?s for owners of well water/septic systems...

[Dan Hintz]

Many thanks for the replies so far, guys... some really good info in there, exactly what I was looking for (fodder to help create new, more specific questions). If we move forward with this, the intent was always to have both systems fully tested... but if I didn't find comfort in anyone's responses, there wasn't much point in going further with it. From the sound of it, it's something I should consider, but I will need to sit down for a while and come up with a list of questions for the owners... when was the system installed, what type is it, any issues, do heavy rains cause any issues, how often do you have it pumped, what's the flowrate on the well, etc.

I may drive the agent up the wall by the time this is over

[Kevin Godshall]

I have a drilled well, and my septic runs into a 110' sand mound. Here are some of my thoughts:

Power going out: I live rural. It is just an expected thing. Genny is on standby, but haven't had to use it yet. I've had to replace my submersible well pump 1x in 20 years, and also my pressure tank 1x. Water is hard here with limestone, so I use a water softener.

Septic: Started off with a leach field, but the piping broke and could not get a perk test to pass (heavy clay soil), so I had to fork over for a sand mound. Sand mound has it's own dousing tank with submersible in it, so need to really watch the septic tank to make sure solids aren't transferring over. Even with a leech field, solids exiting = $$$$.

Emptying tank depends on lots of variables (I have 5 years experience in running a package treatment waste plant, as well); Hard water causes detergents and likes to solidify in tank. Garbage disposals can add too much solids, but will work OK if the tank is routinely pumped. My tank is pumped out about once every 3 years, and I make sure to pick the "sewer sucker's" brain about what he's seeing come out, and how to remedy it. Some outfits can flush your leech field and the best sewer suckers back flush your lines when they empty them.

Depending on how old your house is, your gray water (washing machine) may go into a separate tank. Now, all of it runs together on newer. Some places are going radical and forcing individuals to have to do sand mounts or package treatment plants (need certification).

I live rural and I take the responsibility for living away from the public supply. Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Best.

[Nike Nihiser]

Most well systems don't have a "storage tank" they have a pressure tank. They are not the same thing. Putting the pressure tank above the house won't change how it operates, and in climates where it freezes you would have to make sure it was insulated. The pressure tank has a bladder inside that is pressurized to a set psi, there is a switch that senses this at a lower end set point, when the water pressure hits this low point the pump comes on, it then switches off at a higher set point. In between those set points the pump does not cycle off and on, but you still have water at a tap. This keeps the pump from switching off and on every time the tap is opened say for just a drink of water or to fill a toilet bowl. Pumps fail most often from cycling on and off too frequently

[Ryan Mooney]

Note - you'd mostly see storage tanks where you have a lot flow well so you have a buffer around daily usage.

Pressure tank bladders do go bad, but pressure tanks aren't exceptionally expensive to replace so it wouldn't be a deal killer for me.

[Rich Enders]

We were city folk, and the 4 of us moved to rural NE Ohio into an 1840's "Century House". Our septic system had a main tank that flowed into a second tank which flowed into a leach field. Because the homesites were as small as three acres the community encouraged everyone to be neighborly and pump every year. They negotiated a killer deal with the local pumper who came by and did entire neighborhoods. It worked flawlessly for the seven years that we lived there even though we treated it as if it were city sewer.

Our well was in the basement with access from the outside above via a bayed out part of the basement wall. Initially the water tested OK, and the the pressure held during the simultaneous two shower two flush executive test. After about 4-5 years the well would not keep up with our teenage daughters shower requirements so we had it punched down another 10 feet. Other than frequent testing having well water for us was pretty painless.

[Larry Browning]

Wow! you guys are scaring me! We had our house built about 18 years ago. It is on the rural water system, so no well, but it does have a septic system. We have never done anything in the way of maintenance to the system, except the leech lines have a valve that I flip at each changes from and to daylight saving time. We have never had a single problem of any kind with it. Yet some of you have your systems pumped every 2 years?!? And they are only supposed to last 20 years or so?!? AFAIK, none of my neighbors have theirs pumped either. It makes me wonder if we are headed for a problem in the future. Our builder strongly suggested we not install a disposal, so we did not. Instead, we have a trash compactor which has worked out very well and we have never missed having a disposal, even though we had lived with one all our married life prior to this house.

[Charles Wiggins]

I've had more problems out of sewer systems than septic systems. I've lived two places where we had sewage back up into our place because of stuff the neighbors flushed.

Our current place and the house we owned previously both have city water but septic waste systems, and both have a second "grey water" septic for the laundry waste water. I like that because it keeps bleach and Oxiclean out of the main tank so they aren't killing of the bacteria that is processing the bathroom waste. We have a disposal but we don't use it much. We collect compost in small canisters and dump it every few days.

I still use a septic treatment additive about every six months. We lived at the first place about 5 years and we've been in our current one 4 years and we never had either pumped. We were going to have our current one pumped, just as a precaution when we first bought the house, but at the time there was only one septic service in the county, and the bubba that they sent out (twice) couldn't find the tank and wanted to bring in a backhoe. This is a reminder that I really need to get that done.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Like others have said, test the water and septic. Local counties will do basic water testing for around $20. Shop around for septic inspections. Prices vary a lot. Same thing with septic pumping. You can make it a condition of the purchase that the sellers pump their septic and have it inspected.

Depending upon the age of the house, there should be a Septic As-Built and Well Log on file with the county Health Department. You may even find Soil Logs to go with the As-Built. Some counties are great and all it takes is a phone call and they will email you the data based on the parcel number or address. Others require a trip to their office. If there is no well log on file, you will need to have a well driller come out and create a log for you.

