House well water

I knough someone on this site will have a answer for me. This is the most common sense forum I have ever seen. Anyway, I moved into a 10 year old house with some acreage, well with that comes a water well. The previous people have done nothing except run the water straight in. My neighbor has a large tank with caltrate/ or whatever it is that his water runs through. In order to save my copper and make my water a little cleaner to drink. FYI I have seen some blueish stuff on shower floor and it taste a little strange, the well is about 125' down. I have went and talked to people at different places most want to sell me all this stuff , hey I am not knocking them they are salesman. The guy across the street says all you need is the 6' tank with cacite in it. Could you guys help me out. I do not mind spending the money but this is my last move and want the water in peretty good shape. I already had one piece of copper bust/pinhole allthough it looked good inside the copper it almost looked like a inperfection in the copperwhen it was made.I justfiqured you guys could tell me if I need to put in. Thanks to all that has any idea's.David

I have worked on ships a lot. Especially abroad the water quality was uncertain, so the company’s advise was to use bottled water for consumption.
Your neighbouts may very well be right, but the only way to be certain is to have it analyzed by a competent party and have them come up with advise based on evidence rather than hearsay.

I guess I am not as worried about the drinking except I would love for my ice maker to work. The weird thing is the small pin hole in that piece of pipe. I sure do not wanta go down that road because as you know that can get ugly. In my area we do not have many places ttest water, this is also new to me. I would gues like the county or state would have somewhere to test? Does that seem legit. Thanks for your reply !!!!

Get an analysis from a reputable water company, and be prepared to spend to get good water. I lived over forty years in a rural house with it’s own well where we did not treat the water. The water was from a deep well and had a good taste, but had a lot of dissolved minerals. When we moved to Florida five years ago, our new house came with a full water treatment system to correct a sulfur taste and much dissolved stuff. What a difference! No sink and shower deposits, and very soft.

usually the district health office in your area will have testing available and will have a rough idea of what needs to be tested for or at least know of labs can do it for you. if you just have the people selling you the stuff do the testing you will magically only need their product and your water still will not improve there is more scam artists in water conditioning than just about anywhere else.
I just punched 3 wells in a row in a subdivision less than 600 feet from first well to last. well 1 183 deep .02 arsenic. well 2 115 deep .01 arsenic. well 3 125 deep 5.1 arsenic. funny thing was it was all the same sand formation with no noticeable confiding layers in the sand.

Sounds like the water has a low ph or acidic. You should get it tested so you can decide what and how much you want to do in way of treatment but especially test for bacteria to know it's safe to drink. Beware of salesmen. Send sample to lab for complete analysis. Local city or county will test for bacteria.

Have it tested by a real testing site. As for bacteria you are supposed to shock your well with chlorine every 6 months for safety. I do mine every year or two if that as it's nasty stuff to be putting in your drinking water and you don't want it in your septic system.

we get a water analysis report from the municipality every year.

Thanks guys for all the answers so quickly, deltap you nailed it. I had 3 saleman at 3 different stores basically tell me the way I should process the water. Is there a way to treat the water with out breaking the bank and getting some stuff I do not need. I do not want to overkill it, heck anyone can fix it like that. I had one guy/salesman tell me I could spend 5k on it. Know I have had my own Auto Tire store for 40 years so I got some common sense. I do not need anthing elaborate , my neighbor has a large 6 foot cylinder with caltrate or whatever in it. Then some saleman want to put like 3 big cannisters and other stuff. I will do whatever it takes I just do not want to overkill it. Any ideas of a good reputable sytem that will do the job. Thanks guys

dian said:

we get a water analysis report from the municipality every year.

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Yes, but is that for your private well or for the municipal system?

My well water is high iron and hard. There’s so much iron in my water a glass will turn yellow in an hour. I bought an iron remover and a softener a few years ago and it been rock solid ever since. I think it was $1300 for both shipped. For the ice maker, add a small 15gpd RO off the softener. The RO will remove all the salt the softener uses. My water is perfect now, the whites stay white and the woman’s hair stays blonde and grey.

