My Well Pump Won't Shut Off
A pump that cycles or runs with nothing on is losing pressure somewhere: the buried line, the house, or the pump and tank. Here's how to tell which.
You notice the pump kicking on in the middle of the night. Or it runs for a minute every ten minutes with nothing using water. Or the power bill climbed and the pressure at the far fixtures dropped. On a private well there's no water bill to warn you, so this is how leaks announce themselves in Olalla, Seabeck, Lofall, Hansville and the acreage parcels across the county.
A pump turns on when system pressure drops to its cut-in point and off when it reaches cut-out. With nothing running, pressure should hold for hours. If the pump runs, pressure is being lost. The three candidates are the buried line from the well house to the home, the plumbing inside the house, and the pump, check valve and tank themselves. Replacing the pump without ruling out the line is an expensive guess we see too often.
We isolate the buried line from the pump and tank on one side and the house on the other with gauges, and we watch. That tells us where the loss is before anyone digs. If it's the buried line, usually 1970s or 80s polyethylene running hundreds of feet through hardpan, we trace it, correlate across the run, pinpoint the break with the ground microphone, and open the ground once. If it's the pump or check valve, we tell you and coordinate with your well company.
What it usually means
A leak on the buried line
Long poly well lines go brittle and split, often at a rock pressing on the pipe or a bend. Slow, steady cycling with the house isolated points here.
A failed check valve
Lets water drain back down the well when the pump stops. Cycling continues with both the line and the house isolated.
A waterlogged pressure tank
Rapid short-cycling, on and off every few seconds, means the tank has lost its air charge. A well company job.
A leak inside the house
Cycling stops when the house shutoff is closed. A running toilet is the usual culprit.
What to check first
- Note the rhythm: slow steady cycling or rapid short-cycling.
- Close the house main shutoff and see if the cycling continues.
- Close the valve after the pressure tank and watch the gauge.
- Walk the line's route for a green stripe or soft ground.
When to call
- Cycling continues with the house isolated
- The line is long, old polyethylene
- The pump is overheating or tripping its breaker
- You want the line ruled in or out before replacing the pump
The fix
When it's a buried line or an exterior drain, the fix is well Water Line Leak Detection: we locate first, open the ground once, repair or replace, and put the surface back. One crew, 24 hours a day. (206) 354-9906.
What it looks like when we find it
Well pump running constantly, town by town
The likely causes shift with the ground, the housing era and the water utility. Pick your community.
Bremerton
The shipyard city's older galvanized lines fail quietly and show up as a wet lawn or a water bill nobody can explain.
Silverdale
The 1980s and 90s subdivision boom around the mall left thousands of polybutylene service lines that are now failing on schedule.
Port Orchard
The county seat's hillside lots and clay soils turn small leaks into slope problems, and long rural runs hide breaks for months.
Poulsbo
Little Norway's mix of century-old downtown lines and fast-draining bay-side outwash means leaks hide well and fail suddenly.
Bainbridge Island
Clay soils and 500-foot driveways make island leaks slow to surface and expensive to guess at, which is why we locate before we dig.
Kingston
Ferry-town acreage with long wooded service runs where a leak can hide under hardpan for an entire winter.
Keyport
A century-old Navy village with short lots, old lines and shoreline clay that keeps everything damp.
Tracyton
Bluff-side lots over Dyes Inlet where seeps and springs make it easy to mistake groundwater for a leak and vice versa.
Hansville
Beach cabins at the tip of the peninsula with shallow lines, high water tables and a long drive for anyone who isn't already in Kitsap.
Indianola
A century-old summer colony where shared lines, easements and bluff clay make leaks a neighborhood puzzle.
Suquamish
Two utilities, mixed-era housing and Agate Pass shoreline clay in the heart of the Port Madison reservation.
Manchester
Rich Passage waterfront lots where the service line runs downhill and every leak finds the beach.
Enetai
East Bremerton's bluff-side neighborhood where mid-century copper lines fail on slopes that drain toward the bay.
Lofall
Rural acreage between Poulsbo and the Hood Canal Bridge where well lines run hundreds of feet through hardpan.
Olalla
Well country at the south end of Kitsap where a leaking line shows up as a pump that won't shut off.
Seabeck
Hood Canal forest parcels where boulders, hardpan and long well lines make guessing at a leak an expensive mistake.
East Port Orchard
South Kitsap's 1970s and 80s subdivisions where copper and poly lines are reaching the end of their run.
Rollingbay
The northeast corner of Bainbridge where clay slopes, long drives and small community systems keep leaks hidden for seasons.
Port Townsend
A Victorian seaport where 1890s service lines sit under historic sidewalks and the gravity pipeline from the Quilcene delivers the water.
Questions
Can a leak destroy the pump?
What fixes it
Well Water Line Leak Detection
Leak detection and repair on private well systems where the only warning is a pump that won't shut off.
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Underground Water Leak Detection
Acoustic and correlator leak detection that pinpoints a buried water line break before anyone digs.
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Water Line Replacement
Full replacement of a failed or end-of-life water service line in continuous HDPE or PEX, meter to house.
Read more →Something underground isn't right?
We answer 24 hours a day. We locate before we dig, and we handle the whole job with our own crew and equipment.