What should you do if your well runs dry?

If the well ran dry, stop using water and stop the pump. A pump that spins in an empty hole overheats. That turns a well problem into a pump bill.

Flip the well pump breaker off if the pump is humming, clicking, or tripping. Do not keep resetting it. Check whether a neighbor on a well also has no water. One house is a well or pump. A whole road is drought, a shared issue, or something else.

Look at the pressure tank gauge if you can do it safely. Zero pressure with the pump off is consistent with no water in the system. Short cycling (the pump kicking on every few seconds) is often a tank or switch, not an empty aquifer, but it still needs a visit.

Do not dump water down the well to “prime” a submersible. Do not run the pump on a timer hoping the well recovers while you are at work. Send the form with your city, that you have no water, and whether this has happened before.

We check the pump, the tank, and whether the well itself is the failure. Sometimes the well recovers and the pump is dead. Sometimes the hole is done and you need well drilling. The visit is how you know.

This advice is for Benton Harbor, St. Joseph, Stevensville, Hartford, and the other towns we serve. Emergency well service is the no-water path on this site.