The Private Well

How We Check

Where The Private Well gets its owner steps, state well rules and figures, how each is dated, why some state rows say not confirmed, and how often we recheck.

Private well information is easy to get wrong. A maker’s instruction for one tank is repeated as a rule for every tank, a state’s rule is passed off as national, and old figures keep circulating long after they change. Amtrol’s instructions say only qualified professionals should check, adjust or recharge the air in its well tanks, and never to add air to a tank that has lost it, shows corrosion or has started cycling faster, because the tank can rupture (Amtrol 9015-939 (04/18), p. 4, read 11 November 2026). The same check is given to owners, with the power off and the tank drained, by Goulds and the Water Systems Council. Both are true, for different tanks. This page sets out where our steps, rules and figures come from, how each is dated, why some state rows say “not confirmed”, what we leave out, and how often everything is rechecked.

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.

Where steps, rules and figures come from

We go to the source that sets the step or the rule, and cite it at the claim:

  • Makers’ own documents, by number, revision and page: installation manuals, owner’s manuals, instruction sheets and sizing tables for pumps, tanks, switches and controllers, read on the maker’s own website. For example Goulds IM096 Rev 14 for 4-inch submersible pumps, Franklin Electric’s AIM Manual M1311 (2026) and the Square D Pumptrol instruction sheet 65013-005-39 (September 2025). A maker’s document tells us what that maker tells installers and owners about its own product. It is not a rule for every brand, so pages say “Amtrol’s instructions say”, never “tanks need”. A copy hosted by a retailer or a manuals site is treated as unconfirmed until we read it on the maker’s own site. Manuals are copyrighted, so we describe them in our own words and quote only a few words.
  • State statutes and rules, in official text, by section: each state’s well code, licensing law and sale disclosure rules on the legislature’s or the state’s own site, such as OAC 3701-28-18 in Ohio, G.S. 87, Article 7A in North Carolina or WAC 173-160 in Washington, and the state agency’s own publications where they apply the rule.
  • Federal sources: the EPA’s private well pages and its flood fact sheet EPA 816-F-05-021, the CDC’s private well pages, USGS reports on well depth, USDA Rural Development’s loan and grant pages, and the regulations themselves in the eCFR, such as 7 CFR part 1776 and 7 CFR part 3550, subpart C, each with the eCFR’s “as of” date. Lender rules come from HUD’s FHA handbook and Fannie Mae’s selling guide, by section and edition.
  • Associations, labelled as association guidance: the National Ground Water Association’s well owner site, wellowner.org, and the Water Systems Council‘s FAQ and information sheets. They are useful and careful, but they are not law and not a maker’s instruction, and pages say so.
  • Model codes, by edition only: a model code such as the IRC, IPC, UPC or NEC is cited only as the model code, by edition and section, and only once we have read that section in that edition. Codes are adopted locally, and your state or town decides which edition applies. Where we have not read a section, pages say an electrician or plumber applies the code your state or town has adopted.
  • Never a source: contractor-matching and lead-generation 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. Not for a rule, a step, a setting, a price or a life expectancy. An unofficial copy of a statute can point us to the official text, but it never carries a rule on a page as if it were official.

How an owner step gets on a page

A step appears only if a maker’s own document or a public agency gives it to owners, and it is cited at the step with the document, revision, page and the date we read it. Steps that touch a pressure switch, a tank drain or a pump housing start with turning off the power, because the makers say so, and some systems need more than one disconnect. In practice that means reading the gauge, noting the cut-in and cut-out pressures, timing a cycle, checking the breaker, checking and setting the air charge on a drained tank as Goulds and the Water Systems Council give it, adjusting a Square D switch by its own sheet, priming a jet pump as Goulds prints it, restarting after an outage as the makers give it, and looking at the cap, casing and ground around the well.

Pulling a pump, wiring, control boxes, capacitors, and replacing a switch or a tank are explained in full, with what the installer does, the tools, the risks and what to ask, but with no steps, because no maker we have read gives owners those steps. Wiring at 115 or 230 volts always goes to a qualified electrician or a licensed pump installer. Where a state’s law lets an owner do work a maker reserves for professionals, the page gives the rule with its section and read date beside the makers’ line, and never says “you can do this yourself”. Where two makers disagree, we show both, by maker. Where a maker’s support page conflicts with its own instruction sheet, as one Schneider Electric FAQ (FA118738) does with the Square D sheet on which nut sets the cut-out, pages follow the sheet and tell you to check your switch’s own sheet.

