---
title: "My Site Shows as Down But It's Working — Lemwatch Help"
description: "Why LemWatch might report downtime when your site is actually accessible."
canonical: "https://lemwatch.com/help/site-shows-down-but-working"
source: "https://lemwatch.com"
---

# My Site Shows as Down But It's Working

> Why LemWatch might report downtime when your site is actually accessible.

## My Site Shows as Down But It's Working

 This is called a "false positive" — LemWatch detected downtime but your site is actually accessible. Here's why it happens and what to do.

### Common Causes

### 1. Firewall/WAF Blocking

 Your firewall or Web Application Firewall (Cloudflare, Sucuri, etc.) might be blocking LemWatch's monitoring requests. **Fix:** Allowlist LemWatch's IP ranges in your firewall settings. Contact support for the current IP list.

### 2. Geo-Restrictions

 Your site may be restricted by country or region, and LemWatch checks from locations outside your allowed regions. **Fix:** Ensure your geo-restrictions allow access from LemWatch's monitoring locations.

### 3. Rate Limiting

 Your server might rate-limit automated requests, causing LemWatch's checks to receive 429 (Too Many Requests) responses. **Fix:** Allowlist LemWatch's User-Agent or IP addresses in your rate limiter.

### 4. CAPTCHA/Bot Protection

 Some bot protection services (hCaptcha, reCAPTCHA) intercept automated requests. **Fix:** Create an exception rule for LemWatch's User-Agent.

### 5. DNS Propagation

 If you recently changed DNS records, the old records might still be cached. **Fix:** Wait 24–48 hours for DNS propagation to complete.

### Reducing False Positives

- Set the consecutive failure threshold to 2 or 3 in Settings → Notifications

- This requires multiple failed checks before triggering an alert

- LemWatch already re-checks before alerting, but increasing the threshold adds extra protection


## Related

- [Help centre](https://lemwatch.com/help)
- [Uptime Monitoring](https://lemwatch.com/help/uptime-monitoring)
- [Maintenance Windows](https://lemwatch.com/help/maintenance-windows)
- [Setting Up Alerts](https://lemwatch.com/help/alert-setup)
- [How to Change Your Email or Password](https://lemwatch.com/help/change-email-password)
- [How to Delete Your Account](https://lemwatch.com/help/delete-account)
- [Lemwatch pricing](https://lemwatch.com/pricing)
- [How does Lemwatch monitor XML sitemaps?](https://lemwatch.com/help/sitemap-monitoring)