Why is my water pressure so low?
Weak pressure from a well system almost always comes down to one of six things, and most of them are cheaper to fix than you'd expect. This page walks through what each cause looks like and how a technician tells them apart. If you're not sure where you stand, that's exactly what it's here to settle.
- National Ground Water Association
- Colorado Water Well Contractors Association
- Bonded & insured
- Free estimates and project quotes
What you're noticing
When the water just doesn't push the way it used to
Pressure problems rarely announce themselves all at once. More often they creep in over weeks — a shower that used to be fine, a garden hose that's lost its reach.
Likely causes, cheapest first
Six things that cause low well pressure — in the order you want to rule them out
Working through the cheap possibilities first isn't just good for your wallet — it's how a good technician actually diagnoses. Here's the list.
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Clogged sediment filter or screen
If your system has an inline sediment filter (common on well systems), a plugged filter cartridge will choke the whole house. This is the cheapest thing on this list to confirm — pull the housing, look at the cartridge. A filter that should be white and looks brown or gray is your answer. If you don't have a filter and your pressure has declined slowly, a clogged well screen down in the casing is a similar problem, diagnosed during a pump pull.
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Waterlogged or undercharged pressure tank
The pressure tank — the one that looks like a propane tank, usually gray or blue — holds an air charge that keeps pressure steady between pump cycles. When that charge is gone, the pump cycles on and off rapidly and can't hold pressure under any real demand. You can check this yourself: with the pump off and pressure bled down, knock on the tank. A healthy tank sounds hollow in the upper half. A waterlogged one sounds solid all the way up. Tank bladder replacement or recharge is a fraction of what a new pump costs.
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Pressure switch set wrong or failing
The pressure switch tells the pump when to turn on and off. If it's set to a range that's too low, or if the contacts inside are pitted and not triggering reliably, your system never builds to where it should be. Confirming this takes a gauge and about five minutes — if the switch is the problem, it's among the least expensive components on a well system.
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Partial leak or break in the supply line
A line that's cracked, partially separated at a fitting, or corroded through will bleed off pressure before the water ever reaches the house. Wet ground along the line's path, a pump that runs longer than it should, or a water meter that moves when everything is off are the tells. Repairing a line section costs considerably less than replacing a pump, and it's worth ruling out before pulling the well.
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Worn or undersized well pump
Submersible pumps wear over time — impellers erode, motors weaken, and output drops. A pump that's been running for 10 to 15 years in sandy or mineral-heavy water may simply not be moving what it used to. An undersized pump is a different problem: if the original installation didn't match the pump to the well depth and household demand, it was never going to perform well. Either way, pulling the pump to inspect it confirms this. It's more involved and more expensive than the items above, which is why we work through those first.
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Collapsed or declining well yield
If the well itself is producing less water — seasonal drought, a shifting water table, or a casing that's partially collapsed — no pump or tank adjustment will fix it. This is the most expensive possibility on the list. Diagnosing it properly requires a well yield test. If that test shows the well is failing, the next step is a new well — and that's something Water Works Plus doesn't do. We have no drill rig, so we have no reason to steer you toward a new well if you don't need one. If a yield test points that direction, we'll tell you plainly and refer you to a licensed driller.
Water Works Plus works from the well to the building envelope — interior plumbing, fixtures, water heaters, and drains are outside our scope.
How diagnosis actually works
The order a technician uses to narrow it down
A good pressure diagnosis moves from the least invasive and least expensive checks toward the more involved ones. Here's the sequence.
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Check filters and screens
First stop is any inline filter housing. A clogged cartridge takes two minutes to rule out and costs almost nothing to replace. If the system has no inline filter, this step notes that and moves on. It's the cheapest possible resolution on the list.
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Test the pressure tank air charge
With system pressure bled down, the Schrader valve on the tank tells you whether the air precharge is still holding. If it's gone, the bladder is likely ruptured. Tank repair or replacement is a fraction of a pump job, so this gets confirmed early. A gauge reading at the tank also tells you where your cut-in and cut-out pressures actually are.
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Inspect the pressure switch and gauge
A stuck or miscalibrated pressure switch can make a healthy system behave like a sick one. The technician checks switch contacts, confirms the gauge is reading accurately, and adjusts or replaces as needed. This is still in the low-cost range — less than a tank replacement, well less than a pump pull.
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Check for line losses
If tank and switch are fine, the next check is whether pressure is being lost between the well and the house. This involves watching pump run time, checking for surface moisture along the line, and isolating sections if needed. A localized repair to a damaged line section is significantly less involved than pulling the pump.
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Pull and inspect the pump
If everything above checks out, the pump comes up. This is the most labor-intensive step — pulling a submersible from depth isn't trivial — but it's the definitive way to inspect impellers, motor output, and the drop pipe for damage or scale buildup. If the pump is the problem, you know it. If it's not, you've confirmed the well itself needs to be evaluated.
