HomeWell servicesWell Pump Repair
No water, weak pressure, a pump that will not stop
Well pump repair that finds the part before replacing anything
Switch, tank, control box, wiring, then the pump: tested in that order because that is cheapest to most expensive, and the reading is shown before the work starts.
At a glance
- Tested first
- Breaker, switch, tank charge, control box
- Then
- Amp draw on the pump circuit
- Output
- The reading that proves which part failed
The pump is the last suspect, not the first
On a submersible system the pump sits at the bottom of a few hundred feet of pipe and wire. Everything else, the switch, the tank, the control box, the wiring and the check valve, is above ground where it can be tested in minutes. So that is the order Call Flamingo works in, from the switch back toward the well.
Testing the accessible parts first is arithmetic rather than caution. Pulling a pump to find the fault was a pressure switch is a bad afternoon for everybody.
When the answer really is the pump, you get shown the reading that proves it, because a diagnosis nobody can check is just an assertion.
What gets tested, in order
Power at the breaker and the pressure switch
No voltage at the switch means the problem is upstream of every well component.
Pressure switch contacts and setting
Pitted contacts and a drifted cut-in setting mimic a failing pump exactly.
Pressure tank air charge
Checked with the pump off and the tank drained. A dead bladder short-cycles the pump.
Control box, capacitor and relay
On three-wire pumps the box fails far more often than the motor it starts.
Amp draw on the pump circuit
High draw means a pump working against something. No draw with voltage present means an open winding or a broken wire in the well.
Fixable on the spot
Faults that are repairs, not replacements
- Pressure switches, gauges and pressure tanks
- Control boxes, capacitors and relays
- Wiring, splices and the well seal at the top of the casing
- Check valves and pitless adapters
- Above-ground plumbing and the line into the house
- A jet pump that has lost prime
Straight answers
Questions this job raises
Can the fault be diagnosed over the phone?
Often it can be narrowed to two or three likely causes, which decides what goes on the truck. It will not be called the pump without testing, because it usually is not.
Why does the well breaker keep tripping?
A pump drawing too much current: a seized impeller, a failing motor, a shorted wire in the well, or a control box breaking down. Each is a different fix and each is measurable.
Is it worth repairing an old pump?
The above-ground parts, yes, almost always. A submersible motor that has failed electrically is a replacement, and the honest answer will say so with the reading.
Next door to this job
Work that usually comes up in the same visit
Well Pump Replacement
Submersible and jet pumps sized to the well's depth and recovery, not to whatever came out of it.
Pressure Tank Replacement
Waterlogged tanks, rapid cycling and worn pressure switches put right before they kill the pump.
No Water Emergency Service
Seven days a week when the house has gone dry and nobody knows why.
Town by town
Well Pump Repair where you are
Free estimate, then the work
Call Flamingo quotes well work at no charge and schedules seven days a week across the Jacksonville area.