Effective 11 November 2026.
The Private Well gives general information only. It is not professional advice. Your pump and tank makers’ manuals and a licensed well or pump contractor decide what’s safe for your system; your state or county decides what needs a permit or a licence.
General information only
Everything on The Private Well (theprivatewell.com) is general information, published to help readers understand private well systems and the rules around them in the US. It is not engineering, electrical, plumbing, legal, financial or other professional advice, and it does not take your well, your pump, your tank, your wiring, your property or your state into account. We have not seen your system.
Not a driller, installer, inspector, lender or seller
The Private Well is not a well driller, a pump installer, an electrician, a well inspector, a lender, a parts seller or a government agency. It does not diagnose systems, read water test results, review quotes, well logs or inspection reports, or refer anyone to a driller, installer, inspector, lender or product. Reading this site, using a calculator or writing to us does not make us your contractor or adviser.
The maker’s manual and a licensed contractor decide
Where a page gives an owner a step, such as reading a gauge, checking a tank’s air charge on a drained tank or adjusting a pressure switch, it is a step a named maker or public agency gives owners, for that maker’s product, cited with its document and page. Your own pump, tank, switch or controller may come with different instructions, and those instructions decide. Makers differ: some give owners a check that others reserve for qualified professionals. If your equipment’s manual reserves a task for a professional, or if you are unsure, don’t do it. Where a page explains a job without steps, such as pulling a pump, replacing a tank or a switch, or work inside a control box, it is there so you can understand the job and the quote, not so you can do it.
Electrical work is for a qualified electrician
Well pumps run on 115 or 230 volts close to water. Some systems have more than one disconnect, and some controls hold a dangerous charge after the power is turned off. Wiring, control boxes, capacitors, motors, breakers and wire sizing are work for a qualified electrician or a licensed pump installer, under the electrical code your state or town has adopted. Nothing on this site tells you how to do that work. Turn off the power before any step that touches a pressure switch, a tank drain or a pump housing. Don’t turn on a pump that has been under water until a qualified electrician, well contractor or pump contractor has checked the wiring, never enter a well pit, and keep well covers on.
State and county rules decide, and they change
Private wells have no national rulebook. Who may drill a well or work on a pump, what needs a permit or a notice, setback distances, record deadlines, how an old well must be sealed and what a seller must disclose are set by states and often by counties, and they differ from place to place. A rule on a page for one state does not apply in another. Where a page says a state lets owners do certain work, that is a statement of the rule as we read it, not advice that you should do the work, and the makers’ line still applies. States amend their well codes and fees, and counties add their own rules. Each rule on this site shows its section and the date we read it, and it may have changed since. Where we have not read a state’s rule, the page says “not confirmed”, and that tells you nothing about what the rule is. Check with your state or county well program or health department before you rely on a rule.
Prices vary by region and by well
Cost figures come from named, dated sources, such as agency figures, public bids, county fee schedules and retail part prices, and they are shown side by side, not as what you will pay. Well costs depend on what lies underground, the depth, the casing, the equipment, access, local rules, the region and the year. A licensed driller’s or pump installer’s written quote prices the real job. How we estimate costs explains the method and its limits.
Tools show estimates, not quotes or decisions
Calculators do arithmetic on what you enter and on the maker figures, physics and cost sources they name. Their results are estimates. A tank size or precharge result is not a choice of tank or a setting for your system; a pump sizing result gives the flow and head an installer reads off a pump curve, not a pump; a flow rate result measures what a tap delivers, not your well’s yield; a drilling cost result is not a quote. None of them says a system is safe, the right size, up to code or legal, or that you can do the work yourself. Defaults that are our assumption are labelled, and you can change them.
Water quality and money
We don’t cover water testing or treatment. After a repair that opens the well, or after a flood, test your water and follow the EPA, the CDC or your state health department. Pages about USDA loans and grants, lender rules or shared well agreements describe published rules and what an agreement usually covers; they are not financial or legal advice, and USDA, your lender or a real estate attorney in your state decides.
Accuracy
Pages are checked against the sources they cite, but no check catches everything. Check important details with the original source before you rely on them. See also our terms of use.
How our content is made
Every page is fact-checked against its sources before it is published. Pages appear under The Private Well name. Our editorial policy and how we check page explain the process.
Advertising and independence
The Private Well is free to read and funded by display advertising. Advertisers have no say over what we publish, and an ad on a page, including an ad for a driller, a pump or tank maker, a retailer or a lender, is not an endorsement or a referral. We use no affiliate links, accept no paid placements, sell no leads, sell no products, publish no rankings and make no referrals. Names of makers, agencies and other organizations are used only to identify them and their documents, and we are not affiliated with them.
External links
We link to makers’ documents, statutes, rules, agencies and other websites so you can check what we say. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content.
Questions and corrections
If you think something is wrong, email contact@theprivatewell.com with the page address and a source, and we will look at it. We can’t diagnose your system, read test results, review a quote or recommend a driller, installer, inspector or product. See also our corrections page.