Whose House Is On Well Water? Your Thoughts Please? (springs, pool, bathtub)
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Hi, We are looking to purchase a home built in 1988 that is on well and septic. Definitely not our first choice. The house itself is very much what we would want, but my wife thinks the issue of being on well water is a deal breaker for her.
Do any of you have thoughts you could share as far as your experiences with taste, smell, staining, healthiness, what are your maintenance costs, etc.? We would be most grateful for your experiences and even input that would sway us one way or the other. Thanks!
I moved into a house a year and a half ago with well water and septic. So far there has been no problems. My system came with a household filter, and a water softener. The water tastes great, much better than water piped in from a treatment plant. The only expense so far has been about $10 for a refill on the salt pellets for softener. Not having to pay a water and sewage bill is a bonus. Your water supply is limited if the power goes out as the pump runs on electric.
Well water has different issues in different areas. I HATE the smell of sulfur in well water, and once decided not to buy a home that I otherwise loved because the water had sulfur. Even when the water is treated I can still smell it.
I have lived with well water that had a fairly strong iron content. I used a water softener salt with iron removal, Morton Rust Remover. It was more expensive but the few times I tried to economize and purchase salt at Aldi's or an off-brand I could tell. Definitely a false economy to buy off-brand salt if you have iron in your water.
One of my relatives had extremely heavy iron content and had to have an entire water treatment system to remove the iron. It was expensive and took up a lot of space in her basement.
If you have children, it is recommended that you give fluoride drops since well water isn't treated with fluoride.
I personally don't care for the taste of well water so I always bought drinking water. Some people like the taste of well water, and I have heard people say they actually prefer it.
If you run out of salt and try to do white laundry you will ruin your whites. Speaking from experience here!
Well water is different tasting and smelling in every locale in the U.S. How deep is the water, what kind of substrata is it in, what minerals will be in it, will it have a sulfur stink, does it have too much iron.
Take a look at the bathtub to look for iron stains. Run the shower and smell the water and check the pressure of the pump.
Differences in well water aren't just region to region. It can be house to house. My family moved to a house with well water when I was about 11. The taste bothered me for about two weeks. After that I didn't like city water when we went to my grandparents. Even the farm across the road had water that tasted different from ours. Our well was about 50' deep. When they built houses on the property next to us (about 150' away from our house) They had to go over 200'. We were concerned that it would affect our well but we didn't have any problems in the 30 years my family continued to live there.
Many community water systems use wells. Our town uses a combination of wells and springs. I think we have 18 wells. Some produce better than others and the mineral mix is different in some (Higher Iron and Maganese content primarily) but that is handled by the filters.
Hi, We are looking to purchase a home built in 1988 that is on well and septic. Definitely not our first choice. The house itself is very much what we would want, but my wife thinks the issue of being on well water is a deal breaker for her.
Do any of you have thoughts you could share as far as your experiences with taste, smell, staining, healthiness, what are your maintenance costs, etc.? We would be most grateful for your experiences and even input that would sway us one way or the other. Thanks!
I like our well but everyone is different and the added benefit is that you do not have to pay the city for water.
We did get a Culligan Water System for cooking and drinking water and we have a filter for the well water that we use for laundry, showers, dishes, etc, we also have a water softener.
The only reason we got the Culligan Water System is that I have an Auto Immune Liver Disease and we felt better knowing the water that I consume is extra filtered and all of that.
Do any of you have thoughts you could share as far as your experiences with taste, smell, staining, healthiness, what are your maintenance costs, etc.? We would be most grateful for your experiences and even input that would sway us one way or the other. Thanks!
The quality of the water is going to be entirely dependent on where the house is. For our well I wouldn't trade the water for anything. We only have a simple sediment filter on it.
We love our well water, it is the nicest tasting water around. I was buying bottled water where we lived before but no need to here. We have no mysterious stains in the bath tub only a light limestone deposit that you can see if you let it build up but definately cant taste. No need for softeners (which I hate) or filters.
Friends recently visited from the UK and took a bit to get their head around us having our own well head but even they said it tasted fine.
Our well is approx 125ft, not sure how old the pump is but it does just fine, even when I use garden sprinklers. No water bills are also great, the only cost is electricity when the pump is running.
Just to say, if you look at my location I live right on the great lakes, Harbor Springs is known for its self rising spring water which is sweet and healthful.
Hi, We are looking to purchase a home built in 1988 that is on well and septic. Definitely not our first choice. The house itself is very much what we would want, but my wife thinks the issue of being on well water is a deal breaker for her.
Do any of you have thoughts you could share as far as your experiences with taste, smell, staining, healthiness, what are your maintenance costs, etc.? We would be most grateful for your experiences and even input that would sway us one way or the other. Thanks!
My family (in-laws) have been owner/operators of a water well business for the past 33 years (father-in-law works by himself, not a big company or anything). Anyway, a good well has no smell, their water has a slightly sweet taste to it, no worries of city water issues (we have a boil notice about 3 times a year, plus the heavy chlorinated smell/taste and I'd really rather not be ingesting SO much fluoride), and I'd be more than happy to switch to well water and we just may with our new house. Maintenance/cost issues will be very specific to your well and the equipment installed. While the owners Should be volunteering this info, they have nothing to lose by lying so it's a smart buyer who includes a well inspection with the home inspection.
From what I can tell, 99% of their service calls are on "bored wells" (which are generally fairly shallow) where the owners simply run the well dry and need to re-prime the pump. They run the well dry by doing stupid things like trying to fill an above ground pool, a pond! (yes, really), or simply letting the water run continuously for hours. All stuff that Ought to be common sense to avoid. The last 1% is actual equipment failures, usually of stuff that's been in service for 20+ years (filters aside ~ which should be a home-owner maintenance item).
I'm guessing your wife is just saying no because she doesn't understand what's entailed. I'd be willing to bet that spending an hour with a well driller/service person going over her questions/concerns/fears will allow her to be comfortable. Most people are scared of the unknown/unfamiliar, and doubly so if they've heard the vocal minority (horror stories). Just do your due diligence in finding someone local (I generally thrown out the biggest and the newest and look for owner/operators no matter what business I'm looking for), and direct your questions to them.
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