What do I need to know about wells and septic?

[Pop_Rivit]

I'll also add my voice to the chorus of having both the well and septic system inspected before you purchase by someone who knows the area.

Septic systems can be expensive, but you'll also never have to pay a bill for waste (local water works here bills for waste based on the amount of water used).

I replaced a faulty tank a year ago and it was about $4000. The original tank failed after 15 years because the tank was incorrectly made and the concrete "rotted" from within.

I had considered a poly tank, but after discussing it with our local county environmental person I selected a standard concrete tank. The poly tanks tend to be a problem in our area because of frost heave-they tend to pop out of the ground.

The tank manufacturer assured me that it's not a problem for a modern concrete tank to support the weight of my lawnmower-a Ford N series tractor. I drive over it on a regular basis.

I also aerate the leach field once a year to keep it from compacting.

The company that installed the new tank recommended we use one of the monthly additives. They've been in business for 50+ years and I trust their judgement.

In my area all water has to go into the tank-dishwater, laundry and bath.

Once you do live on some land in the country for a while you'll never want to go back to "city" life. I can't imagine living within shouting distance of neighbors or, worse yet, cramped into an apartment with the other sardines.

Good luck on your new place!

 

[jsharp]

One more vote for you to have both the water and septic systems inspected before you buy. If you can, find the contractors that installed them originally. They may well be able to tell you more about them than you'll find out from the county.

The well should be almost a no maintenance proposition. Every 5-10 years you might need to have the pressure tanked checked and the charge topped up. You'll know when you need to, you'll have low pressure right before the pump kicks on.

I don't know if there's a water softener there but you'll probably want one. Most well water is quite hard at least here in the Midwest. I'm not sure about your location.

The septic is a little more maintenance. As others have said you'll need to have the tank checked and pumped every few years. Don't let it go too long. If it overflows and fouls the leach field you'll get to replace the whole system. But a lot depends on how the system was designed. A systems designed or a family of 6 will not need to be pumped and cleaned as often if only 1 or 2 people are living there.

I moved onto 5 acres almost 14 years ago from a smaller house a couple of miles away in town. They'll never drag me back!

Just expect to do a lot of things for yourself or to spend more time on things than you did in town. A tractor is nice to have for snow plowing and general work and you probably have a lot more grass now to mow than you did before. Expect home maintenance and energy costs to be higher too. Storms are more severe outside of urban areas and power usually costs more.

It's still worth it though 10X. And if the area is anything like mine, it would pay to become friendly with your neighbors even if they're a distance away. Around here we watch each other's places and help each other out as best we can when it's needed. That makes some things that are almost impossible to do on your own much more manageable.

Congratulations on your new property and enjoy being a landowner!

 

[rjundi]

I know plenty on Septic, just purchased a 4 bedroom home that had one replaced with previous owners dime ($20,000). $20k to replumb house, 1600 gallon septic tank, and 30x40 leaching field that was all fill. I have a poor perc. rate of 1" in 12 minutes on my soil. Hire a reputable inspector with designer license for whatever you are getting not an installer. The $150 inspection fee got me a brand new septic.

The questions on septic are how often it was pumped and if pumped maybe contact the pumper to see if any records or memory of it on hand.

What type of system is it? Is it cesspool or more modernish septic tank (500-1500 gallons) with leach field. Ask the owner where it is located. Walk on the leach field hopefully after wetter(rainy) and see if its mushy or smells in the field. Also look at where the field is and if its low or has wetland plants growing there, its a bad sign.

The key with septic is having decent soils and owner who took care of it. Great soil they last indefinitely and are less delicate. Ignore advice on not pumping, if the solids get past the tank (grease builds up) your leach field is finished. Pennywise and pound foolish.

12GPM is meaningless as you need to know the GPM + FT Head or pressure(psi).

 

[Gary Allan]

I've seen em all (at least 20 years ago). Everything from dual cesspools to (literally) wooden boxes. One former coworker was gonna try and develop his property. I warned him that even if it perk'd ..the current "en vogue" method was sand mounding. I was right ..and by the time the guy was done pitching it ..he convinced my pal that it was the best thing to do ..@ $10k every so many years as the mound became saturated. Landscaping for an eternity.

Vented ..access (no digging to pump) ..non vented ..digging it up ..all went in and out of code around here over various decades. I ran a Honey Dipper for for a short spell before getting into industrial waste treatment.

I'd have it inspected before buying ..sure..but if this is remote enough and you have enough toys (like a backhoe) ..doing it yourself is not an incredibly complicated thing. The tanks does the digestion ..and the drain field leaches off the liquid. 99% of your influent is water.

The number of women on the line effect stuff more than anything. They produce far more tp to be processed per gallon of flushing than a man. The use of bleach, as has been mentioned, plays havoc.

 

[The_Jeff]

Look for "something" out of place, like a birdbath or a stone just sitting in the middle of the lawn, on a tangent from your drain pipe disappearing. That's probably over your cover. If your lawn is unusally flat in one spot and more or less rocky than the rest of the place, that could be fill from the tank or leach field.

Story time, I demanded a water test of the house I bought, everything had been done through realtors until then, so I met the former owner of the house. Had to let the water run 5 minutes for a "good" test. PO's phone rang and she started gabbing to her friend on how she was closing on the new place X weeks before our preliminary closing date.

"Excellent", I think in my most Mr Burns-ey voice. We had a home inspection contingency in our contract and we noted a few things unrelated to water that needed clearing up, we thought they'd still bite if we whittled a few grand off, and it worked! So the water test is important in ways you don't expect.

As far as the well, find out if they have a deep well with a pusher pump or a shallow with a jet pump. My shallow jet only needs regular 120 volt service that my generator can provide, while my inlaws' deep pump needs 240/30A.