WELL PUMP SERVICE IN EASTERN CT

Well Pump Repair, Replacement & Service

Submersible, jet, and constant-pressure systems. Pressure tanks. Same-day no-water response across the Quiet Corner.

CT MASTER PLUMBER
SUBMERSIBLE · JET · CONSTANT-PRESSURE
SAME-DAY NO-WATER DISPATCH

WELL SERVICES WE OFFER

What we handle on a private well

Caswell runs well work as a real trade desk, not a sideline. From a no-water emergency at 11 p.m. to a planned pressure-tank upgrade on a Saturday, the same crew handles the whole system: pump, tank, switch, wiring at the well, piping to the house, and the diagnosis that tells you which one actually failed.

Pump replacement Submersible and jet pump swaps, sized to your well depth and household demand. Full pull, drop pipe inspection, new torque arrestor, new wire, new pitless if needed.
Pump repair Pressure switches, check valves, control boxes, capacitors, and wiring at the well head. Not every "dead pump" is actually dead.
Pressure tank service Bladder tanks (Well-X-Trol style) and steel galvanized tanks. Sizing, pre-charge, replacement, leak repair.
Well inspection Pre-purchase inspections, output-and-recovery testing, casing and cap inspection, electrical at the well head. Written report.
Water-quality testing We pull the sample and send it to a state-certified lab. Iron, manganese, hardness, coliform, arsenic, radon if requested. We don't sell treatment systems we don't believe in.
Emergency no-water service You turn the tap and nothing happens. We dispatch the same day, evenings and weekends included.

SIGNS YOU NEED SERVICE

What your well is telling you

Wells don’t usually fail in silence. The system gives you signals for days or weeks before it stops entirely. Knowing which symptom points at the pump, which points at the pressure tank, and which points at the well itself can save you from buying the wrong fix.

Below is the symptom map we use on every diagnostic call. If two or three of these are happening at once, call sooner rather than later. A pump that quits at 2 a.m. on a Sunday is more expensive than a pump replaced on a Tuesday afternoon.

Low or weak water pressure throughout the house
Sputtering or spitting faucets (air in the line)
Short-cycling: pump kicking on and off every few seconds
Pressure gauge bouncing wildly when water is running
Cloudy, murky, or sandy water at the tap
Discolored water (rust-orange, gray, or brown)
Pump runs constantly and never shuts off
Electrical breaker tripping at the well pump circuit
No water at all when you turn the tap
Audible pump noise (humming, grinding, water-hammer)

Well pump and blue pressure tank mounted in a stone basement

PUMP TYPES COMPARED

Submersible, jet, or constant-pressure

Most Eastern Connecticut homes run one of three setups. The right pump for your well depends on how deep the well is, how much water the household uses, and whether you want classic on-off cycling or smooth constant pressure. We install all three and we’ll tell you straight which one belongs in your well.

Submersible pumps

When it's right: Drilled wells deeper than 25 feet. The dominant choice in the Quiet Corner because most of our wells are 100 to 400 feet into bedrock.
How it works: Pump body sits at the bottom of the well, fully submerged, and pushes water up. Quieter at the surface, longer-lived than jet pumps in deep applications.
Typical lifespan: 10 to 15 years. Well-maintained submersibles hit 20 in soft-water wells.
Typical sizing: 1/2 hp for most three-bedroom homes; 3/4 hp or 1 hp for deeper lifts or higher demand. Wire size scaled to lift distance to prevent voltage drop at the motor.

What we install Goulds, Franklin Electric, Grundfos, Sta-Rite.

Jet pumps

When it's right: Shallow-well jets for wells under 25 feet deep (common in older homes near the Quinebaug and Shetucket rivers). Deep-well jets are now rare; we recommend swapping to a submersible when one fails.
How it works: Pump body sits above ground, usually in the basement or a well house, and pulls water up through suction. Easier to service because it's accessible.
Typical lifespan: 8 to 12 years.
Typical sizing: 1/2 hp shallow-well jet with a check valve and foot valve at the bottom of the suction line. Prime must be maintained — a lost-prime call is the most common jet pump service call.

