The Private Well’s pages are written to be accurate, useful and calm, fair to well owners, drillers and pump installers alike, and honest about where each step, rule and figure comes from and what a page cannot know. This page sets out how that works and where its limits are.
General information, 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.
How a page is made
- Research. We start from the makers’ own documents for pumps, tanks, switches and controllers, the state well codes and statutes in official text, federal pages and regulations from the EPA, CDC, USGS and USDA, lender rules, and association guidance from NGWA and the Water Systems Council, and note what they do and do not settle.
- Writing. A draft is written from that research under The Private Well name.
- Fact-check. A separate check compares each owner step, setting, rule, section number, fee, figure and date with its source, and reworks every sum on the page.
- Graphics. Any diagrams or charts repeat figures from the text and add no new facts, and every figure shows its source and date. Drawings of wiring, control boxes or pump pulling label and explain; they never show hands, tools or steps.
- Final review. A last read looks for errors, gaps and anything that could mislead a reader about their safety, a rule or a cost. If it finds a serious problem, the page is fixed and reviewed again. We do not publish a page with a serious problem still open.
Each page ends with the date its sources were checked. No process catches everything, so please tell us if you find a mistake.
Our sources
Every step, setting, rule, fee and date links to its primary source at the claim, with the date we read it: the maker’s own document by number, revision and page; the state statute or rule by section, in official text; the EPA, CDC, USGS, USDA and the eCFR; and NGWA and the Water Systems Council, labelled as association guidance. Model codes are cited only by edition and section, once read in that edition. A state rule reaches a page only if we read it in official text; if we cannot confirm something, we leave it out or say plainly that it is not confirmed. Sources we use lists the documents, and how we check explains how each kind of fact is handled.
Lead-generation and contractor-matching sites, home-warranty sellers, affiliate and “best pump” sites, home improvement media and their how-tos, retailers’ and parts sellers’ how-to pages, drillers’ and pump shops’ blogs, forums and video sites are never a source, not for a rule, a step, a price or a life expectancy. Claims from sellers appear only as claims we have checked, without naming the seller.
Rules for every page
A well pump runs on 115 or 230 volts a few feet from water, some controls hold a charge after the power is off, an old pressure tank can rupture when it is pumped back up with air, and an open well is a fall hazard. So every page follows these rules:
- A clear note near the top. Every page says it is general information, not professional advice, and that the makers’ manuals, a licensed well or pump contractor, and the state or county decide.
- The makers’ owner line. Owners get only the steps a maker or a public agency gives owners, cited at the step. Pulling a pump, wiring, control boxes, capacitors, and replacing a switch or a tank are explained in full, with no steps.
- Power off first. Any step that touches a pressure switch, a tank drain or a pump housing starts with turning off the power, as the makers say.
- Wiring goes to a qualified electrician. Every page that mentions wiring, a control box, a capacitor, a motor, a breaker or wire size says a qualified electrician or licensed pump installer does that work.
- Stops are stated plainly. Never add air to a tank that has lost it, is corroded or short-cycles. Never run a pump dry. Never enter a well pit. Don’t turn on a pump that has been under water until a qualified person has checked the wiring. Keep well covers on.
- Makers by name. A maker’s instruction is given as that maker’s, for its own product, and where makers differ, pages show both.
- Law beside the makers’ line. Where a state lets owners do work a maker reserves for professionals, the page states the rule with its section and read date beside the makers’ line, and never says “you can do this yourself”. State rows we have not read say “not confirmed” and name the agency to ask.
- No national rule that doesn’t exist. Licensing, permits, setbacks, sealing and sale disclosure are state and local, and pages say so.
- No numbers we don’t have. No pump or tank life expectancy as fact, no injury counts, and no “enough water” verdict except a state or lender minimum read and cited.
- Test after a repair or a flood. Pages say so and link the EPA, the CDC or the state health department or lab. Water testing and treatment are out of scope here.
- Shared wells: an outline, not a template. Pages give what a shared well agreement usually covers as a checklist, and say to have a real estate attorney in your state draft or review it. No legal advice.
- No referrals. No driller, pump installer, electrician, inspector, lender, parts seller or product is recommended, ranked or called best, and there are no “find a pro” or “get quotes” prompts. Where help matters, pages point to the maker’s own documents, the state licensing board’s public license lookup, the state well-record database, the state or county health department, the EPA, the CDC and USDA.
What we do not claim
- We are not a well driller, a pump installer, an electrician, an inspector, a lender or a parts seller.
- We do not claim to have drilled, inspected, repaired or tested the wells and equipment we describe.
- We do not invent authors, quotes, homeowner stories or reader comments.
- We do not rank or recommend drillers, installers, inspectors, lenders, products or brands, and we do not call anyone or anything “best”.
- Photos are stock images chosen to illustrate a topic. They do not show wells or homes we know of. A maker’s name may show on equipment in a photo; that is not a recommendation.
Fairness
Drillers and pump installers are neither villains nor heroes. Pages are written for anyone trying to understand a well: owners, buyers, family members helping them, landlords and people who work in the field. We say what the makers and the law ask of each side, explain what a professional will test and why, and help you read a written quote line by line. Where makers disagree or a rule is unsettled, we show that and do not pick a winner.
Calculators
Our calculators are formulas with named inputs and shown working, and each formula is checked against answers worked by hand before it goes live. They use numbers you enter, physics, figures from named makers’ documents and sourced cost ranges, with their dates. Every default says where it comes from, or that it is our assumption, and you can change it. Results are estimates. No calculator names or picks a pump or a tank, or says “safe”, “the right size”, “up to code” or “you can do this yourself”.
Cost pages
Cost pages show dated published figures side by side, each named with its publisher, never averaged, and a line-by-line build-up with labelled assumptions. They never say what you should pay. How we estimate costs sets out the method.
Updates and corrections
State rules, makers’ documents, USDA figures and prices change, so pages are rechecked on the schedule set out on our how we check page, and sooner when we learn a source they rely on has changed. A page shows an updated date only when its content really changed. Errors are fixed and recorded on our corrections page.
Advertising and independence
Display advertising pays for this site, and advertisers have no say over what we publish. We use no affiliate links, accept no paid placements, sell no leads, sell no products, publish no rankings, and make no referrals to drillers, installers, inspectors or lenders. Our about page has more on how the site works.