House on a well? Anything to worry about

DSM Turbos

DSM Turbos

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Location
Raleigh, NC
Just went under contract on my house and looking to move to something with some more land and no HOA crap. Found something I think I like (on 1.15 acres), it has a well and the house is about 22 years old. Anything to worry about here? I grew up at a house with well and septic and I can't remember any big issues we ever had. Anything I should really worry about. Also has a in ground propane tank for heat.
 
The propane concerns me more. Propane heat is fawking expensive. Gas FTW.
 
The well I grew up on had a lot of rust in it. Never could keep a white shirt white for much longer than two washings until we connected to city water. Hated the taste too, but that's just me. A lot of people like the taste of well water. Some people think Miley Cyrus is hot too.
 
Find out what the flow rate/output of the well is. There should be a tag attached to it with the depth and flow rate. I believe 4 gallons/min is the minimum recommended.
 
Cool, so like lift the well cover of the well and look at the pump? Will do that when I go look at it again this weekend.

Our well growing up tasted better than a lot of city water.

Propane yeah it sucks and is expensive, but when you aren't in a city that you can get the gas hookup, what choice do you really have?
 
If the well only has a well cap (submersible pump) then the tag should be attached to the cap. If the pump is above ground then hopefully it is tagged somewhere on the well casing.

FWIW my house is 55 years old with the original well. It is a deep well with an above ground pump and does what it needs to do.

For the septic side, get it inspected and the tank checked. It may need to be pumped out, and probably should be on a periodic basis. What that duration is really depends on use.
 
DSM Turbos said:
Propane yeah it sucks and is expensive, but when you aren't in a city that you can get the gas hookup, what choice do you really have?
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depending on the local climate... a heat pump, where you keep the propane as a backup for cold nights.
 
RatLabGuy said:
depending on the local climate... a heat pump, where you keep the propane as a backup for cold nights.
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I've heated with gas, electric, kerosene/fuel oil, and wood. I have come to the conclusion that if you want your house to be comfortable in the winter, you will pay through the teeth. You just have to decide which direction to throw the money. Good doors, windows, and insulation is where it's at.
 
Well the ac/furnace is only 5 years old, so it would be what it is for a while! Only 1500 sq feet so it wouldn't break me heating it.

The well looks just like a normal concrete cylinder one about 3' above ground. Can't find a picture online what it looks like but had the same type one at the house growing up, not sure if that tells anything.
 
My house is well/septic and was propane when we moved in. Propane is damn expensive, but we quickly replaced the gas pack with a heat pump. Kind of had to, it died when it was 9 degrees. :lol:

I wouldn't think twice about well/septic, but would seriously consider switching off propane.
 
Wood heat, with electric back up:rockon: no fire place! Get a wood stove and find a buddy with lots of trees, or people that don't want to pay to have a fallen tree removed. The we'll and septic is no problem!! Flush some yeast down the toilet and get happy.(in less the house has not been lived in in a LONG time) If you have kids you may want to have your water tested, somthing about florid amounts I really don't know. Nice thing about a well is you can wash the rig and not worry about how much it cost!
 
I'd do electric and heat pump before propane. Old house had a heat pump with gas backup in lieu of heat strips. That was the best. New house has AC with a gas furnace. Also nice, but probably not as efficient.

You can get the kit to test your well water from NC State. It's about fifty bucks. Or you can just let the septic inspector do it while he's there. Checks for pH, contaminants, etc.
 
Is propane really that big of an issue with a well insulated house? We get away with filling our tank once a yr. Never really seemed to be a big issue to me, maybe I don't realize what I could be saving?
 
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Our biggest issue with well is when the power goes out you have no water... also had the pressure switch fail once so didn't have water overnight, but easy fix. I've been in my house for 8 years, but grew up on well too.

As far as propane, we have a heat pump with propane backup, tankless water heater, range, outdoor grill piped in, and gas logs (never use the logs). The furnace kicks in when outdoor temp drops below 40. Much colder than that and heat pumps loose efficiency. We keep our house around 68 in the winter and I have no complaints on gas usage or cost, except the one winter that it was 4.50+ a gallon...
 
Wood heat is my choice. If I really had to I could just walk around and pick up sticks to keep my family warm. I've got a truck and I like running a chainsaw.

I'm on city water w septic. I had the seller pay to have it pumped and inspected.
 
Another vote against propane. I'd say the only positive about it is if you actually own the in ground tank and can get it filled at your request. If a company owns it, your SOL and they will fill it with how much they want, when they want. The only good thing about propane are gas water heaters. From what I understand, they are much more efficient than electric.

I'd go to your Environmental Health Department and request a septic system and well inspection so you know exactly what you have. They will check both for any issues and usually test your well water. Should probably ask for an existing system report, so you know where that septic actually is. I'd suggest making these tests a portion of your purchase contract if you could. I spoke with a guy earlier this week who apparently purchased a home with an illegal addition that was placed on top of his septic system. You do not want to run into that.