What we install Goulds, Sta-Rite, Flotec.

Constant-pressure systems

When it's right: Households tired of pressure swings between fixtures (the "someone flushed and my shower went cold" problem). Also great for homes with sprinklers or hot tubs.
How it works: A variable-speed drive runs the pump faster or slower based on demand, holding constant household pressure (typically 60 to 70 psi). Replaces the traditional pressure tank with a much smaller buffer tank.
Typical lifespan: 12 to 18 years on the pump. The controller is usually warrantied 5 years and can be swapped without pulling the pump.
Electrical requirements: Dedicated VFD controller mounted at the pressure switch location, with proper grounding and a service disconnect. Some older homes need a panel upgrade to support continuous variable-frequency draw.

What we install Franklin Electric SubDrive, Grundfos CU controllers, Goulds Aquavar.

PRESSURE TANK DEEP DIVE

When the pump isn't the problem

About a third of the time a homeowner calls us thinking the pump is failing, the actual culprit is the pressure tank. A waterlogged bladder tank, a corroded steel tank, or a tank that was undersized when it was first installed will make a perfectly healthy pump short-cycle itself to death. Replacing the tank is faster, cheaper, and stops the pump from getting blamed for a problem it didn’t cause.

There are two kinds of pressure tanks in Eastern Connecticut basements.

Bladder tanks (modern standard). A rubber bladder inside a steel shell separates air from water. The brand most installers use is Amtrol Well-X-Trol; we install those and a few comparable lines. Bladder tanks last 10 to 20 years if the pre-charge is checked annually. They’re sized by household demand, not by the pump: a typical family of four wants a 32-gallon (WX-202) or 44-gallon (WX-203) tank to keep the pump from cycling more than 30 times a day.

Steel galvanized tanks (legacy). No bladder, just an air pocket above the water. Common in homes built before about 1985. They work fine but they get waterlogged faster (the air dissolves into the water over time), require periodic air-charging, and rust through from the inside after 20 to 40 years. If you have one and it’s leaking from a pinhole, replace it with a bladder tank. Don’t patch it.

What we do on a tank swap: drain and isolate the old tank, replace the tank tee with a brass or no-lead bronze fitting, install a new pressure switch and gauge (cheap insurance — we never reuse), set the pre-charge to 2 psi below cut-in before any water hits the bladder, sanitize the line, and verify the switch cycle on a full draw-down. Constant-pressure buffer tanks are smaller and faster because they’re not holding the household reserve; they only buffer brief demand spikes.

Pump kicks on every time you open a tap, even briefly
Pressure gauge swings 20 psi or more in a few seconds
You can hear water sloshing inside the tank when you tap it
Rust streaks on the outside of the tank
The tank feels full of water when you lift it (a healthy bladder tank should feel about half-empty)

OUR PROCESS

How a well-pump call actually goes

Four steps from your phone call to a working tap.

You call. A person picks up.

Real dispatcher answers, day or night. We ask three things: what’s happening, how long it’s been happening, and whether you have any water at all. That tells us whether you’re on the emergency board or the schedule.
We diagnose at the well head.

Free in-person diagnostic on any no-water call. We test voltage at the pump, pressure at the tank, and (if the pump is suspect) we pull amperage readings before we pull the pump. About a third of the time we find the problem without pulling anything.
Flat-rate quote, in writing, before any work.

You see the price before we touch a wrench. If we have to pull the pump and find the drop pipe is shot, we stop, call, and re-quote before we keep going. No scope-creep invoices.
We do the work. We test the work.

Pump installed, pressure tank set, switch tuned to 40/60 or 50/70 per your preference, water cleared, fittings dry. We hand you the old parts so you can see what failed. Two-year workmanship warranty on every install, parts warranty per manufacturer (typical is 2 to 5 years).

DIAGNOSTIC METHOD

How we diagnose a well-pump call

Most well-pump shops won’t tell you what they actually do at the well head. We will. This is the diagnostic order of operations on every no-water call, before anything gets pulled. About a third of “the pump is dead” calls turn out to be the pressure tank, switch, or wiring — and we find that without spending the day pulling a pump that didn’t need pulling. Final scope comes from a flat-rate written quote at your well, not a number on a screen.

