hello, folks.

i am going to look at a house that has a private well, in the back yard, i assume. the house is in an unincorporated area of a not small town. most of the town has public well water.

i don't know anything about wells. other than have the water tested, and there is a pump somewhere.

can you guys school me on these systems ?
like :
cost of a good new system.
checkout out the current system.
basic operation and what to expect from it.
anything else i should know ?




this house has public sewer. but not public water. strange.
but on the good side. water rates are going way up around here.
so a private well may be a blessing.

thanx

 

Find a reputable well driller and have him check it out.

There will be a pump (99%), but beyond that the set-ups vary widely depending on the soil type, geology and soil/rock type. Most well drillers have a good feel for the conditions and may even have a list, even if they did not do the drilling.

In many states, the DNR or other agency may have a list of registered, unregistered and all known wells. This is done to make sure wells are abandoned properly and do not pollute an aquifer and other wells.

You are lucky if it is not abandoned, since IF it was abandoned improperly, you could have a costly liability on your hands.

Dick

 

One thing to be careful of...at least as far as I can tell from reading the paper and public notices around here.

As the town grows (ours was rapidly expanding before the housing bust) the city may want to include your area. Can't think of the correct term right now. Out here, it takes 50% of the owners in the area to vote yes. What they get is connection to city water and sewer, sidewalks, city road maintenance (many roads on the outskirts are unpaved), police instead of County Sheriff, fire protection etc. Some of those overlap already because of mutual support agreements.

The thing is, there is a property assessment that may start out as one amount, but by the time of completion of the merge grows much more than forecast. Often due to new State and Federal regulations. That happened here and peoples bills went from about $6K to over $10K. Of course that was over something like 10 yrs...but still quite a jump.

Once the yes vote is done, it can't be reversed. Even if you vote no but are in the minority, you will be assessed like everyone else. Same if you buy a house after the vote.

I'm not sure what the rules on wells were...I think you are only allowed to use them for not potable reasons.

 

It is odd that there is sewer but not water. Talk to the neighbors and see if they are on city water. This house might just mught not have been hooked up when it went through. Ask them how the water is as far a smell/taste and if they get water stains due to iron.

Being on a well is really no big deal and in most cases you would never tell your on one. There can be issues when the pump or pressure tank fails but replacement is not overly expensive and can be a DIY job.

 

That's an unusual situation. Usually a municipality provides water but not sewer. I'm curious how they handle the sewer billing since it's usually based off the water consumption.

 

The sewage could just be a simple flat rate, which is quite fair for a single family residential area. I have lived in several homes that had it that way.

The strangest was in a city that had city steam heat and the condensate from the measuring meter was dropped into the sewer line. No problem because the city charged for both and supplied both. At -20F in old homes there gets to be quite a bit of condensate. - A bit of traditional socialism in a northern town.

Dick

 

thanx for the input, guys.

as it tuned out, i am not interested in that house. while i want a "fixer". i do not want to replace the whole foundation.