As another item of note, have the thing surveyed immediately after you buy it. You do not want surprises and everyone should have their property surveyed.
 
Dude. If there is not a current survey, you have that done during due diligence, same with the well and septic inspection. But hire an independent inspector. No way in hell do you want the county out there looking at it.

The county only knows about systems that were installed on the last few years. All they know about ours is that we have one.
 
You can get a bacteriological analysis of the well water from Environmental Testing Solutions in Asheville. Their phone number is 828 350-9364. They will send you a sample bottle that you can fill and mail back. We are on a well and it has some sulfur in it. I had to add an air inductor to the system to purge the smell and a water softener to remove the hardness. You don't want any hardness lasting for more than 4 hours it can hurt your pipe!
 
thebrotherinlaw said:
You can get a bacteriological analysis of the well water from Environmental Testing Solutions in Asheville. Their phone number is 828 350-9364. They will send you a sample bottle that you can fill and mail back. We are on a well and it has some sulfur in it. I had to add an air inductor to the system to purge the smell and a water softener to remove the hardness. You don't want any hardness lasting for more than 4 hours it can hurt your pipe!
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Forgot about that, we had the sulfur smell too. Shocked the well and added the air vent thingy...

I don't understand why so many of you have an issue with propane. Yes they come fill it when they want to, when they fit in in the schedule, so that YOU DON'T RUN OUT OF PROPANE...

If you don't live where there is piped natural gas, it's a good option. It keeps my house warm, probably is cheaper than running electric heat strips all winter, and I don't have to go outside and chop wood...
 
Definitely get the well tested! We have a well but b/c we got an FHA loan for our house they required us to hook up to county water since it was near our house. I still use our well for our irrigation system and to was the cars. I like the taste of the well water better but it does have a very high mineral content. Some states require the septic to be inspected or pumped before the house is sold. I know SC does, not so sure about NC.

Hate to be redundant but another vote against PROPANE!! I think I'd rather have fuel oil LOL Our house in The mountains had propane. The stove, HW, and gas FP was all propane. I think our tank was 550 gallons and we had to have it filled in the spring and topped off in the fall. Usually cost around 1000 bucks in the spring and 7-800 in the fall. Our house didn't have central HVAC just a gas fireplace and electric baseboards in each bedroom.
 
Gas fireplace/gas logs are insanely inefficient. I think I've lit my fireplace 2-3 times in the 8 years I've lived here. I have a 300 gallon tank. It gets filled in the spring, topped off in the fall, and usually 1 fill during the winter. Like I said, that's running my heat (2400 sq ft house), water heater, cooktop, and grill. Its not that bad...

How did we end up on propane anyway, he asked about well water...
 
Boy do I know wells now...

Actually it's different everywhere. Your local health department or local well drilling company would know. In my neck, 1 gal/min. is minimum for that's all they can squeeze unless they hit an aquifer. But at 1 gal. /min you are required to have 200 feet of storage after you hit water. They hit water at 160 feet so my well is 360'. My house sits at 210' above sea level.

Sulfer smell 9 times out of 10 is just bacteria breaking down that grows naturally wherever there's water and no sunlight. Sulfer itself is kinda rare. The cure to bacteria is chlorine. On top of the well cap will be a small access cap that you can pull and dump either just chlorine or shock treatment. My well being so deep, I use equal to 1/2 gallons of chlorine (but I use shock) about once a year when I start smelling the sulfer. It's hard to find but try to find the shock treatment for wells, not pools. My Southern States carries it and I buy it in bulk. Shock for pools has chemicals that are not good for you to induce in large amounts. I have to give mine a couple of weeks for it so soak through. There's another trick of putting an aerator in the well. Also, you can install a chlorine squirter that squirts minute amounts into the system as you use it. The bacteria breakdown usually happens in the plumbing, not inside the well.

You can get the self testers online and much cheaper than having it tested. If you have it tested by a company you are just sticking your neck out for their salesmen to wear your ass out to buy a filter system. You can spend anywhere from a grand to 5 grand on a filter system. There's 100's of variations and pieces that can be combined to combat different issues. The best answer to what you will be looking at down the road off and on regardless of what you do is to open up the toilet cover on the back and just look. It will tell you everything.

I have high manganese and my water is hard, meaning I have high calcium. The cost of a filter system for me starts around 1500. Plus there's routine maintenance. So I just keep it shower and clothes washing worthy and buy my drinking water. Works best for me for I'd have to build onto my house to have room for all the crap I'd need. But every case is different.

I have a WONDERFUL well guy in Durham if it's local if you need anything checked out or installed. My neighbor went the aerator route with our well dude and seems to like it.

As said, the tag on the side tells all.

Good thing about a well is cause no matter what you do to city water it will always suck.

This is just touching basics. There's a lot more to know about a well but until you test it and figure out if there's issues, then you figure out what direction to go from there. Simply just taste it and see if you can live with it like it is. Then tackle the issues as you go.
 
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