Well Pump Repair and Replacement Near Portland, Oregon

What the symptoms usually point to

• No water at all. Often the pump, its wiring or the pressure switch, though a well that has dropped below the pump intake looks the same.
• Pressure that falls off during a shower or while watering. The pump may be pulling the water down faster than the well refills.
• The pump kicks on when nobody is using water. The state handbook says this most likely means a leak somewhere in the system.
• The pump runs and runs. It may no longer build pressure, or the well may not be keeping up.
• Sand, mud or cloudy water. Sometimes a pump that is too large for the well, which the state warns can damage both.

Write down when the problem started and what you notice, and have the well report handy if you can find it. The technician can do more on the first visit with that in hand.

Repair, replace or work on the well

Most household wells use a submersible pump that hangs inside the casing, so most pump work means pulling it up to inspect it. Sometimes the fix is above ground: a switch, a tank or the wiring.

Low pressure is most often a sign that the well itself has become less efficient, not always that a neighbor is drawing your water. Mineral buildup, silt and bacteria slowly clog the openings where water enters. Cleaning and surging a well is usually less expensive than deepening it or drilling a new one, so ask whether it is an option.

Sizing a new pump

The state recommends a professional pump installer, who matches the pump to how much water the well actually produces and how much your home uses. The well report's depth, diameter, yield and drawdown numbers are what they size it from.

Bigger is not better. A pump that can draw more than the well yields can pull sand and mud, burn out or harm the well.

A habit that helps

OWRD suggests measuring your well's water level at least twice a year, around the same dates in spring and fall, after the well has rested for several hours. A record like that gives early warning of a falling water level, and gives the technician a baseline.

Questions to ask

• Is the problem the pump, the tank, the switch or the well itself?
• Does the pump need to come out, and what will you check once it's up?
• If it's replaced, what size is the new pump, and how was it matched to my well?
• Would cleaning the well help, and what would that involve?