It is never a good feeling when you turn on the faucet in a home with a water well and discover there is no water coming out. 

Immediately your mind is flooded with questions:

• Is the well dry?
• Did the submersible well pump fail?
• Is this going to be expensive to fix?

Thankfully, many times the solution is quick, simple, and inexpensive. However, other times the well may actually be dry or the submersible pump needs pulling and replacing.

Before calling a water well professional, it's important you understand the possible reasons you don't have water and what can be done to rectify each.

The most common reasons are:

Reason: Part of the Well System Is Frozen

If it is the dead of winter and nighttime temperatures are dropping below freezing, then you should strongly suspect part of the well system is frozen.

While the water inside the bore and the submersible pump are protected from freezing because they are below the frost line, surface plumbing that's not insulated or protected can and will freeze. 

If you woke up without water early on a cold morning and the day is supposed to be sunny and warm, you should wait for a few hours to see if the water flows again. If so, then you need to find the area that's freezing and insulate it.

Reason: Part of the Well System Lacks Power

Water well systems have pumps that run on electrical power. As with any electrical appliances, these pumps sometimes surge and flip a breaker. 

If a pump is having a temporary power issue, then flipping the breaker on and off will solve this problem.

Reason: The Submersible Pump Has Failed

As with all electric-powered appliances, well pumps can and do fail. Typically, they are good for a decade or more but as with anything else, this is just an average.

A well drilling professional can test the wiring to the pump and tell if it is bad or not.

The best-case scenario is they determine the pump is fine. The worst-case scenario is they discover a dead pump and it has to be pulled and replaced.

Reason: The Well Has Run Dry

Finally, it is important to note that water wells do sometimes run dry. The water table can drop from changing climate conditions, drought, or even overuse by other property owners in your immediate area. 

The only way to tell if a well has run dry is to have a well-drilling professional open up the bore and check for standing water at the bottom. 

If no water is found, the bore may need to be drilled down deeper or you may have to drill an entirely new well bore in another location. 

If you have noticed that you have no water from well, be sure to contact a well-drilling professional for more information.