No water from the tap

When a well delivers no water at all, check four things before calling: the breaker, the pressure gauge, the pressure switch, and whether the pump makes any sound. Those checks separate a cheap above-ground fault from a pump that has to come out of the well. A tripped breaker or failed pressure switch is far more common than a failed pump.

The ten minute checklist

1. Check the breaker. Find the well pump breaker in the panel. If it has tripped, reset it once. If it trips again immediately, stop and call someone. Repeated resets into a short are not safe and will not fix anything.

2. Read the pressure gauge. It sits near the pressure tank.

Gauge reads	What it suggests
Zero	System is empty. Pump is not delivering, or a large leak
Normal pressure but no water at taps	Problem is downstream, such as a closed valve or a frozen line
Pressure dropping steadily with no water running	A leak somewhere

3. Listen at the tank and well house. A pump that hums but does not deliver points at a capacitor, control box, or a bound pump. Complete silence with a good breaker points at the pressure switch or wiring. A pump that runs continuously points at a leak, an empty well, or a pump that has lost its ability to lift.

4. Look at the pressure switch. With power off, the cover comes off with one screw. Burned, pitted, or ant-infested contacts are a common and inexpensive failure. Ants in a pressure switch are a real and frequent problem in this area.

If all four checks look normal, the problem is likely in the well and needs equipment to reach.

What each symptom usually means

What you observe	Likely cause	Where the fix is
No sound, breaker fine	Pressure switch, control box, or wiring	Above ground, cheaper
Hum, no water	Capacitor, control box, or seized pump	Mixed
Breaker trips on reset	Short in motor or drop wire	In the well
Runs constantly, no pressure	Leak, dropped water level, or worn pump	Varies
Runs, delivers air then stops	Water level below the pump	The aquifer
Rapid on-off cycling	Waterlogged pressure tank	Above ground, cheapest

When it is the aquifer rather than the equipment

This deserves separate mention here because it is genuinely more common around Prescott than in most places.

Groundwater levels in the Chino Valley area have declined for decades. For a well drilled 50 years ago, depth to water has typically increased 80 to 100 feet, and parts of Williamson Valley have seen reported declines as high as 8 feet a year. In March 2025, ABC15 reported that a water provider north of Prescott had drilled five essentially dry holes and was hauling water by truck. See falling groundwater and what it means for your well for where those figures come from.

The signature of a water level problem rather than an equipment problem:

• The pump sounds like it is running normally
• Water runs for a while, then sputters and stops
• Air comes through the lines
• Recovery after a rest period, then the same pattern again
• Heavier use, such as irrigation or laundry, triggers it sooner

If that is what you are seeing, a new pump will not solve it. The conversation is about lowering the pump, deepening the well, or storage. See falling groundwater and what it means for your well.

What to tell whoever you call

• No water at all, or reduced flow
• Whether the breaker tripped, and whether it holds on reset
• What the pressure gauge reads
• Any sound from the pump
• Whether it came on gradually or all at once
• Well depth and pump depth if you have the record

Sudden total failure and a gradual decline over weeks point in different directions, and it is one of the more useful things you can tell someone.

Next step

Describe what the system is doing and we will connect you with an independent local contractor who works on wells in the Prescott area. Start here, or read about well pump repair.