Most borehole pump repairs start with a symptom at the tap: less water than before, air or sand in the water, a pump that runs without delivering, or one that hums, trips or starts and stops quickly. Some faults are at the surface, in the control box or a valve, and can be checked without touching the pump. Others mean pulling the pump out of the hole to test the motor and cable. Send one request with what you have noticed and we pass it to independent pump repairers in your area, who quote you directly.
Reading the symptoms
The signs point to likely causes, though only testing confirms them:
- Runs but no water: a split drop pipe, a stuck non-return valve, worn impellers, or a water level that has dropped below the pump.
- Low flow: sand wear on the impellers, a partly blocked intake, or a leak in the pipe.
- Hums or will not start: often a failed capacitor, a jammed pump or low voltage.
- Trips: a burnt motor, a damaged cable or joint, or the protection doing its job.
- Starts and stops quickly: a pressure switch or pressure tank fault, or dry run protection cutting in.
Check the surface first: the control box, the breaker and the valves.
Pulling the pump and testing it
If the fault is down the hole, the pump is lifted out on its pipe and rope, over a tripod for light sets or with a crane truck for deep ones. Once it is out, the repairer tests the motor windings and the cable for insulation resistance, checks the cable joint, turns the pump shaft to feel for a jam, and looks along the pipe for splits. That shows whether the fault is the motor, the pump end, the cable or the pipe, and it is the point to ask for a written quote before any parts are replaced.
Sand, jams and burnt motors
Sand is the usual enemy. It wears impellers and bearings until the pump loses head and flow, and it can jam a pump solid after it stands for a while. A sand problem often means the pump is set too close to the bottom of the hole or is too big for the yield. A burnt motor usually follows something else: running dry, a failed capacitor, low voltage or a lightning surge. Fix the cause as well as the motor, or the new one goes the same way. Sometimes a correctly sized new borehole pump makes more sense than a repair.
A pump dropped down the hole
When a rope breaks or a pipe snaps, the pump falls down the borehole, often with pipe and cable on top of it. Do not try to hook it out with improvised tools, which can wedge it tighter or damage the casing. Fishing a dropped or sanded up pump needs proper fishing tools and an experienced specialist, and not every hole can be recovered. Ask whether the repairer does recovery work and how they charge for it. A sound safety rope, checked whenever the pump is out, is the best prevention.
What to put in your request
- What the pump does now: hums, trips, no water
- Borehole depth and the depth the pump is set
- Pump size and single or three phase
- When it was installed or last serviced
- Whether sand or air shows in the water
Borehole Pump Repairs for homes, farms and businesses
- Homeowners: a garden borehole pump that hums and trips after a summer storm
- Smallholdings and plots: a plot pump giving less water each month as sand wears the impellers
- Farms: a stock water borehole pulled by crane truck when the troughs stopped filling
- Complexes, estates and body corporates: a communal irrigation borehole with a split drop pipe and no water at the tank
- Offices, shops, hotels and lodges: a lodge backup borehole pulled, tested and serviced before the dry season
- Factories, plants and depots: a factory borehole pump with a burnt motor rewound or replaced
- Mines and quarries: site supply boreholes kept running with regular pulls and motor tests
- Municipalities, schools and clinics: village borehole pumps repaired after cable theft or lightning damage
- Contractors and drillers: a specialist called in to fish out a pump dropped down a hole
Frequently asked questions
Do you repair borehole pumps yourselves?
Should I repair the pump or replace it?
Why does my borehole pump hum but not pump?
How often should a borehole pump be serviced?
Borehole Pump Repairs by province and city
- Johannesburg
- Pretoria
- Centurion
- Midrand
- Sandton
- Randburg
- Roodepoort
- Krugersdorp
- Randfontein
- Germiston
- Boksburg
- Benoni
- Kempton Park
- Alberton
- Vanderbijlpark
- Vereeniging
- Durban
- Pinetown
- Pietermaritzburg
- Richards Bay
- Newcastle
- Ladysmith
- Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
- East London
- Kariega (Uitenhage)
- Mthatha
- Cape Town
- Bellville
- Paarl
- Stellenbosch
- George
- Worcester
- eMalahleni (Witbank)
- Middelburg
- Secunda
- Mbombela (Nelspruit)
- Rustenburg
- Brits
- Klerksdorp
- Potchefstroom
- Mahikeng
- Polokwane
- Tzaneen
- Kimberley
- Upington
- Bloemfontein
- Welkom
- Sasolburg