Well Pump Not Working: Power, Breaker, Switch, Control Box

1. Is there power to the house?

If the lights are out too, the pump isn’t the problem: it has no supply. Grundfos’s SQ manual lists “No electricity supply” as a cause of a pump that doesn’t run, with the remedy “Contact the electricity provider” (Grundfos SQ/SQE installation and operating instructions, literature 3835175, 2006 edition, p. 12, read 11 Nov 2026). If the pump stays silent once the power is back, our page on restarting a well pump after a power outage goes through it.

Running on a generator? Goulds lists “Power source inadequate for load” for a pump motor that isn’t running, with “Check supply or generator capacity” (Goulds IM096 Rev 14, 4-inch submersible pumps, p. 15, read 11 Nov 2026). Franklin Electric’s application manual says a generator must deliver at least 65% of the motor’s nameplate voltage while the motor starts, that a transfer switch “must be used any time a generator is used as standby or back up on power lines”, and that the generator should be started before the motor is turned on and the motor turned off before the generator is shut down (Franklin Electric AIM Manual, 2026 edition, M1311, printed p. 6, read 11 Nov 2026). Connecting a generator to a pump circuit is an electrician’s job; checking that it is running and big enough for the pump is yours.

2. Read the pressure gauge

Find the gauge on the pipe near the pressure tank. Goulds’s tank owner’s manual asks owners to watch the system run and note the gauge reading when the pump stops (cut-out) and when it starts (cut-in) before calling a professional (Goulds IM251R01, p. 5, read 11 Nov 2026). The switch’s setting is usually marked on it as two numbers; Square D’s Pumptrol 9013FSG2J20, J21 and J24 switches, for example, are set at 20/40, 30/50 and 40/60 psi (Telemecanique data sheets, 30 Jul 2024, read 11 Nov 2026). What those numbers mean for the tank is in the precharge and switch settings calculator.

• Gauge at or below the cut-in, taps dry, pump silent: the switch should be calling for the pump and nothing is answering. Carry on with steps 3 to 5.
• Gauge well above zero but a tap gives nothing: the pressure is there, so the pump isn’t the first suspect. Note the reading and the tap.
• Needle low or at zero: note it. Low pressure with a silent pump is also what a low-pressure cut-off leaves behind (step 5).

3. Check the breaker, and any disconnect near the tank or well

Look at the breaker (or fuse) for the pump in your main panel, and for any separate disconnect switch near the pressure tank or the well. Franklin warns that “more than one disconnect switch may be required” to cut power to a pump system (AIM M1311, printed p. 3), and Goulds’s installation drawings show a disconnect switch between the supply and the controls (IM096 Rev 14, p. 3), so a pump can have a breaker in the panel and a switch of its own. A constant-pressure controller isn’t one of them: Amtrol’s manual for its Well-X1 says “The pump controller is not a disconnect” (Amtrol 9013-0006, 01/19, p. 2, read 11 Nov 2026).

The makers don’t agree on whether resetting is owner work. Grundfos’s SQ troubleshooting table answers a tripped GFI circuit breaker with “Reset the circuit breaker”, and blown fuses with replacing them, adding that if the new fuses blow too, the electrical installation and the drop cable need checking (SQ 3835175, 2006 edition, p. 12). Goulds lists “Open circuit breaker or blown fuse” for a motor that isn’t running and answers it with “Have a qualified electrician inspect and repair, as required” (IM096 Rev 14, p. 15). Read your own pump’s manual. If you reset a breaker, do it once. Franklin’s drive manual warns against handling controls with wet hands or while standing on a wet or damp surface (SubDrive Utility 226115120 Rev. 003, p. 6), and the same care makes sense at a panel. Don’t switch the pump off and on in quick succession either: Franklin notes that restarting a 2-wire motor within about 5 seconds of cutting the power can trip its overload (AIM M1311, printed p. 11).

If it trips again, stop there. A breaker that trips twice is protecting the circuit from something. Grundfos points repeat fuse failures to the electrical installation and the drop cable (p. 12), and the other causes the makers list for a motor that won’t run (wiring, a splice, the control box, the motor, a jammed pump) are past the owner’s line.

4. Give a hot motor time to reset itself

Pump motors carry their own overload protection, and some reset on their own. Goulds’s first cause for a motor that isn’t running is a tripped thermal protector, with the remedy: let the motor cool and the protector “will automatically reset” (IM096 Rev 14, p. 15). Grundfos’s SQ pump stops for 5 minutes after an overload and then tries again; after a dry-running stop it restarts on its own after 5 minutes, and if the well hasn’t recovered it stops again after 30 seconds. Its reset is to switch off the supply for 1 minute (SQ 3835175, 2006 edition, p. 10).

So if the breaker is on and the pump is silent, waiting is a legitimate check. Note how long it was off and whether it started again. The same feature is a reason never to work on a pump that seems dead: Goulds warns that automatic thermal overload protection “may allow an overheated pump to restart unexpectedly”, and its manuals say to disconnect and lock out electrical power before installing or servicing electrical equipment (IM096 Rev 14, p. 1; Goulds IM102 Rev 13, June 2025, p. 2, read 11 Nov 2026). A pump that trips on overload again and again has a cause behind it. Goulds lists the wrong control box, faulty connections, a faulty protector, low voltage and a control box that runs too hot (IM096 Rev 14, p. 15), all of them electrician’s rows.

5. A lever on the pressure switch? Check for a low-pressure cut-off

Some pressure switches have a small lever on the side. On a Square D Form M4 switch, that lever belongs to a low-pressure cut-off: “Low water or loss of system pressure will cause the pump to be cut off” (Square D Pumptrol instruction sheet 65013-005-39, September 2025, p. 1, read 11 Nov 2026), roughly 10 psi below the cut-in (Telemecanique data sheet 9013FSG2J24M4, 30 Jul 2024). The switch did its job: it stopped a pump that wasn’t building pressure.

The sheet’s reset is for after the cause has been dealt with: “After the fault in the system has been corrected”, move the lever to Start and hold it until enough pressure builds to keep the contacts closed (65013-005-39, p. 1). The cover stays on; the same sheet’s danger box says the cover goes back on before power is restored. Watch the gauge while you hold the lever. Square D gives no time limit, but Goulds is blunt: “NEVER RUN A PUMP DRY” (IM102 Rev 13, p. 7). If the needle doesn’t climb, let go, and treat it as a pump that runs but gives no pressure (linked above). If the cut-off trips again soon after a reset, the fault hasn’t been corrected: the sheet names low water and a loss of system pressure as what trips it, and finding which is the installer’s work.

If you have a constant-pressure drive: count the flashes

A constant-pressure system has an electronic drive (a box with indicator lights) instead of a plain switch. Franklin’s SubDrive Utility signals faults by a number of flashes, from an underload (an over-pumped well is one cause it lists) to under- or overvoltage, a locked pump or an open circuit, and it tries to restart itself when a fault clears (SubDrive Utility 226115120 Rev. 003, p. 31-33). Count the flashes and write the number down; it tells the installer where to start. Don’t open the drive: the same manual says “Equipment can start automatically” (p. 5) and that capacitors inside can hold lethal voltage after power is off, so 5 minutes must pass before the cover comes off (p. 6).