When something nearby could put fuel or chemicals into your water: a gas station or a buried fuel tank, an auto shop, a dry cleaner, a landfill, an industrial site, or a gasoline or solvent spill. Also test if the water smells of fuel or solvent. SimpleLab adds plastic plumbing and chlorination byproducts in city water to the list.

A smell can point to a problem, but only a lab number says which compound it is and how much. For a heating oil or diesel spill, text Aidan before you order: that needs a total petroleum hydrocarbon test, which this kit is not.

Start with your water utility's annual water quality report. EPA requires community water systems to send one to their customers every year by July 1; check it for VOC and trihalomethane results (EPA's Consumer Confidence Report page explains how to find yours). Aidan tells city callers the same: ask the utility for its VOC report.

This kit tests the water at your own tap. On city water, the trihalomethanes from chlorination are what usually shows up: 6 of 7 Advanced City reports our customers received found them, all under EPA's 80 ppb limit. If you also want lead and the rest of the water chemistry, our City Water Test Kit ($199) covers those.

If your well has never had a full test, get the Advanced Well Water Test Kit ($329). It tests these same 60 VOCs plus the 53 of our standard well test (bacteria, 25 metals, nitrate, hardness and pH) on one sample. Bought separately, the $199 Well Water Test Kit and this kit cost $368.

Get this kit if your well already has a recent standard test, or you only need to answer one question: is fuel or a solvent in the water?

Fuel compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, naphthalene and MTBE), 44 solvents, industrial chemicals and fumigants (TCE, PCE, vinyl chloride, carbon tetrachloride and more, including DBCP and ethylene dibromide), 7 chlorination byproduct results (the four trihalomethanes, their total, and two related compounds) and two forms of 1,3-dichloropropene. All 60 come from one sample, by EPA Method 524.2 or an equivalent method.

It does not test bacteria, metals, nitrate, hardness, PFAS or radon. The full list is in the What We Test For tab above.

Heating oil: partly. Antifreeze: no. Pesticides: only a few. It measures some fuel compounds, such as benzene, toluene, xylenes and naphthalene, but it is not a total petroleum hydrocarbon test, so it cannot tell you how much heating oil or diesel is in the water. It does not test antifreeze (ethylene glycol).

For farm chemicals it tests DBCP, which EPA describes as a soil fumigant, and 1,3-dichloropropene. It does not test herbicides or insecticides such as atrazine or glyphosate; our Roundup (Glyphosate) Water Test Kit ($199.99) tests glyphosate. If one of these is your worry, text Aidan before you order.

Activated carbon reduces many VOCs, and a whole-house carbon filter treats every tap. Which compounds are present and at what level decide whether carbon fits and what size it needs to be.

If a compound is above its EPA limit, stop drinking and cooking with the water, text Aidan your report, and contact your county health department to find the source. Our results page says the same.

The lab reports about 5 business days after it receives your sample. Counting the kit's trip to you, the day you sample and the trip back to the lab, results usually come back 2 to 4 weeks after you order (13 and 16 days on our customers' two VOC orders).

You get two emails: the lab's report, then our results page, which puts each number next to its EPA limit, where one exists, in plain words.

Aidan reviews which compounds are present and at what level, then recommends the right carbon system and any point-of-use RO. If the scan comes back clean, he will tell you no organic treatment is needed.

Absolutely. Call 800-460-5810 or text Aidan at 443-277-2204. He is available 7 days a week. If you are not sure whether you need this test, he can help you figure that out in a few minutes. No sales pitch, just straight answers. You can also email support@midatlanticwater.net.