I am running around patching copper pipe leaks until I can replace the whole system with PEX. On top of that disaster even though the house was built in the early 80's the water incoming from the well runs through Orangeburg pipe. Since your house is only 10 years old it might not be too late to just lower the acidity to save the pipes. The water here tastes fine, I like it better than any city water I had, it just eats copper. If I were you I think I would just ask the neighbors and or the local plumbers what to do as I am sure ground water from one area to the next can vary greatly.

Around here you get a standard water test that shows arsenic, bacteria, etc for $60.

We had severalfold the allowable limit of arsenic in our 400' well and a bit over max in our 100 year old 40' well.

For a few years we used bottled water for everything. That was the wrong choice. We'd have been better off drinking the arsenic.

Bottled water is OK in moderation, but there are a shitload of chemicals in it. The Phthalates used in the plastic the bottles are made from leech into the water. BPA is just the tip of the iceberg. Phthalates resemble hormones inside our bodies. If you don't believe me set a bottle of water in the sun for a few hours or until just warm then put in the fridge for awhile and try to drink it. The thicker gallon jugs are much better than the thin clear bottles.

I use a distiller now. We distill everything and run it through a charcoal filter. Tastes great, no arsenic.

I have a kid that can't talk. Real smart. Understands every word, but the part of his brain that forms speech doesn't work right. Google "Phthalates speech delay".

We live in central Florida.
I contacted the county water utility, asked what lab they use to verify their in-house lab results.
Went to that lab, they showed me how to obtain a sample w/o contaminating it, and they gave me the vials. Paid about $120 for the tests.
We have problems w/ sediment in our well water. In the past, the water also had excessive levels of Arsenic and Ethylene di-bromide.
Levels are now safe, but I filter for the EDB anyway.

I use two different sediment filters, then the water goes through an activated charcoal filter, and finally a UV sterilizer, and on to the house.

tirengolf said:

Thanks guys for all the answers so quickly, deltap you nailed it. I had 3 saleman at 3 different stores basically tell me the way I should process the water. Is there a way to treat the water with out breaking the bank and getting some stuff I do not need. I do not want to overkill it, heck anyone can fix it like that. I had one guy/salesman tell me I could spend 5k on it. Know I have had my own Auto Tire store for 40 years so I got some common sense. I do not need anthing elaborate , my neighbor has a large 6 foot cylinder with caltrate or whatever in it. Then some saleman want to put like 3 big cannisters and other stuff. I will do whatever it takes I just do not want to overkill it. Any ideas of a good reputable sytem that will do the job. Thanks guys

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First, get your TESTS made!

"Worst case", presuming small family after 40 years a biznessman, isn't horribly costly.

My "worst case" taking our Hong Kong flat, Wife & M'in-law the year-round residents, as an example.

Two water sources are plumbed as city-wide "standard". Bottled water a "regular" as the third.

It is then down to how we use each.

#1 is the raw seawater, plastic piped, for flushing toilets. Only. Your UNtreated incoming would be the equivalent.

#2 Is "potable water", safe but just barely so. That covers laundry, baths & showers, other washing needs, but not food prep, directly.

Two 4" X 10" cartridge filter in series, one particulates - iron & mud-like rust, mostly, then the second dual-mission with activated Charcoal and pesticide/solvent trapping resin serve a separate tap at the snk and another on the cookstove top.

"Segregated' IOW, from the UNfiltered one for washing dishes and cleaning vegetables.

The filtered water is then boiled first, and stored in a heated to near-boiling Japanese electric rig, pushbutton pumped out for cooking, tea, coffee, noodles, etc. These "boilers" MUST be cleaned, and OFTEN! I use white vinegar first, lemon juice, second, twice a week, here. Daily would be wiser, yet, and we do, air-dried overnight, for the one in Hong Kong.

#3 is now bottled water, and/or soft drinks, fruit juices, etc. for direct human intake. Needed only for cold drinks or carried-with when stepping out for a hike, sports, excursion by car, or long trek to markets, be that by wheels, public trans, or feet, alike.

