Cle Elum sits in upper Kittitas County, in the forested foothills of the Cascades about 25 miles northwest of Ellensburg. Homes in town are generally on city water; private wells serve the rural homes, acreage and recreational cabins scattered through the surrounding area.
Upper-county conditions are different from the valley floor. Snowfall is much heavier, so well heads and pump houses can be buried or hard to reach, and many cabins sit empty for weeks at a time. Seasonal properties tend to have problems at the start of the season, when a system that was shut down, drained or partly frozen is turned back on.
Local conditions around Cle Elum
- •Heavy snow: clear a path to the well head, pump house and pressure tank before help arrives.
- •Seasonal cabins: a pressure tank or switch that froze over winter, or a pump that sat unused, often shows up as no water or a breaker that trips at startup.
- •Winter outages: storms can cut power, and a pressure switch with a low-pressure cutoff may not restart on its own.
Well pump help for Cle Elum properties
- •No water at all: emergency no-water well pump service
- •Pump short-cycling or pressure swinging: pressure tank repair
- •Low pressure, sputtering or a noisy pump: well pump repair
- •Pump runs but no water: what to check first
Nearby service areas: South Cle Elum, Roslyn and Thorp.