Well water questions, answered for Ohio.

Check the breaker for the well pump in your electrical panel. If it’s tripped, reset it once. If it trips again, leave it off and call (419) 566-9589: a breaker that keeps tripping is telling you something is wrong with the pump, wiring or motor.

Never open the pressure switch, the pump control box or the wiring at the wellhead. They carry 240 volts. Also check whether the pressure gauge near your tank reads zero, and whether a softener or filter is in bypass or plugged; that helps us diagnose it over the phone.

B&E is open 24 hours and offers emergency well repair.

The usual causes are a clogged sediment filter or softener, a pressure switch set too low, a pressure tank that has lost its air charge, or a pump that is wearing out or set in a well that can’t keep up.

Low pressure only at one faucet points to that fixture. Low pressure everywhere points to the system. If you have a filter, check whether it’s overdue for a change before you call.

Rapid on-off cycling, every few seconds while water runs, almost always means the pressure tank has lost its air charge or failed. With no air cushion, the pump starts every time you open a faucet.

Short cycling overheats and wears out pumps quickly, so it’s worth fixing promptly. B&E checks the tank’s air charge and replaces failed tanks with Well-X-Trol tanks, covered by a 7-year warranty.

Yes. A pump that won’t shut off may be running against a leak, a broken line between the well and the house, a worn pump that can’t build pressure, or a well that has been pumped down. Running dry can destroy a pump.

Shut off the pump breaker and call. Don’t open the pressure switch to look at it; it’s live at 240 volts.

Many submersible pumps run for 8 to 15 years, and some much longer. Life depends on how often the pump starts, sand or sediment in the well, voltage problems and whether the pressure tank is doing its job.

B&E installs Franklin Electric submersible pumps and warrants them for 7 years: parts and labor the first year, parts for the rest of the term.

A good bladder or diaphragm pressure tank commonly lasts 10 to 15 years or more. Signs it’s failing: short cycling, sputtering faucets, a tank that sounds full of water when tapped near the top, or water coming out of the air valve.

B&E warrants its Well-X-Trol pressure tanks for 7 years.

Air in the lines can mean the water level in the well is dropping near the pump intake, a leak in the drop pipe, a failed check valve, or a waterlogged pressure tank. In some wells it’s gas coming out of the groundwater.

If it starts suddenly, especially in a dry stretch, call before the pump runs dry.

That’s iron. It’s dissolved in a lot of Ohio groundwater and turns orange-brown when it meets air or bleach. Black stains usually mean manganese.

Light iron can be handled by a softener; heavier iron, or iron with sulfur, usually needs a dedicated iron filter. A water test sets the right choice before you buy equipment.

That smell is hydrogen sulfide gas, common in Ohio wells, especially those that pass through shale. At typical levels it’s mostly a nuisance, but it corrodes plumbing, tarnishes silver and makes water taste bad.

If the smell is only in the hot water, the water heater’s anode rod may be the cause. If it’s in the cold too, it’s in the water, and an iron and sulfur removal system is the usual fix. B&E installs them.

Hard water is the norm in Ohio well water. Calcium and magnesium leave scale on fixtures and inside water heaters, make soap work harder and can leave skin feeling dry.

A properly sized water softener solves it. Softener sizing should be based on a hardness test and your household’s water use, and iron in the water changes the sizing.

Test for total coliform bacteria at least once a year, and any time the water changes color, smell or taste, after flooding, or after work on the well. Test for nitrate too, especially near fields or septic systems.

A broader test (iron, manganese, hardness, sulfur, pH) is worth doing before you buy treatment equipment and every few years after. Use a laboratory certified for drinking water; your local health district can point you to one.

Use bottled or boiled water for drinking and cooking until the problem is fixed and a follow-up test comes back clean. Coliform bacteria mean a pathway exists for contamination, even if the specific bacteria aren’t harmful. E. coli is a more serious result.

The fix is to find and repair how bacteria are getting in, often a loose or damaged well cap, a cracked casing or poor grading, then shock chlorinate the well and retest.

They solve different problems. A softener removes hardness (and some iron). An iron and sulfur filter removes heavier iron, manganese and hydrogen sulfide. Reverse osmosis is a drinking-water system for one faucet that removes a wide range of dissolved contaminants.

Many Ohio homes need a combination, installed in the right order. B&E installs softeners, iron and sulfur removal, reverse osmosis and whole-home filtration, and starts with what’s in your water.

No. After a flood, don’t drink the well water until it has been tested. Use bottled water and follow guidance from your local health department.

Floodwater can carry bacteria and chemicals straight into a well. The well usually needs inspection, shock chlorination and a clean bacteria test before it’s used again. Stay away from flooded electrical equipment.

Shock chlorination is disinfecting a well and the household plumbing with a strong chlorine solution, letting it stand, then flushing it out. It kills bacteria that have gotten into the well and water system.

It’s a treatment, not a cure. If bacteria keep coming back, something is letting them in, and that needs repair.

After a positive bacteria test, after flooding, after any work that opens the well (such as replacing a pump), and when a new well is put into service.

In Ohio, new wells also need a water sample collected after construction under the permit process. Your health district will tell you what’s required.

