Thinking about moving to a different place, closer to work and would save me money.
Checked it out this morning, and the owner said I would have to add salts to the water tank because it is well water? He has lived there himself and said it isn’t bad for laundry like some other well water.
Am I going to be consuming anything that would mess up performance? Or just less cramping due to increased electrolytes?
-Physiojoe
we have well water and initially drank tap water. However with the birth of our second child we switched to bottled water (the 5Gal bottle that gets delivered).
you simply need to have the water tested…
In our case that water is hard and has lots of sulfur and/or iron so we need to add salt via a water softener & we also have a an Iron Filter or something like that.
Fred.
Thinking about moving to a different place, closer to work and would save me money.
Checked it out this morning, and the owner said I would have to add salts to the water tank because it is well water? He has lived there himself and said it isn’t bad for laundry like some other well water.
Am I going to be consuming anything that would mess up performance? Or just less cramping due to increased electrolytes?
-Physiojoe
We have been on well water since 2008 and have never had an issue. We use a water softener. It depends on where you live, we live at 9,000 feet and our water is cleaner and tastes much better then what comes out of the lines in town.
If you’re going to live in an area with well water, be SURE to get a pretty detailed water analysis before you pull the trigger. Case in point: I live in Albuquerque, NM. I have city water, but it comes from wells. The well water in Albuquerque is severly polluted with chromium 6. This is the same toxin that was in the water made famous by Erin Brockovich in Hinkley, CA. The main difference between the water in HInkley and Albq. is that in Hinkley the toxicity level averaged about 19 times the safe limit and in Albq. its only 17 times the safe limit. All of this is denied (actually just not addressed at all) by the city water authority.
For consumtion we either have to buy de-ionized water from the Whole Foods or put in, and maintain, a reverse osmosis system. If you’re contemplating moving the cost of the water tests could be small in comparison to ignorace.
It all depends on the water itself.
I grew up on unfiltered, unsoftened well water. It was never a health or clothing problem. Eventually (50 years after the house was built) there was rust stains in the original tub.
And it tasted a whole lot better than the ultra chlorinated city water at my inlaws house.
Azby is right - get the water test. Actually, get two, one for mineral and one for coliform bacteria, especially if you are near any agricultural areas.
The whole hard/soft water issue is a bit of a wash. Hard water is safe to drink ( it was previously thought to contribute to kidney stones, but most of those studies are dismissed now). However drinking softened water does increase sodium intake, and the effects of excess sodium in the diet are pretty well documented. Some softeners have switched to potassium based systems, which are generally safer unless you have a particular problem with potassium in your diet.
The main problem with hard water is that it will decrease the efficiency of using it for cleaning (laundry, dishes, bathing) and it will cause issues with anything where it comes in contact with a heating element.
The best solution is a reverse osmosis system, and if you have coliforms add a UV system to it as well. Or you can stay on hard water and spend a ton of money buying CLR in bulk. Or soften you water chemically and buy bottled.
Of course, all of this is long term health effects, and YMMV - if this is a short term move you could just leave things as they are.
Thanks for the info, from this local data data it doesn’t look bad:
<edit to snip out graph that didn’t copy correctly>
The graph I tried to copy showed Chloride and Sulfate WAAY below EPA water quality standards, Iron is borderline.
This will be a 1-3 year residence for me (leasing), so I’m most concerned about laundry and health effects compared to fixtures and pipes in the house.
From what I’ve read, southwest well water tends to be the worst, but I’m about 45 mins south of Cleveland in Ohio.
-Physiojoe
Couple points.
First a whole bunch of cities get their water from a well. The only other option is getting from a lake or river. In the end it’s water and it all comes and goes thru the same cycle sooner or later.
What you need to watch out for with any source of water is what’s in it. People have the tendency to think “City water is safe”, when in fact there have been more than a couple cases of tainted city wells and water sources. A city water source is just as easily polluted as a single home water source.
I think it’s a good practice to get the water tested in ANY home you move into.
That being said the only difference between well water and city water is that the city acts as your water softener and tester, in most cases.
A decent water softener can tun just about any well water into city water and can do so without all the added chemicals, chlorine, flouride etc etc.
A softener does not ADD salt to the water. The salt is used to flush the system and acts as an active ion to pull all the filtered crap out of the filter.
You can also go further and get other water conditioners beyond the softener. Personally I find the water right out of our well/softener is just as good as the stuff coming from the reverse osmosis system we have or any other bottled water.
BTW a good portion of the water that comes in bottles is well water.
~Matt
Thinking about moving to a different place, closer to work and would save me money.
Checked it out this morning, and the owner said I would have to add salts to the water tank because it is well water? He has lived there himself and said it isn’t bad for laundry like some other well water.
