Main water line repair
The buried run from wellhead to house, and leaks on it.
Learn moreWells and rural systems
Well pump and water system service: pump, tank, controls and the pipe between them
On a well there is no utility to call. The pump, the pressure tank, the switch and the buried line are all yours, and when one of them fails the whole house goes dry, usually on the coldest morning of the year.
Lines are open right now:
(833) 472-2088
No water on a well is an emergency. Lines are open now.
No water, any hour
A dry house on a well is an emergency call.
Tank before pump
A failed pressure tank is far cheaper than a pump.
Diagnosis first
Nobody should pull a pump on a guess.
Rural is normal here
Wells are standard across most of the state.
Symptoms
Six faults, and what each one usually is
No water at all. Check the breaker first, then the pressure switch and the gauge. A tripped breaker, a failed switch, a burnt control box or a seized pump all read identically at the tap, and they differ enormously in cost. This is why diagnosis matters before anyone talks about pulling a pump.
The pump cycles rapidly, on, off, on, off. Almost always a waterlogged pressure tank that has lost its air charge. It is one of the cheapest repairs on a well system and one of the most damaging faults to ignore, because rapid cycling destroys pumps.
Pressure that sags when you use water. Could be a worn pump, a clogged screen or filter, a partially closed valve, an undersized tank, or a leak on the buried line between the well and the house.
Pump runs constantly and never satisfies. A leak somewhere in the system, a dropping water table, a failed check valve letting water fall back down the well, or a pump losing capacity.
Sand, grit or cloudy water. A failing well screen, a pump set too low in the casing, or a drawdown pulling sediment. Grit destroys fixtures and appliances downstream, so it is worth solving rather than filtering forever.
Air spitting from taps. Air being drawn into the system, a suction-side leak on a jet pump, a low water level, or a tank problem. Distinct from the harmless air after any service work.
Two things to check before you call
Look at the breaker for the pump, and look at the pressure gauge near the tank. Zero pressure with the pump not running, or a gauge bouncing quickly between two numbers, are different problems and telling us which you have gets the right parts on the truck the first time. If the pump is running continuously and there is no water, switch it off at the breaker, running dry damages a submersible fast.
Rapid cycling? That is usually the tank, not the pump.
The pump
Two kinds of pump, two different service jobs
Submersible pumps
The standard on modern and deep wells across Idaho: the pump sits down the casing, below the water level, pushing water up. It is quiet, efficient and out of sight, and service means pulling the pump, the drop pipe and the wire out of the well, which is why diagnosis before pulling matters so much. Failures include a burnt motor, a failed control box or capacitor on the older style, a corroded splice in the wiring, a failed check valve, and a worn pump end that turns but no longer lifts.
Jet pumps
Above ground, common on shallower wells and older properties, drawing water up by suction. Easier and cheaper to reach, and dependent on holding a prime: a suction-side leak, a failed foot valve or a clogged screen produces the classic loss of prime and no water. Jet pumps in unheated pump houses are also the ones that freeze.
Constant pressure systems
Variable speed pumps that hold steady pressure instead of cycling between a low and high setting. Excellent for houses with irrigation or multiple bathrooms and worth considering at replacement time, particularly where poor pressure during irrigation has been the long-standing complaint.
What actually gets replaced
Not always the pump. Pressure switches, control boxes, capacitors, check valves, pitless adapter seals, wiring splices and tanks are all common failures that present as a pump problem. Where the pump genuinely has failed, replacement is a project: pulling the old one, inspecting the drop pipe and wire, checking the depth and static water level, and setting the new unit correctly.
What belongs to a well driller. The casing, the well screen, the depth of the bore, deepening a well, and any decline in the aquifer itself. If the well is not producing, that is not a plumbing repair, and we will tell you that rather than sell you a pump.
