Newtown - - Anyone have private well water? (Taylor, New Hope: house, transfer)

[WiltonKnight]

Hello....

Thanks to everybody's input here, plus my own exploration, I've almost finalized that Newtown is where we will be moving to.

On many home listings in Newtown it states "Private Well" for water, and "on site septic".....so far I've always had public water and septic.

Any Newtown'ers here with private well, and on-site septic? What is water quality like? Any problems with the water-well or septic? '

Online one an read all sorts of problem with wells, but then when I'm driving thru Newtown and seeing all sorts of happy, healthy, prosperous looking families, I just can't believe that they tolerate problems with something as basic as water.

Any opinions? Thanks

[egolise]

Newtown is a pretty wealthy area, so I would imagine most families are able to deal with the financial buden of well water issues. With that said, are you talking about homes with lots of land? I would be suprised to hear of more than a few spots in Newtown without city water.

My in laws used to live on a farm in New Hope/Solebury and they always worried about well problems and having to dig deeper, etc, but I don't recall there ever being an issue. They sold their house in 2010 and did have to put in a new septic tank though.

[BarryK123]

I lived in a house in Newtown with a well and septic (sand mound) for 20+ years, new construction when we moved in. It was on 6+ acres. Moved out of the area a few years ago.

The water was fine, though a bit hard, so we installed a water softener. Once, in the 20 years, we had to replace the pump in the septic and had no other problems. We also replaced the well pump once, after a nearby lightning strike fried it. Be aware you're not supposed to use a garbage disposal if you have a septic system. Also, be aware that if your power goes out, so does your water, so have some bottled water on hand. Although our power didn't go out often, as we lived not far from the substation on Linton Hill Rd., we had a small gas-powered generator for those times, which I hooked up to the well pump, refrigerator, lights, etc.

IIRC, about 10 years ago, Newtown Twp required hookup to their newly-extended north sewer system, which they extended up Linton Hill Rd. There were some exceptions, such as being greater than a certain distance from their nearest hookup and grandfathering until the septic system needed work. I don't recall the specifics, but you should probably check into it, as mandatory hookup can be a very expensive one-time expense ($20+K).

[WiltonKnight]

HI Egolise.....

The neighborhoods I refer to are in Newtown, right around Woodhill Road and Taylorsville Road.

2 acre lots in the subdivisions.

Every single home has "private well" and "on site septic".

To be quite honest, I've done so much driving, reading, exploring, researching about stuff like schools, demographics, crime, etc....I NEVER even thought to check on water...just kind of took that for granted. I wasn't there when these newer subdivisions were built, but kind of shocked it isn't on county-water.

I don't mind spending on maintenance . BUT between the home prices and taxes, I feel I'm spending quite a bit of money on a house and in a nutshell, I'd hate to think I'm moving into a nice house, lovely neighborhood, etc....but then wake up one morning and not have water.

[WiltonKnight]

Hello Barry, thanks for chiming in about your experience.

The house and neighborhood I'm looking at were built in 1995...17 years ago so kind of close to the timeframe you moved in to Newtown.

Frankly, I wish there was a way to hook up to county sewer, and ESPECIALLY water. I'd spend the coin to do it.

1 problem in 20 years? I can live with that, no sweat. But the power-failure thing is a problem. I guess I'll have to assume I'll be having a permanent generator installed on the property.

(Power failures are fine. I could care less about losing light, TV, internet, etc. But....well, flushing toilets I gotta have!)

[WiltonKnight]

Barry...one more thing.

When you put in the softener..... how was the water? Did it taste normal? Did it 'feel' normal in the shower? Everything ok with laundry? I'm assuming if you lived there 20 years, things were fine but thought I'd ask nevertheless.

(I'll find out during inspection, but the family currently in this home has lived there 7 years, with 3 teenagers. I gotta believe the water is fine)

Thanks.

[BarryK123]

I forgot you're looking in Upper Makefield and not Newtown Twp. Forget everything I said about the sewer line heading north.

I know Heritage Hills, just to the south on Taylorsville has its own waste treatment facility, but that's only for the development and not township or county.

Our water was fine, tastewise, laundry, shower, etc. When running the hot water, it had a slight sulfur smell, but we must have gotten used to it

I'm sure you'll have a water test done with your inspection. Make sure they check for pesticides as that's old farmland. Also, you have the pig farmer not far away, unless he sold off the rest of his land by now.

As far as your location goes, the one other thing to check is the risk of flooding. If you're on the east side of Taylorsville, a lot of that area is in the flood plain and I, personally, would never live there. On the west side, it goes uphill pretty quickly, so you should be fine there.

I looked into an automatic generator/transfer switch, but decided against it. Depending on how big a genny you get, and the fuel supply, that could run 20K or so...

Be happy to answer any other questions you have. If you don't see a response from me within a few days, feel free to PM me. I don't read the PA forum very often any more, as I now live in Colorado.

[Hobokenkitchen]

We recently bought a house in Solebury Township (New Hope). ALL the homes here are on well and septic - no big deal, it is what it is.
Just make sure you have the water tested during your home inspection and definitely have the septic inspected.