Location of Water well on a site

denismc

We are in the process of purchasing a house on its own site and one of the conditions asked for by the mortgage provider is that all services are contained within the site.
Septic tank is o.k but we are unable to locate the well and the vendor is not too sure.
My question is are there any maps that would show the location of the well on a site( The house is over 20 years old) or how easy should it be to locate the well?
If the well is underground how can I prove to the lender that it is onsite?
Thanks

Satriale

denismc wrote: »

We are in the process of purchasing a house on its own site and one of the conditions asked for by the mortgage provider is that all services are contained within the site.
Septic tank is o.k but we are unable to locate the well and the vendor is not too sure.
My question is are there any maps that would show the location of the well on a site( The house is over 20 years old) or how easy should it be to locate the well?
If the well is underground how can I prove to the lender that it is onsite?
Thanks

I doubt there's a map. My first port of call would be to any neighbours. I can still remember my next door neighborhood getting a well bored 35 years ago and i could still point to where the rigging was located.
(Im sure you've already checked that there isnt a connection to a mains supply)

Angry bird

Planning office and request the file for the site.

P. Breathnach

Angry bird wrote: »

Planning office and request the file for the site.

The planning office has no information on where my well is located.

[Mind you, it's easy to find: the pumphouse is a dead giveaway.]

denismc

No the pumphouse is right next to the dwellinghouse so hopefully the well is not directly under the house ))

Nekarsulm

Usually a pumphouse is within 5 or 10 feet of the well. This distance is known as the "Stand off" and should be as short a distance as possible for efficient pumping.

EDIT. Sometimes the well is IN the pump-house, but its a good idea to have it a few feet away, so that the Well Boring lorry can reverse back over the bore to re-drill/deepen the well if required in the future.

what direction do the poly pipes and electrical cables head out of the pump-house? Thats the direction the bore hole is.

denismc

The pipes run underground so I can't tell which direction they are running although the seller indicated which corner of the site the well may be in.
All that's in the pumphouse is a pressure tank so I presume the pump is a submersible one.
I am getting an engineer out anway and he reckons he should be able to locate it without too much rooting.

Nekarsulm

Yeah, or a metal detector if all else fails. You should easily pick up the electric cable and the top of the steel well liner. I'd be surprised if its more than two or three paces from the pump house.

TheDriver

I looked at a house 3 years ago and well was in the neighbours. Hence I ran away....

denismc

TheDriver wrote: »

I looked at a house 3 years ago and well was in the neighbours. Hence I ran away....

Yes, this is why I am checking.
I also heard of another recent sale that fell through as the septic tank was on someone else's land.
Its one of the conditions that the mortgage provider has set down, that all wells and septic tanks must be wholly onsite.
There must be a lot boundary issues if the banks are getting involved.
Its probably a legacy of poor planning control for one-off houses during the boom years.

P. Breathnach

denismc wrote: »

...
Its probably a legacy of poor planning control for one-off houses during the boom years.

Possibly, but there are other explanations.

My understanding is that you don't need planning permission to drill a well or erect a pumphouse. So the location of a well outside site boundaries might be due to an act of good neighbourliness in a forgotten past.

I bought a site many years ago, and my neighbour's septic tank was on it, with a right of way for service access. I was fully aware of this. It had arisen because the two sites were originally one field, and the owner divided it in an odd way. My portion was sufficiently large, so it wasn't a problem. I invited my then neighbour to fence of his right of way, with the intention of allowing him to acquire an adverse possession entitlement. He sold the house since with no difficulty. I thought steps might be taken to regularise the position (which I was quite willing to assent to) but, to my mild surprise, nothing was done.

My new neighbours were fully apprised of the situation.