A well pump of unknown age delivers adequate pressure and flow during testing. The report should note:

A well pump test is a snapshot, and the report has to say so. Running the system and finding adequate pressure and flow establishes that the pump works today, under the demand imposed during the inspection, and nothing more. Submersible pumps typically last somewhere in a broad range of years depending on cycling frequency, water chemistry, sediment and the quality of the original installation, and they characteristically fail without warning rather than degrading noticeably. When the age is unknown, the inspector has no basis for a remaining-life estimate at all. The honest report therefore records the performance observed, states that the age could not be determined, and notes that failure cannot be predicted — which lets the client decide whether to budget a reserve without being given false confidence in either direction.

The inspection can report that performance was adequate at the time of testing, that the age is unknown, and that pump failure is not predictable from a functional test. That is exactly what the observation supports and no more.

Home inspections evaluate functional performance at the time of inspection. Well pump service life varies widely with cycling, water conditions and installation quality, and failure is typically abrupt, so a functional test does not support a remaining-life estimate.

Works Today Is Not Works Tomorrow. Report what the test showed, say what you could not determine, and predict nothing.

Where age is unknown, say so explicitly in the report. Naming the unknown is part of the finding and protects both the client and the inspector.

• •Estimating remaining life from a functional test
• •Quoting a fixed replacement interval that does not exist
• •Omitting the unknown age rather than reporting it as a limitation