Regarding Wells. You'll want to know the GPM and drawdown of that well. You'll also want to know if it's a shared well and who has to do the maintenance. States & Counties vary, but you typically need to keep a 100' buffer around the well head to prevent contamination of the water (livestock and septic system should not be in the buffer zone.). The less GPM the well produces, the more you have to conserve. We had neighbors (elderly couple) with a 1/2 GPM well and they had to collect rain water to flush the toilets and do their laundry in town. If they filled the livestock tank, then they may not have water for dishes, baths, etc because the well was so slow to recover. If the well only produces minimal GPM, then a large 1000+ gallon holding tank is typically used. It's basically up to you on how often you test your water. If it is known to have some stuff in it, I personally would feel more comfortable to test it more regularly, while others test it once and call it good. Lots of good water filter systems out there too. (That has been discussed a few times on this forum.)

Regarding Septic. Gravity, Pressure, Sand Filtration, Mound, Glendon, pumps, no pumps, timers, alarms, so many different options out there. Some types of systems you rarely need to think about, while others require regular monitoring of the timers to pump X number of times a day. This is another thing they don't like to have livestock on in case they damage it by digging or whatever. You also don't want to drive heavy equipment over a drain field in case you happen to crush something. Landscaping is also a factor. You don't want to put plants on it that have root systems known to damage septic systems. If the septic is on timers, they will need to be reset/reprogrammed after power failures. Some States and Counties require regular inspections now and will provide a homeowner class so that you can do your own inspection.

If your area is prone to power outages, then you may want to consider a generator for the well & septic, but only if the outages are for days at a time. If power only goes out for less then a day, you can get by with the water in the pressure tank, hot water tank and lines as long as you don't go overboard.

As for garbage disposals. We don't use them. Any (non-meat) food scraps are given to the livestock.

[Mark Bolton]

I personally would never trade city municipal services and fees for a good well and septic. Of course you'd have go amortize out the cost of the system and maintenance and replacement against the city municipal fees but for me personally I would trade those monthly/quarterly fees in a heart beat for my own system.

Of course in densely populated areas it wouldn't work, but I'd much rather have a septic an a decent well over city sewer and water any day.

Don't be blanketly afraid of it.. it's good to do your homework but just imagine if you have a good well, and a septic that will last a long time, your monthly nut is cut by a substantial amount
A no-brainer for me.

[Dan Hintz]

Again, all good points. I didn't realize you could just drill a drying well a bit deeper and essentially replenish it, but it makes perfect sense. I'm adding to the list of questions I intend to ask the owner... where is the tank, field and wellhead located, and so on.

[Brian Elfert]

I was paying about $35 a month for water and sewer for just myself. If I figure I'll need a new septic system and possibly a new well in the next 20 to 30 years so it would cost me about $47 a month over 30 years with a septic system. A septic system is simply a requirement to live on acreage that isn't $200,000 or more an acre. (One 1/2 acre lot with sewer in the city just sold for $175,000.) I'm not saving any money in the long run.

I don't like septic because it can't handle as much as city sewer can. Well water can be almost undrinkable here even though it is perfectly safe.

[Ryan Mooney]

I didn't realize you could just drill a drying well a bit deeper and essentially replenish it, but it makes perfect sense.

Sometimes this is true Its really dependent on the geology and I certainly wouldn't count on it without getting in someone who knew about the area pretty well (and even then there can be a lot of site specific details but a good well driller who's been in the area a while can usually eyeball it fairly well).

Other times you bust through the aquifer you're in and into a different one (or worse none at all). Water flows and sits underground very much like it does above but in three dimensions. You can have a well sunk into a "basin" aquifer which might well be dry underneath the boundary layer so if you dig deeper you can end up below it (or deeper into it in which case then yes you do have more water). You can also have underground rivers/streams that you tap into where if you are above or below them there might not be any water either. Other times there is water but its different water (maybe better.. maybe not).

As an example at the last house our well was ~350' with static pressure at ~280' and we had pretty good if somewhat hard water (some nitrates in spring because we were essentially tapping side flow from a river that went by us). Our neighbours (who were above us by maybe 50') had a 180' well and their water ran red with iron and smelled like sulfur. Their well was in a different aquifer than we were and when they drilled our well they drilled through the one with icky water and into the better water below. This of course also meant that we paid more to run the pump than they did (the cost to dig another 180's well for cheaper pumping wouldn't have paid back in any reasonable time though).

This isn't to freak you out, because 99% of the tiem you're fine - especially if you have a decent flow rate to start with and reasonable differential between the bottom of the well and the static level. A friend of mine actually had his pump raised some because that way he didn't have to push so much head (cheaper) and its not to hard to add another length or two of pipe do drop it back down.

[Brian Elfert]

I was talking with a builder about possibly building a new house. The well driller they used suggested going down a fair bit deeper because the water deeper down is better quality. It isn't always a matter of just drilling until you hit water. I'm not sure how deep the well on the house I'm buying is, or how good the water is. I do know the water is safe to drink because the bank had the well tested.

[Brian Elfert]

Again, all good points. I didn't realize you could just drill a drying well a bit deeper and essentially replenish it, but it makes perfect sense. I'm adding to the list of questions I intend to ask the owner... where is the tank, field and wellhead located, and so on.

Here in Minnesota it is common to have a compliance check done on a septic system at time of sale. On bank owned houses the the bank normally has a septic compliance test done before the house is listed for sale. The bank has no idea if the septic is good or not. On a traditional sale I don't know if a compliance check is normally done or not. I would sure want one on any house I was going to buy. The bank in my case also had the well tested which is cheap to do anyhow.

[Stan Calow]

My understanding, around here most lenders will require testing of wells before financing.