Step	What we measure	What it tells us
1	Pressure gauge at the tank	Resting pressure, cut-in and cut-out points — whether the switch is in spec and the tank is holding pressure
2	Tap-test the pressure tank	Sound and feel: hollow top, water-filled bottom — whether the bladder failed and the tank is waterlogged
3	Air pre-charge at the Schrader valve	psi against the cut-in setting (target: cut-in minus 2 psi) — whether the tank's pre-charge has bled off
4	Voltage at the pressure switch	240V across L1/L2 with switch closed — whether power is actually reaching the switch
5	Voltage at the control box (submersibles)	240V at the box on a call — whether the wire run from switch to box is intact
6	Continuity of pump motor leads	Resistance across yellow/black/red leads, plus to ground — whether the motor winding is open, shorted, or grounded
7	Amperage draw on call (if the pump runs)	Amps against the nameplate FLA — whether the pump is locked, running dry, or healthy
8	Pump run time and recovery	Seconds to refill the pressure tank — whether the pump is producing rated GPM or losing prime
9	Camera scope of the well casing (if needed)	Static water level, casing condition, screen condition — whether the well itself is the problem, not the pump
10	Drop pipe and wire condition (on pull)	Visual on every foot as it comes out — whether to swap drop pipe and wire while the well is open

What changes the scope of the job

Well depth. A 60-foot well is a different job than a 400-foot well. Deeper wells need higher-horsepower pumps, longer drop pipe, more wire, and a stronger truck winch.
Pump horsepower. 1/2 hp covers most three-bedroom homes. 3/4 hp or 1 hp for higher demand or deeper lifts. Each step up adds parts and electrical.
Drop pipe condition. If the existing drop pipe is galvanized and corroded, we replace it during the pull. Modern PEX-aluminum or schedule-80 poly is standard.
Electrical at the well. Old single-wire or aluminum wiring at the well head often needs replacement at the same time, especially with rodent damage at the pitless.
Pressure tank size and brand. Sized by household demand, not pump horsepower — see the pressure tank section above for sizing logic.
Access. Wells under decks, inside well houses, or far from a driveway add labor.

What's in every Caswell well-pump quote

Free in-person diagnostic on any no-water call inside our standard radius
Flat-rate written quote before the pump comes out of the well
CT plumbing license number, warranty terms, and the technician's name on the paperwork
The old parts handed to you when we finish, so you can see what failed
Two-year workmanship warranty backed by the office, not a 1-800 line
Parts warranty per manufacturer (typical is 2 to 5 years)

Need general plumbing?

INSIDE THE HOUSE

Plumbing service across Eastern CT

Drain & sewer, leaks, fixtures, gas, repipes, sump pumps. The same shop, the same number. Most "well problems" that turn out to be inside-the-house problems land here.

FAQS

Well pump questions, answered

The questions we hear most often on the dispatch board. Straight answers. If yours isn't here, call and ask.

How long does a well pump last in Eastern Connecticut?

Submersibles typically run 10 to 15 years. We see well-maintained units in soft-water wells hit 20. Jet pumps run 8 to 12 years. Constant-pressure systems usually hit 12 to 18 years on the pump itself, with the controller often outlasting it. The biggest lifespan killer in our region is short-cycling caused by a failed pressure tank, which is why we always check the tank when we evaluate a “failing” pump.

When should I replace my well pump instead of repairing it?

Replace it if it’s over 12 years old, if the motor burned out (ran dry, lost prime, locked rotor), if you’ve had two or more service calls in the past 24 months, or if the drop pipe is original galvanized and showing rust. Repair it if the pump is under 8 years old and the failure is electrical (switch, capacitor, wiring) or if the pressure tank is the actual culprit.

Jet pump or submersible: which one do I need?

Depends on your well depth. If your well is deeper than 25 feet, you want a submersible. Most Quiet Corner wells are 100 to 400 feet into bedrock, so submersibles dominate the region. Shallow-well jets still make sense for wells under 25 feet, common in older homes near the Quinebaug or Shetucket. Deep-well jets are obsolete; we recommend switching to a submersible when one fails.

