’s age.
Before you call
- Write down: the gauge now; cut-in and cut-out; one timed cycle; the switch setting; the pump, tank and control labels; any fault-light flashes; what happened and when; the well record, if you have one.
- Ask: what they measured and the readings; whether they checked the check valve, precharge and switch; the water level; a written quote, line by line, before any pump comes out.
- Can’t wait: a breaker that trips again; anything that has been under water; a tank that has lost its air, rusts or leaks; a relief valve discharging; an open or damaged well.
After a repair, EPA says to test the water “immediately” if you “replace or repair any part of your well system” (EPA, updated 26 Feb 2026). Your state or county health department or the state lab can tell you how.
Sources checked on 11 November 2026: Goulds IM096 Rev 14, IM102 Revision 13, IM457 Rev 2; Franklin Electric AIM Manual M1311 (2026 edition); Grundfos SQ/SQE 3835175 (2006 edition); Amtrol 9015-939 (04/18); Square D 65013-005-39 (September 2025); EPA 816-F-05-021 and EPA private-well pages; CDC; USGS.
