Well water questions for North Central Florida.

Check the well pump’s breaker in your electrical panel. If it has tripped, reset it once. If it trips again, leave it off and call a well pump service: something is shorted or the motor is pulling too hard, and resetting it again can do more damage.

Also look at the pressure gauge by your tank. If it reads near zero and the breaker is on, the pump isn’t delivering. Don’t open the pressure switch, the pump control box or the wiring at the wellhead: they are live at 240 volts.

Sudden low pressure usually comes from a clogged sediment filter, a failing pressure switch, a waterlogged pressure tank, a leak in the line between the well and the house, or a pump that is wearing out.

If you have a whole-house filter, a clogged cartridge is the easiest thing to rule out. If pressure keeps dropping, or the pump runs longer than it used to, have the system checked before the pump overheats.

Yes. That’s called short cycling, and it is one of the fastest ways to burn out a well pump. Every start heats the motor and wears the switch contacts.

The usual cause is a pressure tank that has lost its air charge or has a failed bladder (a waterlogged tank). It can also be a bad pressure switch, a leaking check valve or a leak in the plumbing. Call soon rather than letting it run that way for weeks.

A pump that never shuts off either can’t reach its cut-off pressure or isn’t being told to stop. Common causes are a broken or leaking line, a worn pump, a dropped water level in the well, or a stuck pressure switch.

Turn the pump off at its breaker if it runs continuously with no water being used, to protect the motor, and call for service.

Sputtering often means the pump is drawing air: the water level in the well may have dropped below the pump, there may be a hole in the drop pipe, or a check valve may be failing.

In North Florida it can also be gas coming out of the water itself, such as the hydrogen sulfide that causes a rotten-egg smell. A service call sorts out which one it is.

You often can’t tell from the house, and the switch is not something to open yourself: it carries 240 volts. A well technician tests the switch, the control box and the pump motor with meters to find which part failed.

That matters for your wallet. A pressure switch is a small part. A submersible pump means pulling the pump out of the well.

A pressure tank stores water under pressure so the pump doesn’t have to start every time you open a tap. It gives the pump longer, less frequent run cycles, which is what makes a pump last.

Most modern tanks have a bladder or diaphragm with a pre-set air charge on one side and water on the other.

The classic signs are short cycling (the pump clicking on and off rapidly), pressure that swings quickly between high and low, and a tank that feels full and heavy all the way to the top.

A waterlogged bladder tank usually means the bladder has failed or the air charge has leaked away. Often the fix is replacing the tank.

Many submersible well pumps run for roughly 8 to 15 years, but there is no fixed number. Short cycling, sand, running the well low, lightning and power surges all shorten that life.

A properly sized pump paired with a working pressure tank will usually outlast one that starts and stops all day.

Bladder pressure tanks commonly last somewhere around 7 to 15 years. Outdoor tanks in full Florida sun and tanks on hard or sulfur water may not reach the long end.

When a tank fails it usually shows up as short cycling, so replacing a failing tank promptly also protects the pump.

Tank size depends on your pump’s flow rate and the pressure range it runs at. The goal is a long enough draw-down that the pump runs at least a minute or two each time it starts.

Larger households, homes with irrigation and pumps with higher flow need bigger tanks. Undersizing is a common reason pumps wear out early.

That smell is hydrogen sulfide gas, and it is common in Florida wells that draw from the limestone of the Floridan aquifer. It can come from the groundwater itself or from bacteria that feed on sulfate.

If you only smell it in hot water, the water heater may be the source: sulfate-reducing bacteria can react with the heater’s anode rod. If you smell it in the cold water too, it’s in the well water, and a treatment system can remove it.

At the low levels usually found in well water, hydrogen sulfide is mainly a nuisance: it smells, tastes bad and tarnishes silver and plumbing fixtures. But a sudden new smell is a reason to test the water, not to guess.

If your water suddenly changes color, smell or taste, use bottled water until it has been tested, and follow your county health department’s guidance.

Because it comes up through limestone. The Floridan aquifer is made of limestone and dolostone, and groundwater dissolves calcium and magnesium from that rock as it moves through it.

Hard water leaves white scale on fixtures and glass, cuts the life of water heaters and makes soap work poorly. A water softener is the usual fix.

Iron. Many wells carry dissolved iron that looks clear coming out of the tap and turns orange-brown once it meets air, staining sinks, laundry and anything the sprinklers hit.

Iron is usually treated with a filter designed for it. If you see orange slime in the toilet tank, that can be iron bacteria, which needs its own approach.

It describes treatment that conditions or cleans water without feeding chemicals into it, for example systems that use air to oxidize iron and sulfur so a filter can catch them. Living Water Pump Service describes its systems as custom designed, non-chemical water conditioning and treatment.

Which approach fits depends on what is in your water, so the right first step is knowing what you have: hardness, iron, sulfur, pH and bacteria.

A softener removes hardness (calcium and magnesium). A filter targets things like sediment, iron or sulfur. Many North Florida homes with hard water that also smells or stains end up with both, installed in the right order.

