[masraum]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

ive been on septic and well now for a year at my new place in the foothills and have learned a ton thus far. more on the well than septic.

the septic was inspected and pumped as part of the purchase agreement and was found to be in good working order. after it was pumped there was a large amount of water, 200 gallons as i recall pumped into the tank and it was observed to see the drainage rate was acceptable. as thoroughly stated above there are do's and don'ts to abide by. im live here alone so the septic does not see super heavy usage and with the covid visitors are much less common that before.

my well? heavy iron content that had me very concerned at the outset. still does from time to time. ive got a believe this or not a pelican water filtration system! it works very well with a prefilter that i wash and/or clean about once a week and can use a filter 5-6 times before i trash it. the after the prefilter as noted above there is a chlorine uptake system that i have to add water and bleach to every few months (40 gal tank). as noted above the chlorine gathers the iron particles and they glob together for more effective filtration. it then goes through a green sand filter that back washes every three days at around 80 gallons. from the green sand filter it goes through a charcoal type filter to neutralize the residual chlorine, and lastly through a non salt type water softener. ive had the water tested post filter system and the iron and manganese levels are lower than the prescribed thresholds of PPM. there is another filter just past the hot water heater that i change every six months that does show signs of iron.

my well is deep. 500+ feet as at one time it was more shallow and late in the summer and fall it would not produce. i as suggested above got all the documents the county had on the well that were somewhat usefull only the county well inspector's penmanship was unreadable. the pump is at around 250'. ive got a variable speed pump that eliminates the need for the big pressure tanks with a single 5 gallon tank that save a ton of room in the well house.

the amount of iron in the water is in direct relation to surface water intrusion. last winter there was a very dry month and the iron content went through the roof. i had quit irrigating the turf areas at that point in the winter and became aware of this rather quickly. i am fortunate to have my property supplied with a gravity fed ditch water system from the mountain behind my house for the irrigation. im in the foothills of the motherload where gold mining was prevalent and the gravity fed ditch water systems continue to be maintained and run year around served from various reservoirs. ive found that the landscape irrigation helps a bunch and i actually "water the hill" with it to create surface water intrusion with very noticeable results. i run sprinklers of the ditch water system a few times a week around the well house putting hundreds of gallons of surface water down that is very effective in keeping the iron content low. if not for this the summer and fall months would be a real struggle in keeping the iron content down. i water strictly for quality as the well is a good producer giving 8 gpm during the testing at purchase. i was told to keep it moving, cause the more water it produces the less iron affect.

i do use the iron out tablets in the toilets to keep the slime at bay and a year in seeing little to no rust spots on fixtures. the hardness of the water is what it is and just has to be expected from a well. i do not drink or cook with the water.

im still learning, but gather my techniques and keep a log of water quality and well maintenance in the pump house to refer to moving forward. it's a way of life that im becoming accustom too.

Lots of good info. Thanks for typing all of that up!