How a rule gets on the page

Each rule and figure is sorted by how directly it was read, and that decides how we word it:

  • Read in the primary text: the statute or rule on the state’s own site, the agency’s own publication, the eCFR, or the maker’s document on its own site. We state it plainly, with the citation and the date we read it. Before a page uses a rule, the whole section is read again, not just the sentence that matched a search, because exceptions often sit further down: an owner exemption that covers building a well but not pump work, a rule that applies only to wells drilled after a certain date, or a larger setback for a shallow well.
  • Read only in part, or only in an unofficial copy, an old edition or a summary: it is not stated as a flat rule. If a page has to mention it, it says “our reading” or “unofficial copy, read” with the date, and what we could not confirm.
  • Not read: it stays off the page, or the page says “not confirmed” and names the agency to ask, with a link to it.

Private wells have no national rulebook. The EPA says the quality and safety of water from private domestic wells “are not regulated by the Federal Government under the Safe Drinking Water Act nor by most state governments and laws” (EPA, private wells, page updated 2 November 2026, read 11 November 2026). Licensing, permits, setbacks, sealing and sale disclosure are state and local, so pages never state a national rule that doesn’t exist. The CDC’s 50-foot distance between a well and a septic tank is siting guidance, not law, and pages say so.

Why some state rows say “not confirmed”

We plan to cover all 50 states and DC, but a state row is filled in only once we have read it in that state’s official text. As of 11 November 2026 some official sources could not be read: New Hampshire’s statute site refused every connection we tried, Wisconsin’s administrative code site was blocked, so Wisconsin rows rest on the DNR’s own publications, Georgia’s official code is published through a commercial host behind a terms page, and Texas’s well driller and pump installer rules were read only in an unofficial copy. Some rules we did read leave the question open: New York’s law and Minnesota’s statute, read in official text, contain no owner exemption we could find for pump work, so those rows say “not confirmed: ask the state agency” rather than guess.

“Not confirmed” says nothing about what the rule is. It means we have not read it in a source we would stand behind. When we can’t find a rule on a point, we say “no rule found in the sections we read” rather than “there is none”.

How each fact is dated

  • Makers’ documents carry their number, revision or print date, the page, and the date we read them. Where the newest copy a maker posts is old, such as Grundfos’s SQ/SQE manual (2006 edition) or Pentair’s Pro-Source tank manual (2012 edition), the page names the edition.
  • State rules carry their section and the date we read them, in text, tables and graphics, and where a rule changed recently, the date it took effect. Where a rule depends on when a well was drilled, such as Wisconsin’s 25-foot septic tank setback for wells built after 1 July 2020 (DNR PUB-DG-102, March 2026), the page gives that date.
  • Federal figures carry their period. USDA’s Section 504 home repair loan limit of $40,000 and grant limit of $10,000 are the limits USDA’s own page gave when we read it on 11 November 2026, and pages give the regulation’s ceilings beside them (7 CFR 3550.112, eCFR as of 1 November 2026).
  • Every page ends with the date its sources were checked.

What we leave out

Water quality is out of scope: testing, test kits, lab results, treatment, filters, disinfection and bleach doses. Where it matters, pages say to test the water after a repair that opens the well or after a flood, and link the EPA, the CDC or the state health department or lab, nothing more. The EPA says to test “immediately” if you replace or repair any part of your well system (EPA, protect your home’s water, read 11 November 2026). Septic tanks and drain fields are also out of scope, except as a setback seen from the well’s side, and so are sump pumps, water heater expansion tanks and insurance.

How calculators work

Our calculators show their working and say “estimate” on every result. They use numbers you enter, physics, figures from a named maker’s document and sourced cost ranges. The tank size calculator works out drawdown with Boyle’s law and says where its figure differs from a maker’s printed table and why. The precharge calculator gives the makers’ figure for a switch setting with the makers’ warnings beside it. The pump sizing calculator adds up the flow and total dynamic head an installer reads off a pump curve; a licensed pump installer sizes the pump. The flow rate calculator turns a timed bucket into gallons per minute, which measures the pump’s delivery at that tap, not the well’s yield. The drilling cost estimator shows each line with its source. None of them picks a pump or a tank, or says “safe”, “the right size”, “up to code” or “you can do this yourself”. Each formula is tested against answers worked by hand before the tool goes live, and every default is labelled with its source or as our assumption.

