Inspecting a Private Well

Inspecting a Private Well

 

 

Home Inspectors conduct inspections along a set of SOP’s or Standards of Practice.  These establish some boundaries to tell inspectors and clients what is involved in a Home Inspection and what is not.  These boundaries are not always hard and fast, no matter how clearly they are worded.  The SOP’s clearly state that a home inspector “…shall observe and report on the readily accessible; roofing materials and condition; roof drainage systems; flashing; skylights, chimneys and roof penetrations.”  However, nowhere does it mention that an inspector must walk the roof to do this.  Many inspectors do, but many; myself included; do not ever get up on a pitched roof to inspect it. It is a judgment call in either case, and no blame can be laid on either side for their choice.

 

Many services an inspector provides fall beyond the literal scope of the SOP’s. For example, there in our SOP’s it says … “home inspectors do not inspect underground systems or items such as septic systems or private wells…”  Nothing could be plainer than that, simple, done, let’s move on.  However, is that the end of our responsibility? Does that take us off the hook as far as our service to our clients?  Legally yes; but this is one of those gray areas that I think home inspectors define for themselves.  Most home inspectors will do what they feel comfortable with and will consult the SOP’s only as their guidelines.

 

I think that even though the SOP says we don’t inspect wells, we should at least try to provide guidance for our client.  The measurement term that is used by well drilling companies to determine if the well is ‘good’ or not is the “Recovery Rate”.  How many gallons per minute will it recover or fill back up?  This is a test Home Inspectors do not do because it requires specialized equipment and a certain amount of disassembling.  This test provides the number that determines between a ‘good’ well and a ‘bad’.

 

But just because we cannot do that test does not mean we can’t tell them about the condition of the well equipment that we can see, and it doesn’t mean that we can’t tell them about the quantity of water available.  That’s why home inspectors will inspect the pressure tank, switch assembly, and pressure gauge.  Most home inspectors will perform a well flow test and watch the operation of the system during that test.

 

A word of caution when performing a well flow test; explain to your client that the well flow test does not indicate the well is ‘good’ or ‘bad’.  Often the client thinks that because the well passed the well flow test, that it means the well is good.  There could be nothing further from the truth.  This is the opportunity to instruct and educate your client to the importance of having the experts come out to perform the proper testing.