Buying a House With a Private Well:
What the Home Inspection Doesn’t Cover
The home inspection stops where the well system starts. Water quality, water quantity, and the pump are three separate questions, and each one has its own answer.
Out past city water lines, the water comes from a hole in the ground on the property, a pump at the bottom of it, and a tank in the garage or a well house. None of that is part of a standard home inspection, and Trusted Home Inspections doesn’t inspect it.
That surprises buyers more than it should. A private well raises three separate questions. Is the water safe? Is there enough of it? Is the equipment in good shape? A home inspection doesn’t answer any of the three. A lab, a well or pump contractor, and the public well record do.
What the home inspection covers on a well house
Russ inspects the house’s plumbing the same way on a well as on city water: the visible supply and drain piping, the fixtures, the water heater, and any leaks he can see. Water pressure is measured with a gauge at a fixture on every inspection. On a well, that number changes as the pump turns on and off, so it’s a snapshot.
The well system itself isn’t part of the inspection:
- The well, its casing, and its cap
- The pump down the well
- The pressure tank, pressure switch, and pump controls
- Filters, softeners, and other water treatment equipment
- The quality of the water, and how much of it the well produces
Those go to a lab and a licensed well or pump contractor. The post on what home inspectors can’t inspect covers the other common gaps, like sewer lines and septic tanks.
Water quality: the lab test
Oregon has a law on this. Under ORS 448.271, the Domestic Well Testing Act, a seller who accepts an offer on a property with a domestic well has to have the well water tested for arsenic, nitrate, and total coliform bacteria. The seller sends the results to the Oregon Health Authority within 90 days and gives them to the buyer. The buyer can’t waive the test, even by agreement. If you’re buying in Oregon, ask your agent when you’ll see the lab report.
Washington has no statewide test at sale. The Washington Department of Health recommends that private well owners test their water every year for coliform bacteria and nitrate. Clark County requires new and replacement wells to be tested for coliform, arsenic, and nitrate, which is a reasonable minimum for a purchase too. Some lenders and loan programs ask for a water test before closing; the VA loan post covers one case.
Use an accredited drinking water lab, and follow its sampling instructions. A bad sample can mean a misleading result.
A few things the minimum tests don’t cover:
- Lead. It usually comes from the plumbing and fixtures, not the well, so it’s tested at the tap. The post on lead in drinking water covers how.
- Smell and taste. Three of Russ’s Vancouver and Battle Ground reports note a rotten egg smell in the hot water. That’s often bacteria reacting with the water heater’s anode rod, and on a well it can also be sulfur in the water itself. The post on house smells covers the difference.
- Anything specific to the area. The lab can tell you what else is worth testing for nearby.
Real Inspection Photos
Well Equipment From Russ's Inspections
Two well pressure tanks Russ photographed on recent inspections. The well system goes to a well or pump contractor.
-
A well pressure tank with its gauge and valves. The tank, pump, and controls are checked by a well or pump contractor, not in the home inspection. -
A larger pressure tank next to the control box for a submersible pump. A pump company's sticker on equipment like this often shows who has serviced it.
Water quantity: the well and the pump
A water test says nothing about how much water the well produces. A well that tested clean can still run short in late summer.
A licensed well or pump contractor can run a flow or yield test, check the pump and controls, look at the pressure tank, and check the wellhead and cap above ground. Ask the seller for any service records, too. The pump company’s sticker on the pressure tank or control box is often the quickest way to find who has worked on the system before.
If the house has water treatment equipment, ask what it’s treating for and when it was last serviced. A softener or filter was put there for a reason, and the reason is worth knowing.
The well log: what’s on record
Most wells have a well report on file with the state, usually called a well log. It’s filed by the driller and lists the well’s location, depth, construction, the soil and rock layers drilled through, and how much water it produced when it was drilled.
In Oregon, you can search well logs through the Oregon Water Resources Department. In Washington, the Department of Ecology has a well report search and map. Search by address or by township and section. Some older wells don’t have a report on file, which is useful to know too.
The well log won’t tell you about the pump or today’s water. It tells you how the well was built and how deep it goes, which is what a well contractor will want to know first.
Where wells show up around Portland
- Rural Clark County, outside city and Clark Public Utilities water lines
- The rural edges of Clackamas and Washington counties
- Older acreage properties that later had city water run past them, where the old well may still be on site
- Properties that share one well among two or more houses
Shared wells and septic next door
If the house shares a well with a neighbor, ask for the written shared well agreement. It usually spells out who can use the water, how the costs of power and repairs are split, and who gets access to the well. A shared well with no written agreement leaves those questions open.
Most houses on a well are also on a septic system, and the two have required setback distances from each other. A septic inspection is a separate service by a septic professional. The post on septic system inspections covers what that involves.
- When was the water last tested, and can we see the lab report?
- Is there a well log, or a well number we can look up?
- How old is the pump, and who has serviced it?
- What water treatment equipment is installed, and what does it treat?
- Has the well ever run low or gone dry?
- Is the well shared, and is there a written agreement?
A well house needs three answers the home inspection doesn’t give. A lab tells you about the water, a well or pump contractor tells you about the pump and the flow, and the well log tells you how the well was built. In Oregon, the seller’s water test is required by law.
To get the house itself inspected, you can book online any day of the week.
Private Well FAQ