How pages are checked

After a page is written, a separate fact-check compares each step, setting, rule, section number, fee, figure and date with its source, and reworks every sum on the page. A final review looks for errors, gaps and anything that could mislead a reader about their safety, a rule or a cost. A page with a serious problem still open does not go out.

How often things are rechecked

  • State rows (licensing, owner work, permits, record deadlines, setbacks, sealing, sale disclosure): once a year, and when we learn a rule has changed or a revision we are watching is adopted, such as California’s well standards, which are under revision.
  • USDA figures: each fiscal year, from 1 October, for the Section 504 limits and the decentralized water systems program.
  • Makers’ documents: when a new revision appears on the maker’s site.
  • Price tables: once a year, county fee schedules each January and July, and BLS wages when the next annual wage data come out. Our cost method page explains how prices are handled.
  • Lender rules (FHA, Fannie Mae): when the handbook or guide is updated.

A page shows an updated date only when its content really changed. Between rechecks a rule or a manual can change without our knowing, which is why each one shows the date we read it.

What is an assumption

Where we work something out ourselves, we say so. Arithmetic is shown step by step, a total built from sourced parts is labelled as our arithmetic, and labor hours or any other figure no source gives are labelled “our assumption”, with a sentence on why, and can be changed in the calculator. We give no pump or tank life expectancy as fact, because no maker, NGWA or the Water Systems Council gives one as a life figure; pages use the makers’ warranty terms instead and say that life varies.

How we treat claims seen elsewhere

Claims from sellers are reported as claims, never as fact, and we don’t name a business when we question one. Some lines you may see, checked as of 11 November 2026:

  • “Set the precharge equal to the cut-in pressure.” Goulds and Amtrol print 2 psi below cut-in, on a drained tank with the power off: 28 psi on a 30/50 switch (Goulds IM096 Rev 14, p. 3; Amtrol 9015-939, p. 4). The Water Systems Council’s FAQ opens with “the same as” cut-in, but its own examples are 2 psi below. See the precharge calculator.
  • “Just add air to your tank.” Not to one that has lost its air, is corroded or short-cycles: Amtrol says that is a rupture hazard (9015-939, p. 4). See pressure tank air charge.
  • “USDA well loans are $11,000.” Out of date. Loans through USDA’s decentralized water systems program are up to $15,000 per water well system, at 1%, for up to 20 years (7 CFR 1776.15, eCFR as of 1 November 2026). See USDA well loans and grants.
  • “Wells must be 50 feet from a septic system.” Not as a national rule. The CDC’s 50 feet is guidance; state codes we have read run from 25 feet (Wisconsin, septic tank, wells built after 1 July 2020) to 100 feet and more for a drain field (New York, 10 NYCRR Appendix 5-B), and Vermont’s 2019 rules set isolation zones up to 500 feet downslope of a leach field. See well permits and setbacks.
  • “Only a licensed contractor may replace your pump.” Not everywhere. As each statute or rule reads, an owner may do this work on their own home’s well in Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Texas, Washington, Maine, Vermont and Indiana, and Virginia does not count a pump replacement as an alteration; Wisconsin allows only licensed pump installers. The makers’ line still applies everywhere. See can I replace my own well pump.
  • “Well pumps last 8 to 15 years.” We found no maker, NGWA or Water Systems Council source for any life figure like this. See how long a well pump lasts for what the warranties say.

Our limits

We read makers’ documents, statutes, rules, agency pages and the lender rules a page depends on, not every county ordinance, every maker’s full catalog or every court decision. Counties often add their own permits and setbacks, and a county row is given only where we read it. No check catches everything, so please tell us if you find a mistake. Fixes are logged on our corrections page, the documents behind the site are listed on sources we use, and our editorial policy covers the rest of how pages are made.

Before you rely on a rule here, check it with your state or county well program or health department. Before you touch your system, read the manual for your own pump, tank or switch. If a breaker trips again, your pump has been under water, or your well is open or damaged, leave the power off and call a licensed well or pump contractor or an electrician.

Sources on this page checked on 11 November 2026.