[peachto4]

Hello! Can anyone shed some light on buying a home with well water? I have only lived in homes with city water.

What is it that spooks people about well water? I feel like people shudder when the words "well-water" are uttered.


We are consitering buying a new construction home that is on well water. Not being familiar with it, what are the pro's or con's.

Thank you!

[nickman]

Well water is fine and its free. Allmost all homes in rural or semi rural areas have well water. Its no big deal. Just have it drilled by a licenced driller.

[Mike 75]

Well water is fine. You just need to get it tested for potability, hardness and acidity. It's rare to have a potability issue. It's much more common to have hard water, which means there's a high amount of calcium in the water. It's fine to drink, but it makes it harder to wash clothes and dishes effectively, and can also cause deposits in you pipes or on fixtures. Installing a water softening system is an easy fix for hard water. Acidic water is somewhat rare, but there are neutralizers you can install to make the water more basic.

[Sigequinox]

I have lived with both. The home I live in now has a well. If given the choice I would choose a well again.

Why I prefer a well:
(1) Extremely low cost if already installed (only pay for the little electric used to pump it)
(2) Tastes great
(3) Your in control of your water supply--if it doesn't rain for 2 weeks and your town issues a water ordnance, it doesn't apply to you.
(4) your not dependent on public supply if something happens at treatment facility. ie contamination, power outage (at plant?)

Disadvantages:
(1) need a generator to have water during home power outages (pump uses electric)
(2) maintenance is your responsibility

[Lalalally]

Yep, it's fine and it's free! Hard water is common problem, but that can easily be addressed by installing a water softening system. Note though a softening system can cause the water to become slightly acidic, which is in turn easily remedied by installing an acid neutralizer. If you're lucky, you'll find a house with all this equipment already in place. You'll just want to be sure to have the water tested as part of the home inspection

[in_newengland]

The only thing is IF there is something wrong with the water, it is up to you to pay a lot of money and get it tested and then fix it. I've had well water and it was fine but I also lived where the town wells got contaminated by some chemical. They had to build an entire water treatment plant.

If you have to have your water tested it can get really expensive because you have to pay for each individual test. Not that I've ever had that happen but I have heard about people who did. There are types of wells, like artesian wells. That's where my knowledge leaves off.

[nonny]

Testing is between 100 and 200 dollars a year. Fixes are easy. Well water is delicious. My family now cringes when we drink town water because we can taste the chlorine and chemicals in it. Love well water. Some people like their water heavily processed.

[markfromct]

We have had both and the well has been a pain. We had to install a sediment filter and a acid neutralizer as a lot of our pipes were getting pinholes in them.. Then we found out we had Radon in our water and installed a 4k Radon mitigation device.

Oh yeah, and we didn't have a generator during that October storm, so we had to melt snow to flush the toilets for 11 days..fun.

[mels]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

I have lived with both. The home I live in now has a well. If given the choice I would choose a well again.

Why I prefer a well:
(1) Extremely low cost if already installed (only pay for the little electric used to pump it)
(2) Tastes great
(3) Your in control of your water supply--if it doesn't rain for 2 weeks and your town issues a water ordnance, it doesn't apply to you.
(4) your not dependent on public supply if something happens at treatment facility. ie contamination, power outage (at plant?)

Disadvantages:
(1) need a generator to have water during home power outages (pump uses electric)
(2) maintenance is your responsibility

Thanks for typing up this list so I don't have to- I agree with all of it. After being on well water, city water tastes like chlorine to me now and smells weird, and I find it undrinkable unless it is filtered.

[peachto4]

Thank you everyone! So helpful!