Spencer is inside Salisbury-Rowan Utilities' water service area, and few homes in town have a private well, so a well pump is seldom the reason the taps go weak. In Spencer's older houses, the cause is more often a leak or old piping on the owner's side of the meter. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Spencer.
Spencer's water and its old houses
Spencer grew up around Southern Railway's Spencer Shops, now the NC Transportation Museum, and its housing is among the oldest around: median year built 1950, with about 76 percent of homes built before 1980 and about a third before 1940. SRU supplies the town with treated Yadkin River water, maintains the line up to the meter and leaves the owner responsible from the meter to the house. SRU's service line inventory found no lead or galvanized service lines needing replacement, but that covers service lines, not the pipes inside an old house.
What to do now
- Check whether you have a pump at all. An SRU bill and a meter mean you don't. A pressure tank and well cap mean you do.
- Compare hot and cold. If only hot water is weak, look at the water heater, not the supply.
- Try several faucets. One slow tap often means a clogged aerator or a worn valve.
- Read the meter with everything off. If it keeps moving, water is leaking somewhere between the meter and the fixtures.
- Find the main shutoff so you can close it quickly if a leak turns up.
- On a well, check the pump breaker and reset it once only.
Symptoms and likely causes
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Pressure low at every fixture on SRU water | Leak on the owner's line, failing pressure-reducing valve or corroded interior pipe |
| One fixture weak | Clogged aerator or a worn valve cartridge |
| Meter turning with taps closed | Hidden leak inside or under the house |
| Rapid clicking on a well system | Pressure tank lost its air charge |
| No water at all on a well | Tripped breaker, failed switch or a dead pump |
What affects cost
- Whether the fault is a valve, a leak or a section of old pipe
- How hard the pipe is to reach under an older house
- For a well home, whether the pump has to be pulled
- Whether a permit is needed; Rowan County Building Inspections handles Spencer
A plumber can usually tell within one visit whether the trouble is a fixture, a valve, a leak or the piping itself, and whether a bigger repair is worth planning.
Well Pump Repair questions in Spencer
I'm on public water and my pressure fell off. Can a pump be the reason?
How do I know whether my house uses a well or a public water system?
What does the pressure tank do, and what happens when it fails?
The water stopped at every tap in the house. Where do I start?
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