A treatment system should be designed around a water test, not a guess, so you don’t pay for equipment your water doesn’t need.

Most private wells in this part of Florida draw from the Floridan aquifer, a thick system of porous limestone that underlies all of Florida and parts of neighboring states. The same water feeds the region’s springs, like Ginnie, Fanning, Manatee and Rainbow.

Across much of Gilchrist, Levy, Dixie and western Alachua counties, that limestone sits close under a covering of sand, which is why there are so many springs and sinkholes here.

Where only sand covers the limestone, rain soaks into the aquifer quickly, and so can what’s on the ground: fertilizer, animal waste and septic effluent. Nitrate in groundwater is a known concern in the Suwannee and Santa Fe river basins.

That’s why a well’s cap and casing need to be sound and the area around the wellhead kept clean, and why regular testing makes sense.

Yes. In karst country, a sinkhole forming nearby can make well water suddenly muddy or cloudy, bring up sand, change the water level or cause air in the lines.

If a sinkhole or depression opens near your well, keep people and animals away from it, stop using the water for drinking until it has been tested, and call. Don’t try to fill or work around the wellhead yourself.

Sudden cloudiness or sand can come from a nearby sinkhole or ground movement, a damaged well screen or casing, a pump set too close to the bottom, or a well being pumped harder than it can supply.

Use bottled water until it has been looked at and tested. Sand also wears out pumps quickly, so it’s worth finding the cause soon.

Not necessarily. Springs show that the aquifer is close to the surface in places, but well depth varies from property to property with the ground, the water level and how the well was built.

The well completion report, filed with the water management district when a well is permitted, usually records the depth and casing. Your contractor can often look it up.

No. An electric well pump stops when the power does, and once the pressure tank is drained you have no running water. That includes toilets refilling.

Before hurricane season, store drinking water and fill a few containers for flushing. Plan how you’ll power the pump if you want water during a long outage.

Usually yes, if the generator is big enough for the pump’s starting surge, which is several times what it draws while running, and if it matches the pump’s voltage. Most household well pumps run on 240 volts.

The generator must be connected through a transfer switch or approved interlock installed by a licensed electrician. Never backfeed a house through an outlet: it can kill a lineworker or you. Run generators outdoors only, well away from doors and windows, because of carbon monoxide.

Don’t drink it until it has been tested. Floodwater can carry bacteria, sewage and chemicals into a well, especially through the top of the casing. Use bottled water in the meantime.

Follow your county health department’s guidance. A flooded well usually needs to be disinfected (shock chlorinated) and then tested for bacteria before the water is used for drinking again. If the pump or wiring was underwater, have it checked before you turn it back on.

At least once a year, and any time the well floods, the water changes color, smell or taste, someone in the house gets sick from a suspected water cause, or the well has been opened for repairs.

The Florida Department of Health recommends regular testing of private wells, and county health departments can tell you where to get a sample tested.

Yes. Florida gets more lightning than any other state, and a nearby strike can surge through the power line or the ground to fry a pump motor, control box or pressure switch.

A lightning arrestor or surge protection at the pump control helps, though nothing makes a well system immune. If the pump quits after a storm, check the breaker once; if it trips again, leave it off and call.

Make sure the well cap is tight and sealed, the area around the wellhead drains away from it, and any shed or cover is secure. Know where the pump breaker is.

Store drinking water, and decide ahead of time whether you’ll use a generator. If so, have an electrician install the transfer switch before a storm is on the way.

Florida’s five water management districts permit the construction, repair and abandonment of wells and license water well contractors. The Florida Department of Health and its county health departments handle drinking-water health guidance for private wells.

In this area that means the Suwannee River Water Management District (Gilchrist, Dixie and most of Levy), the Southwest Florida Water Management District (Citrus, Sumter, southern Levy and well permitting for Marion), and, in eastern Alachua County, the St. Johns River district along with Alachua County’s environmental protection department.

Drilling a new well, repairing a well and plugging (abandoning) a well require a permit from the water management district, or from the county where the district has delegated permitting. The licensed contractor doing the work normally pulls it.

Ask your contractor whether your specific job needs a permit. If it does, it should be in place before the work starts.

Water well contractors in Florida are licensed by the water management districts, and a license from one district is valid statewide. Ask the contractor for the license number and check it with the district, for example the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s well contractor list or a call to the Suwannee River district.

Also ask whether the company is insured, and look at how long it has been in business. Living Water Pump Service LLC has been registered with the Florida Division of Corporations since 2013.

Ask what they think is wrong and how they’ll confirm it, what the repair includes, whether a permit is needed, and what happens if the first fix doesn’t solve it.

A good well company explains the problem in plain words before replacing anything.

Yes. Hardness, iron, sulfur, pH and bacteria each call for different equipment, and the wrong system wastes money or doesn’t work.

For health questions such as bacteria and nitrate, use a certified laboratory; your county health department can point you to one.

The company describes its work as well pump service and repair and custom water conditioning and treatment. If you need a new well drilled, call and ask; they can tell you what they handle and what they don’t.