First, the one urgent thing. If you can hear the pump running but no water is coming out, switch it off at the breaker now. A pump running dry has nothing cooling or lubricating it and can destroy itself in minutes. Whatever is wrong, this is making it worse and more expensive every minute it continues. If the pump is silent, leave it and carry on down this list.
The Checklist
The breaker — free, and most likely
Find the breaker labelled WELL or PUMP, usually a double-pole breaker. Check whether it has tripped. Also look for a separate switch or fused disconnect near the pressure tank — older New Hampshire systems frequently have one, it looks like a light switch in a metal box, and it is frequently what somebody turned off.
If it had tripped and resetting it restores water: you are done, and it cost nothing. Note the date, because if it happens again that is a pattern worth investigating. If it trips again immediately, stop resetting it — something is drawing a fault, and repeatedly re-energising a faulted circuit is genuinely dangerous.
The pressure gauge — read it before you call
The round gauge on or near the pressure tank. Note the number; it separates most of what follows.
- Zero, pump silent — power, breaker or pressure switch
- Zero, pump running — switch it off; pump failure or dry well
- Low but steady, pump silent — switch not calling for the pump
- Normal at rest, collapses in use — tank or yield
The pressure switch — $150–$400
A small component near the tank that tells the pump when to run. Its contacts pit and burn over years of switching, and eventually stop making a circuit. One of the cheapest parts on the system and one of the most frequent failures. Look for burn marks or a burnt smell at the switch.
The pressure tank — $400–$1,200
Less often the cause of no water, but always worth checking while somebody is there, because a tank that has lost its charge is destroying the pump. Tap it top to bottom: hollow above, solid below is healthy.
The pump — $700–$1,600
Submersibles commonly last 15–25 years. When one fails it is a pull-and-replace job. Worth knowing: replacing a pump when the problem was a $200 switch is an expensive way to be wrong, which is why the diagnosis order above matters.
The well itself
If the pump runs and delivers nothing, and the well has been drawn hard or the summer has been dry, the water level may simply be below the pump. Leave it off for several hours and try briefly — if water returns, it is yield, not the pump, and the remedies are completely different.
Practical Things That Help
- Fill containers from any water still in the pressure tank before it goes
- A bucket of water poured into the bowl will flush a toilet
- Note exactly when it last worked normally, and anything that changed
- Note whether there has been a power event, a storm or a dry spell
- If you are on a boiler, be aware it may need make-up water
- Write down the pressure gauge reading — we will ask
On rural properties in towns like New Hampton, Gilmanton and Sanbornton, where a callout is a longer drive, it is worth keeping a few gallons of drinking water on hand as a matter of course. It is not pessimism — it is the difference between an inconvenient afternoon and a genuinely bad night.
No-Water Questions
What is the most common cause?
A tripped breaker, comfortably. It is free to check and it resolves a meaningful share of no-water calls before anyone drives out. Which is exactly why our troubleshooter leads with it rather than with a booking form.
My breaker keeps tripping. Can I just keep resetting it?
No. A breaker that trips immediately on reset is doing its job — something downstream is drawing current it should not. Repeatedly re-energising a faulted circuit is how an electrical fault becomes a fire, and it will not fix anything. Leave it off and call.
How fast can you get to a no-water call?
We prioritise them, because no water is a household emergency rather than an inconvenience. Tell us it is a no-water situation when you get in touch, and tell us what you have already checked — it genuinely speeds things up at both ends.
Could it be frozen pipes rather than the well?
In deep winter, yes, and it is worth ruling out. If some fixtures work and others do not, or if the affected lines run through an unheated space or along an outside wall, suspect freezing rather than the well. A well line below frost depth does not freeze, but the plumbing inside the house certainly can.
The house was empty for a while. Does that change things?
Quite possibly. Seasonal properties in Moultonborough, Tuftonboro and Center Harbor produce a reliable spike of opening failures every May — pumps that will not start after sitting idle, tanks that lost charge unnoticed, and systems where the autumn drain-down was incomplete and something split over the winter.