Well Inspection When Buying a House: What Gets Checked, and What to Do If It Fails

What does a well inspection include?

Four things. A flow test that runs the well for a sustained period and measures gallons per minute, which tells you whether the well keeps up with a household. An equipment check of the pump, the pressure tank and switch, the wiring, the cap, and the casing height above grade. A water sample sent to a certified laboratory, at minimum for total coliform and E. coli and nitrate, often with lead and other panels the lender specifies. And the record itself: when the well was drilled, how deep, and by whom, which you can pull yourself from your state's well database before the inspector arrives.

What lenders require

Government-backed loans commonly require a private well to pass a water test from a certified lab before closing, and the panel is set by the loan program rather than the inspector, so ask the lender for the exact list early. Conventional lenders vary. Whatever the loan, get the lab report in your own hands rather than a summary, because the numbers on it are the starting point for everything below.

What to do if the water test fails

Coliform is the common failure and the fixable one. It means surface water is reaching the well through a loose cap, a low casing, or bad grading, and the fix is to seal the doorway, shock the whole system, and retest, following the coliform guide. In most contracts the seller does the treatment and pays for the retest, and the retest is the thing to insist on. Nitrate is different: shocking does nothing for it, the source is the aquifer, and the answer is a treatment system priced into the deal or a harder conversation. Iron, manganese, and hardness are aesthetic results, a filter question rather than a safety one, and our test results guide reads each line of the panel.

What a well inspection costs

It is priced separately from the home inspection, and the lab panel is a separate fee again, so ask for both as line items in writing. The flow test is the part worth paying a well contractor for rather than a general inspector, because a low-yield well is a much bigger problem than a failed bacteria test and far harder to fix. If the well passes and you buy the house, the maintenance checklist is your first year.