We are getting ready to close on selling our current farm and will be renting for a few months until the farm we are buying is available at the end of October.

It has a well - I have never lived on a property with a well, so what do I need to know regarding maintenance, etc?

I know it has a water softening system and the pump is located in a small pump house.

Also - city water is available - any ball park on how much it would be to connect the house to city water and leave the rest of the farm on the well? House sits ~400 feet from road.

There are different grades of poly pipe but 1.25" x 500' is probably under $600. If you have to run copper, I'd have to price it plus determine the diameter to get decent velocity (flow). You'd have to trench the 400' and around here it would be 3' deep. A new water service connection could be $1,000 plus a licensed plumber's time in the city but may be different there; the city may bring it to the curb line for a fee, like they do in the suburbs here.

The quickest accurate info is probably from the old guy running the feed store.

If the well is good and the water good with the proper softening system why go City water and incur the expense of connection plus monthly water bills...

Now if the well is in bad shape, need of a new pump, or any number of problems then weigh the cost of upgrades and repairs to the cost of connection PLUS the monthly bill.

check with the city/county on the hook up,

in this part of Va, Chesterfield and I think Henrico have a fee, and have to be involved in some way,


otherwise, have the water tested, just to be safe and enjoy,


well water tastes much much better than city



edited to add, check with the city/county on the fee structure,

when we were on county water at our first house, the bills were every other month, and water usage was billed, and 2x's added for sewage treatment,


if your will includes sewage payments, and you still use a septic, you will be overcharged

Thanks for the responses - I would definitely not jump right in and connect to city water, I was just thinking more long term if there were issues with the well or something.

I will get a generator so when the power goes off we can still have water, but is there any other routine maintenance or things to look out for with the pump itself?

I'm so used to taking having water available at all times for granted that it's weird to think that if the pump fails we have no water until it gets fixed or replaced - same if the power goes out.

Check with the county on the fees and requirements for the water hookup.

In the county I live in, the fee's are based on water line size. 3/4 inch is $6,281.00 and is nothing more than the fee to connect. You still need to lay the pipe, get permits, etc....

We live in the country, so have had a well for 21 years. We've had it tested a couple of times and it is very good water. Low mineral content, no bacterial problems.

You're right about pump failure or power outage, but your concern may be a bit inflated.

Our original pump lasted 19 and then started to get tired. You could tell it was taking longer to fill the tank. It was not a dramatic failure. In a power failure, you'll have whatever is in the reserve tank, so probably a few toilet flushes. We have our pump on a backup generator circuit, so I could hook up if needed. I never have.

I'd have no reservations about doing it again.

I've never done it but some people bleach their wells when they go on vacation and won't be using it. But like MNSIG said if it's not broke don't fix it. And when you have to swap out the pump that's not going to break the bank either. They last a long time but not forever.
We use the salt pellets with the iron out already in it. There's just the two of us so we don't use that much water. When I used regular salt I put a light shake of iron out into the brine tank on top of the salt.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
If the well is good and the water good with the proper softening system why go City water and incur the expense of connection plus monthly water bills...

This ^^^^^

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Now if the well is in bad shape, need of a new pump, or any number of problems then weigh the cost of upgrades and repairs to the cost of connection PLUS the monthly bill.

Even then I'd have to think long and hard before I'd switch to municipal water.

Every time a municipal water problem occurs, they issue a "boil water alert," etc. I think "Thank God we're on a well."

We just had our pump replaced with a fancy-dancy VFD-controlled pump. Yeah, it cost $4k, but that pump should be good for at least another twenty years. Had the softener replaced a couple years ago to the tune of $1,200.00. The last one had also lasted about twenty years. (N.B.: Some muni water systems also need a softener.)

Yeah, our water has a bit of that rotten-egg well-water taste. For drinking water that problem was solved with Brita filters. Only other major downside is we get rust staining in places.

Of course there's the maintenance of refilling the brine tank and changing the filter cartridge about every three months or so. No big deal.

Upside: No water bills. We have an eight-zone irrigation system to cover our 20,000+ sq. ft. of lawn and gardens. We're having a drought this summer, along with unusually high temperatures. We have one of the few lawns in the entire neighbourhood that's green, and my wife's gardens are happy. Doing that on municipal water would've been out-of-the-question.

Upside: Given the pump we put in we have exceptional water pressure: 57-62 PSI at 60+ GPM.

I was leery of well and septic when I bought the house. Now I'd have it no other way. Told Mrs. ensigmatic not long ago: "Were we to move, and faced with a choice of two options, where the only difference was one was on municipal water and sewer and the other on well and septic, I'd take the well and septic property in a heartbeat."

One presumes the property is also using a septic system, rather than city sewage?

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
We just had our pump replaced with a fancy-dancy VFD-controlled pump. Yeah, it cost $4k, but that pump should be good for at least another twenty years.

I did that too. It does a nice job of keeping the pressure and flow constant compared to running down the tank pressure and then kicking in.

What about 24 volt DC pumps, if you allready have solar?

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
Thanks for the responses - I would definitely not jump right in and connect to city water, I was just thinking more long term if there were issues with the well or something.

I will get a generator so when the power goes off we can still have water, but is there any other routine maintenance or things to look out for with the pump itself?