Am I going to be consuming anything that would mess up performance? Or just less cramping due to increased electrolytes?
-Physiojoe
It all depends on the well. Huge amount of people on wells.
Besides the tests, taste it. The neck of the woods my parents’ house is in has a lot of sulfar in well water. Our well never had sulfar, but go to a friend’s house and the ice cubes would really destroy the taste of anything it was in.
And a few year from now when fracking hits your area youmay even be able to light your tap water.
I love well water - the $$$ problem is with the pump and water lines to the home.
It all depends on the water itself.
I grew up on unfiltered, unsoftened well water. It was never a health or clothing problem. Eventually (50 years after the house was built) there was rust stains in the original tub.
And it tasted a whole lot better than the ultra chlorinated city water at my inlaws house.
This is my story as well. I grew up on well water, and while we did occasionally get rust marks, a little Rust-out woudl take care of it. Ditto for the limey buildup (well, CLR, there). I always thought it tasted better than city water. (Although there are many places where this isn’t the case…I won’t drink water plain in a lot of places up on the Range in Minnesota, cause it’s kinda nasty tasting.)
I now drink 3M-tainted city water, and am waiting to grow a second head. 
(Actually, I’m not. I’m not overly concerned at all)
When I was in the country and had well water and softner, I also had a line to my sink with unfiltered well water for cooking and drinking. Of course if you are leasing yoy may not have such an option.
It depends on where you live, we live at 9,000 feet and our water is cleaner and tastes much better then what comes out of the lines in town.
x2
grew up drinking/using well water. Never knew anything different. Had some rust stains on clothes from time to time. Ours was softened. The first time I really noticed anything was when I went was from college the first time and the water felt ‘soft/slimy’ compared to what I was used to in college. Never had a problem with the taste even after having other waters.
A lot will depend on where you live.
Ask for a taste of the water and see what you think.
You locality should have laws/regulations about well water testing when you buy/sell property. Where we have lived, it is the seller’s responsibility to send water to a sanctioned lab for coliform testing. Some labs include other chemical tests as well (esp if there is ag or industry nearby). Also, where we’ve lived the county extension office provides water testing, but we’ve never used that resource.
We currently have a well - we have an inline screen filter to remove the iron particulates - have to flush it out every couple of weeks. Then a water softener that I clean out (the prefilter screen) 2x/year. Salt is cheap for the water softener. And the latest studies have discounted the effects of sodium on high blood pressure.
Taste the water before you move. Some areas have high sulfur water that tastes awful - although I have heard that some people claim that is mainly from bacterial contamination of the water lines. As long as the well is reliable, I’d rather have a well than be on city/county water any day.
The first time I really noticed anything was when I went was from college the first time and the water felt ‘soft/slimy’ compared to what I was used to in college.
I forgot about that. Soft water has all the “hardness” taken out so it does fill slick when you are showering. I assume they still do this, but city water adds some hardness back like 5 grains of iron so they do not disolve their old iron pipes. That does feel different being on a soften water system.
Have you considered using a water distiller?
Our water comes from rain collected off our roof into a big tank in the garden. This is common in New Zealand
We use a water distiller to purify our drinking water. It is a slight hassle remembering to run it every couple of days, but it does make the purest water of any purification system. We have two machines and they make about 8 litres in 4 hrs. We keep them in a bathroom and the heat they give off warms that room nicely so it is not wasted energy.
The rest of the water we use is untreated and is fantastic for showering or washing. Soap lasts ages as the water is so soft.
Have you considered using a water distiller?
Our water comes from rain collected off our roof into a big tank in the garden. This is common in New Zealand
We use a** water distiller** to purify our drinking water. It is a slight hassle remembering to run it every couple of days, but it does make the purest water of any purification system. We have two machines and they make about 8 litres in 4 hrs. We keep them in a bathroom and the heat they give off warms that room nicely so it is not wasted energy.
The rest of the water we use is untreated and is fantastic for showering or washing. Soap lasts ages as the water is so soft.
I can see filtering, UV treating, or chemically purifying rainwater. But, why distill it? Rain water is already essentially distilled and has extremely low TDS (total dissolved solids).
Distilling kills all the bacteria and viruses. You get those in the water from the bird poo on the roof. Also, its surprising how much algae and other c**p grows in the gutters. We live right on top of a ridge and it still finds a home there. It also removes any chemical residues from the roof paint or water pipes
UV treatment is more convenient as it can do the whole house, but does not remove chemicals. It requires more filters afer treatment, and the bulbs and filters must be replaced every year. The running cost for distilling is lower than a UV system for our water consumption.
Cool. Thanks.