Question for those who know about Water Wells

This well is on a place I’m looking at buying. It currently doesn’t have power run to it but the owner says it works. Just have to hook a generator to it. Can you guys who know about such things tell me anything from looking at the pic? For instance, it looks like the pipe with the plug in it is fine but there appears to be a bigger pipe or two around it on the outside. What’s up with that? I think it’s a 4” but it may be a 5”. How much water can a well that size put out? I assume that it could depend some on the aquifer it’s in as well as the pump but are there any rules of thumb?

Also, can PVC well casing like this be repaired if the crack or are there any problems to look for? I guess for some reason I assumed they were generally metal but again I’ve never dealt with a well before. Any thoughts to help me out?

No expert by any means but that's a deep well, more than 25'. 25 is max for what can be pumped by just suction at ground level.

However deep that is there is an impeller pump at the bottom sending water up. For any repairs that whole rig needs to come up and out so I would want to see it running before I took his word for it.

I'm no expert so don't pay too much attention to what I say...but that sure look s like a pig in a poke to me. I've grown up with well water btw. That has got to be surface water if it draws anything.

The pipe with the rope is to suspend the pump and pull it if it needs repair. New pumps are cheap on amozon. That is the only that could burn out
It should have a check valve about 5 feet up from the pump.
The electric is not to code.
The casing might have been lined but it looks like the use pipe to neck down the pipe for the cap.
My concern would be gpm for how long.

Fairly common practice in our area to use pvc as a casing for domestics -- looks like the 4 inch is a "liner" -- they are typically perforated and are used for multiple reasons. Most of the domestic wells in our area use a 6" casing - but that is not to say that something is wrong with 5 but it is not a standard could be home drilled. the pipe can be easily repaired -- just dig down and glue another piece of pipe on it. looks like a small sub set on poly pipe - the rope going down the hole is to assist in pulling the pump. If you look on the control box (or inside) it should let you know what hp and voltage it is. Water resources should have a "well log" on it if it was professionally drilled (at least our state) and you can commonly look up that info on the computer through the water resources dept. Don't assume it has water or has usable water -- our state requires a pump test and a potabillity (drinkable) test with the sale of property if not owner financed. If it is a concern with buying the place I would ask to have it test pumped.

Thanks for the input so far guys. I’m definitely going to test it before buying but I knew that y’all could tell me a lot about what to look for.

Also, I don’t know if it means anything but the neighbors well a quarter mile away is 100’ deep. It was drilled last year.

You've got a submersible pump there. I'm unsure by the pic but look like 4" pvc pipe for casing. I would surely fire it up and get the water tested. Ecoli isn't fun. Must be more to it? I don't see a pressure tank and switch. I would check locally for the well drilling contractor and he might have records. You could run it and see what kind of volume you're getting. The cap looks like it'll let surface water in so that might be questionable. Around my area wells will have a steel casing with a plastic liner inside. Down the well is kind of like a rubber seal. I believe you can unseat the seal and pull your liner. I would be surprised if it's cracked below surface but who knows.

You just aren't going to know what u got till u run it. As to how much it will pump. It will depend on how much water is down there and how big of a pump you put down there. Plastic casing is fine. Nothing visual I see would worry me about it. You could pull the pump by hand if it isn't too deep and measure how deep the hole is and how much water column you got in well. But even that won't tell you how fast it will recharge. I've seen wells with shallow water columns that we couldn't pump off and wells with deep water columns that wouldn't recharge very fast and would pump of.

If that well was drilled last year they did a sloppy job IMO. Around here all you would see above ground on a well would be a steel casing sticking up, and ideally it would be out of the ground a couple feet to prevent surface water from getting in. The water pipe typically connects to the casing below the frost line to prevent freeze up. I don't know how cold you get in OK but I would think that the water pipe coming out the top of the cap like that would not be standard operating procedure there either.

Never saw a setup like that since it would freeze up here but that sure looks like alot of poison ivy around there.

drop a string down it and see how deep it is, run it for a few hours and see if it dries up, that will tell you how your recover rate is, and make sure you get water tested!

I would kill that poison oak before somebody allergic gets in it

Looks like ivy to me, oak has more rounded leaves.

The fact that there is rope attached to pull the pump tells me that is a shallow well with what is probably just a submersible pump. I would want to know how deep the well is and how much of the casing is screened. I'd want to pull the pump and inspect it and make sure the floats work. Definitely need to run the crap out of it to see what happens.

What has the well been used for?

Looks like possibly some one's cobbled up temporary set up.

Four inch casing can be limiting for pump choices.

A hundred foot isn't deep for a well.

For personal/ residential use the depth isn't a big deciding factor as to how much water you got. In Central ks I've seen wells 30 feet deep have enough water to water 100s of cattle and places you couldn't drill deep enough to hit useable water. Deep is a relative thing based on what is normal for your area. I'm assuming since there's not electricity to the well its only been used for temporary things not setup for regular use, thus not being freeze proof or a pressure tank. Wouldn't be hard to ask around and see if hitting good water is an issue in this area. If it is then you might have more worry about the quality of the well but if it's not then don't worry to much. If the well will be used on a regular bases then obviously the system needs some development. First you will need to ask yourself how much water will you ultimately need? You planning on watering several hundred head of cows or just enough for a residence.
If the well isn't a deciding factor whether you buy the property don't worry about it you can always test it after you bought it. Where I grew up water was never a worry you could pretty much hit good water everywhere. Where I live now it can be spotty especially as you get east of me.