I'm so used to taking having water available at all times for granted that it's weird to think that if the pump fails we have no water until it gets fixed or replaced - same if the power goes out.

the house I lived in thru high school (and still own w/ my brother, our shop is there) was built in 1977

210' deep well,

line near the house replaced in the late 80's, or early 90's (developed a leak not far from the front of the house)
pump was replaced in the late 90's, don't remember why, I was out of the house in 87


it had one algae bloom, treated with a gallon of clorox,
pour in, let set a few minutes, and run some faucets till you cannot smell the bleach any longer,



the house I built in 2002 has a 300+' deep well,

4 miles or so away from the one above, and we had a bit of sulfur smell, so we put on an aerator, problem went away,

we had an algae bloom and also did the clorox thing, cleared it up,

if you ever have a bloom, be sure to run the faucets in each tub you bathe in until it is clear, and don't be alarmed if you see 'crap' come out the faucets

we had some dead algae come thru several sinks and the tubs after treatment,

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
the house I lived in thru high school (and still own w/ my brother, our shop is there) was built in 1977

210' deep well,

line near the house replaced in the late 80's, or early 90's (developed a leak not far from the front of the house)
pump was replaced in the late 90's, don't remember why, I was out of the house in 87


it had one algae bloom, treated with a gallon of clorox,
pour in, let set a few minutes, and run some faucets till you cannot smell the bleach any longer,



the house I built in 2002 has a 300+' deep well,

4 miles or so away from the one above, and we had a bit of sulfur smell, so we put on an aerator, problem went away,

we had an algae bloom and also did the clorox thing, cleared it up,

if you ever have a bloom, be sure to run the faucets in each tub you bathe in until it is clear, and don't be alarmed if you see 'crap' come out the faucets

we had some dead algae come thru several sinks and the tubs after treatment,

So you know you are having an algae bloom by stuff coming out of the faucets or is some type of regular testing performed?

We are on a well...

Our township requires testing every two years for e-coli.

When we bought in 2012, we had a soup-to-nuts water test done...all came back good.

We have since installed a UV light just in case as e-coli can vary in a well depending on time of year and proximity to septic systems.

The issue depends on the quality of the well water. Simple as that. I grew up where the well water had a lot of sulfur and iron. Barely drinkable, left stains everywhere. Required iron filter and water softener which required constant maintenance. Take a look at the toilet bowls and talk to neighbors. If there are problems I would go with municipal water which is tested regularly for contaminants.

Where is the farm located? How deep is the well tube and at what depth does the pump sit at? The deeper the well, the better the taste in my experience with 2 houses with them. Both were at VERY deep depth in a karst region (mostly limestone) so recharge and quality was and is amazing, even in the driest drought.

As mentioned, have it tested and if the quality is good, you’re miles ahead of most municipal water providers. No chemicals, no drug residue (places that recycle water have issues due to flushed medications, even if it’s trace amounts), and if you don’t have rotten egg water, MUCH better taste.

First, have the new well water tested before you buy. We once rented an apartment that was on a well and unknowingly the water was so high in iron it tasted like blood. The renter had cleaned everything with iron-out prior to renting so there was no stains. Look under toilet tank lid.

My dad just retired from drilling wells, selling/installing pumps and sewage for over 40 years. I can call him and he may be able to answer your questions.

If there is already a softener, there is a reason. Softeners can be used to remove iron or other minerals. We had a “green sand” filter system in our old home in eastern NC due to the underlying iron deposits in NC East of Raleigh. Our well was 360 feet deep and was 8”. The well, drilling, install and plumbing(minus the filter system) was $8k. That was in 2014.

Call a local well driller and ask him how deep they drill in the area you want to buy. The well may be shallow and susceptible to chemical leaching into the well due to farming. Also ask what theY recommend a softer for and why.

Each locale of the country is different for different reasons. A local well driller will know why and what for.

Secondly, if I had to choose between a well or a local water system. I would choose the well 100% of the time. Even if I had to drill a new one on the property, before hooking up to the city.

Third, when we moved into our subdivision here in TX, I asked the city how much for another meter for our sprinklers..they ballparked me at $500 for the meter..hooking up past the meter was on me. So the ballpark answer is 500 for the meter and the piping and ditching and plumbing to your house is on you.

Another consideration:

If it's a shallow well with a jet pump (pump is above ground with pipe or PVC connections to well head, often hooked to 110v service) I'd be concerned. They tend (in my experience) to be low flow/low capacity wells.

If it's a submersible pump I'd be less concerned but I'd have either one tested for water quality and flow rates.

It sounds like in the OP it's shallow well if the pump is in a pumphouse. Mine is in my crawl space and I don't have any flow issues. Hope you didn't jinx me. One other thing to check for is your outside spigot. Many times those are not ran through the softener and are fine for irrigation. Not so much for washing cars.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Another consideration:

If it's a shallow well with a jet pump (pump is above ground with pipe or PVC connections to well head, often hooked to 110v service) I'd be concerned.

Some points:

1. A "shallow" well is defined as a well that does not have a layer of impermeable material (rock or low-permeability soil) of a certain thickness between the ground water and the well point or, sometimes, a well less than 40 feet deep.

2. "Jet pump" does not necessarily imply a shallow well. Our original well was only ten feet less deep than is our current well, which is around 115 ft. deep.

3. Really shallow wells don't need the artificial lift a jet well system generates.

That being said: Yes, jet well systems I believe are usually in 2 in. steel casings and are relatively low-capacity. I think ours was only getting about 6 GPM at 50 PSI (max). (That was a number of years ago. I don't recall exactly.)