This is "the way" for a majority of Hong Kong's 7-plus million. No massive filters. Just segregated consumption for appropriate and economic safe use.

I've duplicated the filters here, even though Loudoun Water does a far better job than Hong Kong, and off FAR safer raw water!

With far more space, the resin filter is last of THREE, serving special taps at two double kitchen sinks.

A 24-pack of bottled water is bought about once a quarter whilst I'm here alone, once in two weeks when Wife & M'in law are here, about the same in Hong Kong.

Shorter answer?

It doesn't have to be any sort of "BFD" for a small family. Just arrange your PLUMBING to use what you have more appropriately.

- Laundry and baths, garden hose, carwashing, watering plants not treated at all. Change your detergent, use enhancers if need be to get clothes clean instead.

Give the kitchen the best treatment. Smaller cartridge for the bath(s) - guests especially - for brushing teeth, etc. A separate SPOUT is good so the filters need not get used-up washing hands.

I did have to give up drinking out of the toilet, too. But it wasn't really helping my bent-over back all that much anyway.

2CW

... actually? I'm told I never drank out of the toilet, even as a young kid. OTOH, it would have been REALLY hard to do .. since we did not HAVE a toilet back then... only an outdoor privy!

I've been down that road tirengolf. Here in VA we generally have acidic water. The last time I had the water tested it was right at pH 6.1. My house was built in 1929 and all the piping was brass with malleable iron fittings. After about forty years the fittings basically dissolved being the less noble of the system. I replaced all the plumbing with the best grade of copper I could find. For years we had green copper stains in the tub and shower. That copper lasted about 15 years. All the hot water pipes developed pinholes and the pipe was so thin you couldn't cut with a standard pipe cutter. It would just collapse. I pulled it all out again and replaced it with CPVC. This was before PEX became popular. Been in there for about 20 years now and no leaks. If you are developing pinholes then you are going to have to replace the copper with something else. You can probably do all kinds of things to condition your water going forward but I think your hot water pipes are shot.

We have a shallow well, twenty feet deep, water is okay but some iron and a bit of hydrogen sulfide so we got a softener for the house and a neat water cooler/ dispenser for drinking and cooking, the ones with the clear five gallon plastic bottle that does the bubble thing when you get water, the wifey's idea but it grew on me now and I like it. The water is delivered every two weeks to our doorstep.

When I was in So Cal I lived near the Stringfellow acid pits, a toxic waste dump from the 50's to 70's, and the city water was nasty. Hard water deposits would build up like mini icebergs if you didn't clean the shower weekly, and a black growth could get in the toilets in a matter of days after cleaning. The water actually had a smell to it. I would never drink it or use it for cooking. I got a couple 5 gallon water bottles from the local water store weekly. The real comedy were the notices in the mail that the water was safe to drink again, while never getting the ones that it wasn't.

Before I moved into my new. old home, 36 years ago, I had the water tested by the County Health Department.
They tested for a few items, 10? 12? I don't recall.
All was good.
Meanwhile, my neighbor in Detroit worked for the EPA and took a sample of my water and did a test for 35 items, also came back good.

He said that I needed to light a match or lighter around the end of the faucet before taking the sample.
A simple finger wipe will leave enough e coli to be detected.

I finally put filters in the system, but I guess I should change them occasionally.......

Mike

rustyironism said:

I finally put filters in the system, but I guess I should change them occasionally.......

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Yah REALLY! I had one installed on our "mainland" villa, upriver in university-town Zhongshan.

They used a transparent housing, mounted it on the wall outdoors, where the water enters, to make it easier to monitor and change.

Sure 'nuf, "safely treated municipal water?" Sure about that?
The bugger had gone bright GREEN with an algae colony within the first WEEK!
"Oh, that one is harmless..."

The PRC bottled water biz made one of my Wife's cousins a VERY rich man! Made the bottles. Didn't FILL them. Supplied those who did. Busy enuf' he had to import the plastic from USA and Japan to keep his equipment fed. Chinese stocks were always in short supply as better-politically-connected competitors snatched them up..

Then we knew WHY it was such a huge bizness!