The part people forget
The tank is what stops the pump destroying itself
A pressure tank holds water under an air cushion so a tap can be opened without the pump starting. When the cushion goes, the pump starts and stops every few seconds, the fault everyone describes as "the pump keeps kicking on", and that cycling is the leading cause of premature pump death.
Waterlogged tanks. Modern tanks have a rubber bladder separating air from water. When the bladder fails the tank fills completely and cycling begins. It is diagnosed in a couple of minutes by checking the air charge and the weight of the tank, and it is a straightforward replacement.
Air charge. A bladder tank should be pre-charged a couple of pounds below the pump’s cut-in pressure. Wrong charge means short cycling or a tank that delivers almost no usable water even though it looks fine.
Sizing. Bigger tanks mean longer pump run times and fewer starts, which is what pumps want. Houses with irrigation, or with a long run to the house, benefit from more drawdown than the minimum.
Pressure switches. Cheap, mechanical, and they fail, pitted contacts, a stuck diaphragm, or a blocked sensing port full of iron sludge. A switch that will not close means no water; one that will not open means the pump never stops. Both are inexpensive parts.
Gauges and relief. A working gauge is what makes any of this diagnosable, and a pressure relief valve on the system is a safety requirement that occasionally is missing entirely on older installations.
Pressure settings. Typical residential settings are 40/60 or 50/70 psi. Raising them to compensate for poor delivery is a common mistake, it hides a failing pump or a restricted line and shortens the life of everything downstream. See water pressure regulator for the house-side control.
Pressure dropping under irrigation deserves a real test.
Idaho conditions
The line from the well, and what winter does to it
The buried run. Between the wellhead and the house sits a supply line that behaves exactly like a municipal service line, except that nobody meters it, so a leak on it shows up as a pump that runs constantly rather than as a bill. Locating that leak is the same work as any buried supply: pressure testing, acoustic location and line tracing. See main water line repair and leak detection.
Pitless adapters. The fitting that takes the line out through the casing below frost depth. A leaking pitless adapter seal drips into the well, which reads as a pump that will not hold pressure and can also be a contamination route.
Freeze exposure. Pump houses, well pits, above-ground jet pumps, shallow line runs and hose bibs off the well line are the classic Idaho freeze victims. In the mountain valleys and the eastern high country, frost drives deep and a line that has been fine for twenty years can freeze in an exceptional winter, particularly where snow cover has been cleared. See pipe thawing and freeze protection.
Heat tape and insulation. Useful and frequently installed badly, overlapping runs, damaged cable, or tape left energised on plastic pipe it is not rated for. Worth inspecting before winter rather than discovering in January.
Power outages. No power means no water on a well, which is a genuinely different situation from being on a municipal supply. Rural properties should know how much water is stored in the tank, and generator provision for the pump circuit is worth planning deliberately.
Seasonal and vacant properties. Cabins on wells need proper drain-down: pump circuit off, tank drained, lines blown or drained, traps protected. Details on cabin and seasonal home winterization.
Quality
Sediment, iron, hardness, and where our work ends
Sediment and grit. A sediment filter ahead of the house protects fixtures, appliances, the water heater and any softener. On wells that produce fine sand it is essential, and the grade of filter matters because too fine a cartridge in a sandy well becomes a monthly chore.
Iron and manganese. Common in Idaho groundwater. Staining on fixtures and laundry, a metallic taste, orange sludge in toilet tanks and blocked switch ports. Treatment is a specific piece of equipment rather than a general filter.
Hardness. Widespread across the state. It scales water heaters, shortens element life, films glassware and makes soap ineffective. See water softener installation and whole house water filtration.
Sulphur smell. Rotten-egg odour on a well can be bacteria in the water or a reaction with a water heater anode. If the smell is only on hot water, it is the anode; if it is on both, it is the well.
Testing, and where we stop. The plumber installs and services treatment equipment and plumbing. The plumber does not test water for bacteria or contaminants, that is a laboratory function, and on a private well it matters. Idaho public health guidance recommends periodic testing of private wells, and a laboratory result is what should drive treatment decisions rather than a salesman’s water hardness demo.
