all the wells that I'm aware of do not require priming...the "hand pumps" that you're referring to are probably frost-free spigots... they're not really pumps, just the valve is 3-4' underground... chances are you have a failure of some kind- the breaker is popped at the very least...

I've been on a well for about 13 years now- have had it drop offline twice in that time- once the wire insulation wore thru inside the well, and it was shorting out- the other time a pipe failed inside the well casing, and was audibly "spraying" inside the casing.

If you're on a well, you need to have a local pump service that you can trust to call out- they have equipment to pull the pump out of the well that just isn't practical for a homeowner to have- and a good one won't charge you thru the nose, either...