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Well yield test
If the pump is in reasonable shape but the system still can't keep up, a yield test measures how much water the well is actually producing. This is where we find out whether the well is the limiting factor. If it is, and a new well is indicated, we'll say so directly and refer you to a driller — we don't drill, and that keeps us honest about when you need one.
When you're ready for someone to take a look, call (719) 859-1148 or read through the relevant service pages below.
- Free estimates — we quote after we diagnose
- One year on labor and materials
- Colorado License #1447
Why the cheap answer is safe to give
We can afford to tell you it is the cheap part
Not because we are nicer than the next outfit. Because of how this business is built — and all three of these are checkable.
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No rig to keep busy
A drilling rig is the most expensive thing a water contractor can own, and it has to stay working to pay for itself. We do not own one. A new well is not on our list of answers, because we could not drill it if we wanted to.
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We are a dealer, not a manufacturer
Authorized dealer — that is where the five-year equipment warranty comes from. We do not build pumps and we do not carry a quota on them. A pump we talk you out of costs us nothing.
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A wrong diagnosis comes back to us
One year on labor and materials means we are the ones who drive back out if the fix does not hold. Guessing expensive is not only dishonest here — it is expensive for us.
None of that is a claim about our character. You do not have to take our word for any of it — the license, the association memberships and the warranty terms are all verifiable, and they are the same on paper as they are on this page.
Questions we get asked
Before you call
That pattern almost always points to the pressure tank. When the bladder fails, the tank stores almost no water, so the pump has to run constantly to meet demand — and it can't always keep up. A technician can confirm this in minutes with a pressure gauge and a knock on the tank.
Yes, and it's a useful clue. A pump that runs continuously without building pressure usually means it's either fighting a leak somewhere in the line, a failed tank bladder, or the pump itself is worn and can't generate adequate head pressure anymore. Continuous running also shortens pump life, so it's worth sorting out.
It can, but it's toward the far end of the list of possibilities. A well running low typically causes the pump to lose prime or cycle oddly, and pressure drops suddenly rather than gradually. It's worth ruling out the cheaper causes first — tank, switch, line — before assuming the well is the problem.
That suggests the pressure is being lost somewhere between that spigot's connection point and the house — either a partially closed valve, a failing section of line, or a significant leak along that run. Isolating which segment is losing pressure is straightforward once you're on-site.
A tank that's lost its air charge can sometimes be recharged if the bladder is still intact — you add air through the Schrader valve (same as a tire stem) until the precharge is right. If the bladder is ruptured, water gets into the air side and the tank has to be replaced. The knock test and a pressure gauge reading will tell you which situation you're in.
Not at all. Chronic low pressure just means the underlying cause has been there a while — it doesn't make it harder to fix. If anything, a long-running problem gives you more history to work from: how it started, what makes it worse, whether it's gotten worse over time.
No — we don't have a drill rig, and we don't drill wells. That's deliberate. It means when we work through a pressure diagnosis and the well itself turns out to be the issue, we can tell you that without any financial stake in the answer. If you need a driller, we'll refer you to one.
Knowing roughly when the pressure problem started, whether it affects the whole property or just part of it, and whether the pump seems to be running more than usual will all help narrow things down fast. If you have any records of when the pump or tank were last serviced, those are useful too.
If something above sounds like your situation but you're still not sure, call (719) 859-1148 — answered 24 hours Monday through Saturday — and we can usually help narrow it down before anyone drives out. Call (719) 859-1148
Before the technician arrives
A few things worth noting down
You don't need to diagnose this yourself — that's what the visit is for. But having a few observations ready makes the first conversation more useful.
- When it started. Even a rough timeframe — last month, last summer, always been this way — helps separate a sudden failure from a slow decline, which points in different directions.
- Whether it's the whole property or just part of it. Low pressure everywhere is a different problem than low pressure in one zone or one building. If you have multiple structures on the property, note which ones are affected.
- What the pump is doing. If you can hear or see the pump — whether it's running constantly, cycling rapidly on and off, or not coming on at all — that's useful information. Same goes for any unusual sounds from the pressure tank area.
- Any recent changes. A new appliance, a line that was disturbed during landscaping work, or a period of heavy use right before the problem appeared can all be relevant. If something changed around the time the pressure dropped, mention it.
You know your property better than anyone — what you've noticed over time is genuinely useful to bring to the call.
Tell us what the water is doing.
We’ll tell you what it usually turns out to be, what it will take to confirm it, and what it costs — before we touch anything.
Call (719) 859-1148Answering 24 hours a day, Monday through Saturday
- Colorado License #1447 · bonded and insured
- One year on labor and materials, five on equipment
- Free estimates and project quotes — we quote after we diagnose
- NGWA and Colorado Water Well Contractors Association
Or have us call you back
If you are on bad signal or would rather not talk right now.