Disinfection after work. Any time a well is opened, a pump pulled, a line broken into, the system should be disinfected and flushed before normal use, and a bacteria test afterwards is sensible.
Pump house exposed for winter? Ask before the freeze.
How it runs
From a dry tap to water back on
Diagnose at the tank and the switch before anyone touches the well, most faults are above ground.
1. Test the easy things first
Breaker, switch, gauge, tank air charge and amp draw at the control. That sequence identifies most faults in twenty minutes and it costs a fraction of pulling a pump.
2. Repair what has failed
Switch, tank, capacitor, control box, check valve or a leak on the buried line, repaired on the visit where the part is on the truck. Water back on the same day wherever possible.
3. Pump work, if it is the pump
Where the pump has genuinely failed: pull, inspect drop pipe, wire and check valve, confirm depth and water level, set the replacement correctly, then disinfect and flush the system before hand-over.
Coverage
Well systems across rural Idaho
Wells are the normal case rather than the exception across much of the state, the farming communities along the western border, most of the mountain valleys, the rural stretches of eastern Idaho, and acreage throughout the Panhandle. Dispatch covers all 82 communities, and a dry house is treated as an emergency call.
Questions
Well pump and pressure tank questions
Almost certainly a waterlogged pressure tank. The bladder has failed, the air cushion is gone, and the pump now starts and stops every few seconds.
It is one of the cheapest repairs on a well system and one of the most important, rapid cycling is what kills pumps. If you hear it, switch the pump off and call rather than living with it for a month.
Ten to fifteen years is a common range for a submersible in good conditions, sometimes considerably longer. Life is shortened by cycling on a failed tank, sand in the water, low water levels causing run-dry episodes, and electrical supply problems.
Jet pumps are generally shorter-lived and easier to replace, being above ground.
You often cannot from inside the house, which is the point of a diagnostic visit. A breaker, a pressure switch, a capacitor, a control box, a check valve or a tank can all present as no water.
The sequence is: check power and amp draw, check the switch, check the tank charge, then look at the pump. Anyone offering to pull a pump before doing the first three is guessing with your money.
No. Drilling, casing, screens, deepening and anything involving the bore itself belongs to a well driller.
We work on pumps, tanks, controls, the pitless adapter, the buried supply line and everything on the house side. Where the problem turns out to be a declining water level or a failing well rather than equipment, we will say so and you will need a driller.
Usually a well screen issue, a pump set too low in the casing, or drawdown pulling sediment during heavy use such as irrigation.
A sediment filter protects the house in the meantime, and it is worth solving the cause because grit wears pump seals, fixture cartridges and appliance valves. Persistent sand is a conversation with a driller as well as a plumber.
If poor pressure during irrigation or while two fixtures run has been a long-standing annoyance, it is worth pricing at replacement time. Variable speed systems hold steady pressure instead of cycling between cut-in and cut-out.
They cost more up front and they suit houses with irrigation zones or multiple bathrooms best. On a simple two-person house with a good conventional system there is less to gain.
You have whatever is stored in the pressure tank, which is typically not much, a few gallons of usable drawdown on a standard residential tank.
For rural properties where outages are routine, a generator arrangement that can run the pump circuit is the practical answer, and it is worth setting up before the first winter storm rather than during it. Storing drinking water is sensible too.
The plumber installs and services treatment equipment, and we do not perform water testing. Bacteria and contaminant testing belongs to a laboratory, and on a private well it is worth doing periodically, public health guidance recommends it, particularly after any work that opens the well.
Bring us a laboratory result and we will tell you honestly what equipment addresses it and what does not.
Pump running constantly usually means a leak somewhere.
A dry house on a well cannot wait
We diagnose above ground first, fix what has actually failed, and only pull a pump when it is the pump. Call any hour, anywhere in Idaho.
(833) 472-2088