Not until the chlorine has been flushed out and a follow-up bacteria test comes back clean. Until then, use bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Testing too soon, while chlorine is still in the system, can give a false clean result. Follow the timing your lab or health district gives you.

Ohio health departments publish homeowner instructions for shock chlorination, but opening a well means working near the wellhead wiring, which can carry 240 volts. If the wiring or cap isn’t straightforward, or the bacteria came back, have a registered contractor do it and find the cause.

Chlorine also damages some treatment equipment, so softeners, filters and RO systems usually need to be bypassed first.

Possibly. In Ohio the most common freeze spots are pipes in crawlspaces, unheated well pits, pump houses and exposed lines near the pressure tank. A line between the well and house that wasn’t buried deep enough can freeze too.

Don’t use an open flame to thaw pipes, and don’t touch electrical equipment that’s wet. Turn off the pump breaker if the pump is running with no water coming through, and call (419) 566-9589. B&E is open 24 hours.

Keep the space around the pressure tank above freezing, insulate exposed pipes, close crawlspace vents in winter and keep the pump house heated if you have one. Lines from the well to the house should be buried below the frost line.

For irrigation, a proper fall winterization keeps freeze damage out of valves, backflow devices and heads.

A sanitary, vermin-proof cap that seals tightly to the casing with a screened vent. Old loose caps let in insects, mice and surface water, a common cause of bacteria problems.

The casing should stick up above the ground, with soil sloping away from it so water drains off. A buried wellhead is a risk and should be extended up by a registered contractor.

Grout is the seal, usually bentonite clay or cement, placed in the space between the well casing and the drilled hole. It keeps surface water from running down the outside of the casing into the aquifer.

Ohio’s private water systems rules set grouting requirements for new wells. A well without a good grout seal is more likely to get bacteria after heavy rain.

The pump stops. You’ll have whatever pressure is left in the tank, then nothing until power returns. A generator can run the pump if it’s sized for the pump’s starting load and connected by an electrician through a proper transfer switch or interlock.

Never back-feed a generator through a dryer outlet.

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Private Water Systems program sets the rules and registers contractors, and your local health district issues permits and inspections. In Richland County that’s Richland Public Health.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) keeps the state’s water well logs, which you can search online.

New wells, alterations to a private water system and sealing an old well need a permit from the local health district, and the work must be done by an ODH-registered private water systems contractor.

Whether a particular repair counts as an alteration is a question for the health district. A registered contractor knows the rules and handles the permit when one is needed.

Ask for their ODH registration number and check it against the Ohio Department of Health’s published list of registered private water systems contractors.

B&E Water Well Service LLC is an Ohio Department of Health registered private water systems contractor, registration 9999-PWSC-26-000029, listed as active on ODH’s September 30, 2026 report.

Ohio has no statewide rule requiring a well inspection at sale, but lenders often require a water test (FHA, VA and USDA loans commonly do), and buyers are wise to get one either way.

A good pre-purchase check covers the wellhead and cap, the pump’s performance, the pressure tank, and a water test for bacteria, nitrate and the minerals that drive treatment costs. Call (419) 566-9589 to talk about what’s right for the house you’re buying.

Look up the well log. Ohio’s drillers file a log for each new well with ODNR, and logs can be searched online by address or location. The log shows depth, casing, the layers drilled through and the water level at the time.

Older wells may have no log. A contractor can measure depth and water level during service.

Have it sealed. In Ohio, an unused well must be properly sealed by a registered private water systems contractor under a health district permit. An open or poorly capped well is a hazard to people and animals and a direct path for contamination into the aquifer your neighbors drink from.

B&E is registered with ODH for sealing work.

It varies a lot across Richland County. Wells in the buried valleys of the Clear Fork, Rocky Fork and Black Fork can finish in sand and gravel, while upland wells usually drill through glacial till into Mississippian shale and sandstone, the Cuyahoga Group, the Logan and Black Hand, or the Berea at depth.

Your neighbors’ well logs in the ODNR database are the best guide to what to expect on your property.

Depth, how much casing is needed to get through the glacial drift, the rock type, the yield you need, the distance to the house, and the pump, tank and treatment that go with it. Permit and water sample fees from the health district are part of it too.

Call to talk through your property and what you need.

Often, if the well, pump and pressure tank can supply the irrigation zones without starving the house. If zones demand more than the well yields, the pump runs nonstop and the well can be pumped down.

Some properties are better served by a separate irrigation well. B&E services both wells and irrigation, so the system can be sized to what the well can deliver.

Start it up in spring once the risk of hard freezes has passed, and winterize it in fall before the first hard freeze. In north-central Ohio that usually means a spring startup in April or May and winterization in October.

B&E’s maintenance contracts include the spring startup, a mid-season checkup and fall winterization, with priority scheduling and discounted repairs.

Yes. B&E repairs all makes and models, including Hunter, Rain Bird and Toro, for homes and commercial properties: heads, valves and wiring, controllers, leaks and coverage problems.

New systems are designed and installed with Hunter products, which B&E warrants for 5 years.

Seven years on water well pumps, seven years on well pressure tanks and five years on Hunter irrigation products. Parts and labor are covered for the first year, and parts for the rest of the warranty period.