Water well- - - how many of you have one ?

[WV Hillbilly]

I have a private water well on my property that I'm looking into buying some water treatment equipment for . Anyone have a well that you've installed cleaning / purifiying equipment on ? Let's talk well water quality & equipment .

 

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[stefen]

Grew up with well water and cisterns although we never tested the bacteria and chemical levels...we should have.

Septic system was dumping (bad choice of words) into the same aquifer...

 

[txkickergirl]

I was raised on a water well no problems for years now 25 years later the water is like sulfar, I don't drink it when I go to dads. Yuck

We just bought some land that has a couple cistrens and a windmill. When we build I will have a well put in so I am interested in seeing the other folks thoughts to this as well.

 

[bbqbull]

I have a well, installed a Culligan water softner.
Still had a huge amount of iron in the water so I installed an Iron Buster which made a huge difference in the rust stains in the sinks and toilets.
I have a septic system, 2 of us live here and its pumped every 3 years.
My neighbor is a master plumber of over 30 yrs and pumps his tank every year.
They also have 2 adults in the house.
I havent had my water tested for bacteria, been drinking the water for 8 yrs, still going strong.

 

[WV Hillbilly]

A septic system that is working properly shouldn't need pumped in less than five years . With only two people using it I would bet you could double that with no problems . Remember I said a properly working system .
Has anyone ever heard of or used the whole house water filter by G E ? It's called the Homespring .

 

[billjustbill]

Contact your County Agent. You can get the water tested for about $20.

They'll tell you to dump bleach into the well a day or so before you test. I forget how much, but so much per 100ft of well depth.

Call the C. Agent and they'll help you at no charge.

Bill

 

[wildrider]

Never bothered to treat it. Just drank it..ice cold and goooooood!

 

[sniffer]

my local extension agent tested my well, came up green across the board. I asked him about the bleach in the well. he said if it doesn't taste bad or smell bad it's not necessary. however he did say bleach is a waste of money, he said the chlorine content is too low. he told me to get a small bag of pool shock and dump 2 tablespoons into the well, let it sit overnight and then run the water through all yours pipes in the house and then run it until the chlorine smell is gone

 

[River Rat]

We have a total of 5 artesian wells. The last dug in Jan '08...water hit at 15 ft, but well was dug to 380 ft. One well has been flowing for over 100 years. Best tasting water, I prefer it over bottled water any day. We do have a lot of iron, so the water to the farm house and our house has a water softener to keep the yellowing out of whites.

RR

 

[Rob in KS]

I would definately get the well tested. I can't believe you were told to bleach the well before testing!! The $20 test I had done on our well includes a test for bacteria (Coliform). If you bleach it, you won't get an accurate test. I think our test included chlorides, they would be way high if you bleach. I wouldn't EVER drink from a well that hadn't been tested. With all the polution these days, you can't be too careful. Our well is too high in nitrates, had lots of bacteria. When they put in rural water in this area, the people that owned this place didn't hook up. I can just hear the old farmer saying "there aint nothing wrong with this water, it tastes just fine". Maybe that was true (sometimes) in the past but not today. His son who grew up here died of bladder cancer. His friend who spent a lot of time here also got bladder cancer.

I can't believe that the county agent said that you don't need to bleach unless it tastes or smells bad. What a joke. Sulfides can cause a bad smell and have nothing to do with bacteria. You can have high bacteria and no bad smell.

I also can't believe that someone said that bleach was useless to treat a well. How much to put in depends on how much water is in the bottom of the well, not how deep it is. I put about a pint in mine and it smells like a swimming pool for a few days. I have a spigot right next to the well. I put a hose on it and recirculate the water into the well and rinse the well bore. Then run it thru all the pipes and let it sit for a day. Then run the chlorine out if you want. Be careful with the laundry, even after the smell is gone, it can bleach your clothes

My in-laws live in Salina KS. They used a well for many years. When I met them in the 70's I thought the water had a funny taste and smell. The older kids are pretty healthy, but the younger ones have had all sorts of health problems. Over the years, the water got worse. The well eventually wasn't usable. In the late 90's, it came to light that there was pollution coming from the old air base 2 miles away. Some cleaning solvent was just dumped on the ground in the 40's and 50's. Now there is a plume of spreading pollution heading for the town. It won't be too many more years before it spreads to the town's wells.

We live in a scary world.

 

[WV Hillbilly]

My well doesn't have any objectionable taste or odors . After a heavy rain the water gets cloudy & has a brownish tinge . It clears right back up within a couple days after the rain stops . It could be a surface water problem or water coming through a different vein when the water table rises . Reguardless I want to get rid of the discoloration or ( turbidity ) as it's known in the treatment buisness . There are wholehouse filters that backwash & are supposed to clear the water . I plan to test for contanimates after I solve the turbidity problem . Treatment systems are expensive & I was hoping for input from people who have had treatment systems installed or are knowledgeable about treatment systems . Thanks

 

[Rob in KS]

I wonder why it gets cloudy. Surface water wouldn't be good, but Im not sure how it would get in the well. I'll bet the well isn't very deep and the rain doesn't have to go far to get into the well. Just a guess. A filter should clear that up.

I know what you mean about that stuff being expensive. I guess that's why I don't have any. We just don't drink it.

My wife does a catalog for a company here in KS. That's why I'm somewhat familiar with the equipment.

 

[bluestem]

We do rainwater collection and have a shallow, wet weather only well. My husband put in a series of these kinds of filters, in decreasing sizes. We change them out several times a year. Never had a problem. Once in a great while we put some bleach in the tanks. Lowes or Home Depot should have everything you need.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...01521&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&langId=-1

 

[sniffer]

I put in a whole house filter for sediment and it works just fine. I change the filter when it starts to look dirty.
I also installed a reverse osmosis system for drinking water, now the water tastes like aquafina water

 

[Pepper2004]

We have a deep well. I know it was treated with bleach. Best water I ever tasted. Crystal clear rain or shine.

 

[WV Hillbilly]

I have two of the whole house filters , the kind you buy at lowe's , wal mart , ect . The whole house filter I'm checking into now is a fairly large tank that backwashes once daily & doesn't have replaceable / disposable cartridges . It filters through thousands of feet of membranes that are built into the tank . The backwash can be programed to any time of day so you can set it to backwash at 2 or 3 in the morning so it doesn't backwash while you're using water . Pretty expensive at about $3,000 not including install . This filter also removes bacteria & most harmful contanimates that might be in the water . By the way I have been doing quite a bit of research & experts agree chlorine found in most public water systems is not good for you . You can buy chlorine injectors to kill bacteria in private well water & the experts recommend installing a carbon filter to remove the chlorine after the water has been treated .

 

[Rob in KS]

WOW, I didn't know the backwash type were that expensive. Of course, the replaceable filters ain't cheap either. It really sounds like you've done a lot of research. What type(s) of other contaminates does the backwash type remove? I worry about agricultural chemicals.

 

[WV Hillbilly]

There are various types of backwashing filters . Most of them are for clearing the water & don't remove contanimates & bacteria . They also don't cost as much as the filter I am checking out . I don't know how to post a link you just click on but this is the website for the filter that I'm interested in . http://www.homespring.com/

 

[rmptr]

Hillbilly, I am certainly no expert on wells.

That being said, if you experience turbidity from heavy rain, your well must be shallow, too shallow, or it was not cased properly.

The advisory for a complete water test is wise advice.

Once you know definitely what you have, then you can make decision on treatments.

After all, we don't need no hillbillies glowing in the dark!

Best