Anybody Have a House With a Well Water Source?

[jgln]

We are concidering buying a home in Glouster Co. NJ that does not have city water, only a well. Does anybody keep a successul reef using well water? Are there any problems? Any special setups needed?
We have an RO/DI unit but we fear the well water may be too full of minerals or whatever and it would be very expensive to have to replace filters ofter. What about a pre filter befroe the RO/DI? Any information or experiences would be great. We would hate to buy a house only to find we have to give uo the hobby.
Thanks,
Jim and Kate

 

[mott768]

I have a friend that bought a house with well water in Jackson after having the water tested it had a high mineral content (for a Reef) even after they were using a whole house filter and a RO/DI system so now they buy the water at LFS for .50 a gallon. I would say if you love the house buy it worst cause you will have to get the water from a LFS. There is always other ways of getting water for your tank but a dream house is few and far between especially if you are getting a good deal on the house

 

[RichT]

I have well water and haven't changed any of the filters for over a year now (13 - 14 mo) TDS after the prefilters is 115 and after the DI is 000. Been that way since day 1.

Every area has a different set of problems. A mile from me they have to run brine tanks because the iron is so bad. Mine is sulfur which basically make the water smell like rotten eggs, but is harmless. The water goes through a pressurized air tank which releases the sulfur before it gets to the tap. My well is 110' deep. I live in Cape May where the subsoils are basically gravelly beach sand. HTH

 

[the tiler]

I have a well
I really do not have any problems
I use a RODI with a booster pump

Jason

 

[robszar]

where did you get the booster pump?

 

[the tiler]

This is the pump I have
You can get them at most RODI dealers and sometimes Ebay

http://www.airwaterice.com/product/8800BPC

Jason

 

[maxpower39]

i do well work in the area..and i have a well...you will be fine with your RO/DI...in my opinion better off...you may have to change membranes/filters more often than usual or less often which ever
but you should end up with a tds of 0 no matter what if your RO/DI is working properly...get a meter if you don't already have one...let me know if i can help you out in any way with your new well.

 

[Bax]

I am a well driller, I can't use the well at my office as it is to rough on my RODI. I bring water from home where I have city water. That said I agree with maxpower39, you're likely to be OK in that area, use a TDS meter often. Change your prefilters after a month, you'll learn a lot right there.

... buy the house

 

[jgln]

Thanks for all the great input, but I may have even better news. I called the township to see just what kind of specific water problems they have there (i.e. sulpher, iron). They asked for the address and they said they thought there WAS city water there and sure enough there was a water bill sent to that address and it's being paid. They did say there may very well (ha-ha) be a well there that may need to be listed on the MLS and can be used to water grass etc. I'm guessing the listing realtor got things mixed up some. I was really concerned about the water treatment because there is nothing inside the house for that and if there was one in the crawl space, it would be difficult to get to. Still has a septic tank but things are looking up.

 

[Bax]

That's great! Even if it was on a well, you can always do some type of pretreatment to improve the groundwater. The trouble with my well at my office is, I don't own it (I rent) so I have no real motivation to install a state of the art treatment set up here. Now if I sign a three year lease, I probably will, I am getting tired of lugging all this water form my house to the office.

 

[dflint]

just curious... the well drillers out there, what is the average depth you have to drill to get to the water table in jersey? I'm in middlesex county, not the hills in northern jersey.

 

[Bax]

First water is typically 25' or less. But my family would not be drinking that water. I do environmental drilling so I don't set potable water wells, but since the series of droughts and water shortages, most new wells in that area are going 300'+ in total depth as you move north and west from you, they are setting them at 400-450'. I would think in Middlesex, city water is readily available all over. If you're thinking irrigation/carwashing etc. you can go much shallower.