What size pressure tank do I need?

Sized by household demand, not by pump horsepower. The rule of thumb is to keep the pump cycling fewer than 30 times per day. A family of four with a typical fixture count wants a 32-gallon tank (Well-X-Trol WX-202) at minimum, 44-gallon (WX-203) for households with larger demand or sprinklers. Constant-pressure systems use a much smaller buffer tank because they’re not relying on tank capacity to limit cycles.

My water is cloudy. Is my well failing?

Not necessarily. Cloudy water has three common causes in Eastern CT: (a) trapped air from a recent power outage or a draining pressure tank, which clears in 24 hours; (b) silt or sediment from a pump set too close to the well bottom, which means the pump needs to be raised; or (c) a failing well screen letting in fine sand, which is a bigger fix. If the cloudiness comes with sputtering taps or low pressure, call us. If your water is suddenly discolored brown or orange, you’re looking at iron, manganese, or a corroding steel pressure tank, not the pump.

What do I do if my well runs dry?

Shut off the well-pump circuit breaker first to keep the pump from burning out. Stop all household water use. Wait six to twelve hours and most low-yield wells recover overnight. Restore the breaker and test one fixture. If it doesn’t come back in 24 hours, call us for a yield test. Running a pump dry for more than 30 minutes almost always burns out the motor seal, which means replacement.

How do you scope and quote a well-pump replacement in Eastern Connecticut?

Every well-pump call starts with a free in-person diagnostic on a no-water call inside our standard radius. We run the full 10-step diagnostic protocol (see the diagnostic method section above) at the well head before anything gets pulled — pressure, voltage, continuity, amperage, recovery, and a camera scope if the well itself is suspect. About a third of “the pump is dead” calls turn out to be the pressure tank, switch, control box, or wiring, which is a much smaller scope than a full pump pull. Once we know what the actual job is, you get a flat-rate written quote before the pump comes out of the well, with our CT plumbing license number, warranty terms, and the technician’s name on the paperwork. If we find something new mid-pull — corroded drop pipe, rotten wire at the pitless, a check valve that’s been failing for a year — we stop and re-quote before we keep going.

My well pump line froze. Now what?

First, do not turn on the pump. Running a pump against a frozen line will burst the pipe or damage the pump. Locate the frozen section (usually at the pitless adapter or in an unheated section of the basement), warm it slowly with a hair dryer or heat tape, never an open flame. Once water flows, install pipe insulation and consider a pitless heater for the well head. If you can’t locate the frozen section or you think the well casing itself froze, call us. Freezing wells in unheated outbuildings happen every January across the Quiet Corner.

Why is my water pressure low even though my pump is running?

Five common causes, in order of frequency: a waterlogged pressure tank (the bladder failed and the pump is fighting a half-full tank), a failing pressure switch stuck at low cut-out, a partially clogged filter or screen between the well and the house, a check valve or foot valve letting water drain back, or a pump losing efficiency from worn impellers. We diagnose all five in a single visit. About 60% of “low pressure” calls in our region turn out to be the pressure tank, not the pump.

Do I need to test my well water, and how often?

Connecticut Department of Public Health recommends testing private wells annually for bacteria (coliform and E. coli) and every two to three years for the full panel (iron, manganese, hardness, nitrates, arsenic, radon, lead). We pull samples on request and send them to a state-certified lab, then walk you through the results. If you’ve just bought a home, dug a new well, had flooding near the well head, or noticed a change in taste, color, or smell, test sooner.

SERVICE AREA

Where we work

We dispatch across the Quiet Corner and Eastern Connecticut. If your town is on the list, you are inside our standard radius. If it is not, call and ask. We add and drop towns based on where the crews are working that week.

SCHEDULE A WELL VISIT

Water out? Pump cycling? Tank rusting?

Real dispatcher, every hour of every day. A licensed master plumber on the truck for confirmed no-water calls, same day across the Quiet Corner. Tell us what's happening and we'll quote the fix in writing before we touch a wrench.

Call 860-428-9325 Request service