Private water well/supply?

[ki0eh]

Water pressure (pounds per square inch) is easier to fix if you have a private well, just have someone change the pump. Often what people mean by pressure is also a lack of flow volume (gallons per minute) which is much more difficult to solve.

PA is the least regulated state with respect to private water wells, restrictions on septic systems are more prominent. It is not terribly uncommon in PA to find edge of town or private residential community homes on public sewer and NOT public water.

It is best to have a certified laboratory test a private well, note post #7 with respect to chain of custody if you are making anything a contingent item on sale. For what, is a question best posed to the county extension agent if you don't know any other professional in the area. A legally admissible test for "everything" runs well into the thousands of dollars. The coliform test (maybe $20 if you drop it off at a certified lab and fill out the chain of custody yourself, to ~$100 if you have someone come to take the sample) is a bare minimum.

Here is some suggested pre-due diligence, before you even get to the point of water testing a home on a private well. Look inside the toilet tank (the least likely place to get scrubbed before the open house).

-Red or black stains typically mean elevated levels of iron or manganese. Those are fairly normal in PA, they pose not so much a health risk but problems for dishwashers and clothes washers since those stains would also get on your clothes and dishes.

-Green stains are indicative of copper which is more of a health risk - copper is not found in well water in the well, but is an indication the water is eating the pipes, and leaching probably not only copper but also lead from pipes and fixtures.

Public water supplies nowadays are regulated to keep from dissolving copper and lead from the pipes and eventually into you by adding fairly innocuous chemicals like soda ash and bicarbonate. The chlorine they use cuts down on nasty germs that can kill you. The result of this might not necessarily taste better but sparking clear sweet tasting water can often be very dangerous.

So if it is available, a public water connection is always desirable. When I hooked our house up to public water, the electric bill went down by more than the water bill (well supposedly 100s of feet deep). A water authority might charge you thousands of dollars as a tapping fee though, in addition to the cost of making the actual connection and inspection fees.

Private wells can sometimes be just fine, but that's a site specific evaluation and/or a crap shoot.

[DavidWebb]

Check out this video for how to increase water pressure:

How to Install a Water Pressure Booster | Video | This Old House

search Google for more...

[jimazee]

Well (), just to chime in with a bit of personal experience, we've had a few wells some weller than others (couldn't resist...).

In one, after 15 years a well pump died and it was replaced within 24 hours for less than $1k as I recall...not 100% sure it was a few years ago. Here the well man said the failed pump was very marginal/undersized for the deep near 600 ft well with low flow rate... and so probably failed prematurely. (BTW, our next neighbor's was 300 ft deep and much better flow rate...this is always hit and miss)

This and other wells we've had have variously had hard water, acidy water, irony (ironic?) water...all were treated with devices and/or chems and in all cases we were happy with the water. We have absolutely no objections to a well in itself...actually like them. Just test it occasionally as problems can arise.

In PA you might consider radon testing the water, but based on our reading we didn't bother though we did have treatable radon in the air.

If electricity is significantly higher, we have no way to know easily but generally didn't think our overall consumption was too high.

[DavidWebb]

here's another website for pressure boosters:

Compact Pressure Booster Pumps from Primo Pumps

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by ki0eh

Public water supplies nowadays are regulated to keep from dissolving copper and lead from the pipes and eventually into you by adding fairly innocuous chemicals like soda ash and bicarbonate. The chlorine they use cuts down on nasty germs that can kill you. The result of this might not necessarily taste better but sparking clear sweet tasting water can often be very dangerous..

And when that water is traveling miles through pipes that can be 100 years old?

With the well water I think you really need to consider your location. I'm at a high elevation, low population density , no industry, no commercial , no agriculture. Any man made pollution is going to be generated by handful of people who very much have an interest in protecting the water supply. I'll take my chances.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

And when that water is traveling miles through pipes that can be 100 years old?

That's deliberately accounted for nowadays in the lead/copper and disinfection byproducts rules. Though I sure had better tasting water from an 80+ year old main near the water plant, than I do now on the same system about 8 miles away on a 15 year old dead end main.

A longtime resident neighbor has "great well water," but his wife has chronic kidney disease and fixtures stained so green you might think they came that way.