water testing for old well

12 years ago

Hello everyone,

My husband and I built a new house and connected to an old well. (We demolished the old house.) Culligan tested our water but did not test for bacteria. We will be renting a twin water softener and iron clear.

My questions are:

1. Should we send the water sample to test for bacteria before or after Culligan installs the equipment?

2. Should we have the state test for anything else?

The paperwork states that new well are required to test for bacteria, nitrate, conductivity, sodium and sulfates. However, we did not drill a new well and do not want to pay for unnecessary tests.

Our test results are (if I am reading correctly):

total iron 2 ppm - ferrous .75 ppm & ferric 1.25 ppm

88 hardness

1500 dissolved solids

7.0 ph

3 ppm nitrates

organic 0 ppm or tannins (this could be wrong - hard to read writing)

Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreaciated. Thanks everyone.

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Comments (7)

User
12 years ago
You should test the old well the same as the new well to establish the water conditions regarding what needs to be treated to make the water nice and SAFE.

You want to know the exact water conditions before doing anything regarding water treatment so put Culligan off until you have the lab results.

I'd have the state or an independent lab test for hardness, iron, manganese, magnesium, TDS, PH, nitrates, bacteria, sodium and sulfates at a minimum to be sure that Culligan accurately represented the water conditions. Neither the state or an independent lab has an interest in selling or renting you water treatment equipment.

Is the 88 hardness ppm or grains (gpg)?
brickeyee
12 years ago
"The paperwork states that new well are required to test for bacteria, nitrate, conductivity, sodium and sulfates. However, we did not drill a new well and do not want to pay for unnecessary tests. "

Then ignore the tests and hope you do not get sick from the water.
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Hi library girl, We closed on the house on Thursday, so we haven't had a lot of experience with the water. However, I can tell you this. With no softener (just the UV filter and a new pressure/holding tank) the water is pretty darn good, from my point of view. The dishwasher in the house is older than me, I'm fairly certain, and there aren't any signs of rust on the inside. The glasses come out a bit cloudy though, but I can live with that. We've run a load of laundry and the whites didn't come out dingy, so I was pleased with that. Also, it doesn't taste half bad, either. I prefer the taste of harder water (I suppose its the higher mineral content) over softer water anyhow. The hot water does smell a little irony out of the tap, and we haven't tried to cook with it yet. I'm suspecting the hot water is a little off (in part, at least) to the water heater nearing the end of its useful life and never having the anode rod changed. Our UV filter is a Trojan, but that is all that I remember. I'll get you some info on oursIt was recommended to us because we have an older dug well with a cement casing and cement cap. Its not exactly weather tight, and the well company that inspected it said that the casing was in good shape and they didn't see any cracks. However, an earthworm may end up in there and there is your coliform. The seller paid for it, but it wasn't terribly expensive, and the bulb usually lasts about a year. As lurker said above, the hard water is a little harder on it and will probably shorten its life some. In our case, I was worried about the well being re-contaminated after it was chlorinated, as its a shallow well operating mostly off ground water, so at the very least, I wanted to take the possibility of bacteria out of the equation. We're still going to have our water tested regularly, but the UV filter provides us a good amount of peace of mind.
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newtosd
Original Author
12 years ago
Brickeyee - I wrote that poorly. We are definitely doing the bacteria tests. My question is, since we are definitely installing the twin water softener and iron clear, won't the other issues be addressed by the equipment? Thus, the water will be treated anyway? The iron is apparent in the water (yellow initially - now cloudy). The water softener is for our peace of mind, especially since most people in our area have hard water, public and private well.

justalurker - I will have to ask about the hardness. It just says 88.

Thanks for the responses.
User
12 years ago
newtosd,

To achieve success treating problem water one gets the results of a comprehensive water test and THEN selects and sizes the equipment based on those results, plumbing requirements, and water usage... not the other way around.

When treating well water it is ALWAYS advisable to have the water tested by a certified lab and not to rely on quickie water tests from Sears or a water softener company that won't be as accurate (and possibly not as competent) as from a certified independent lab.

When you have the results of a comprehensive water test then we can speak intelligently to your water treatment needs.

You'd also be wise to get at least two other water treatment companies in there to quote you. Make sure you include at least one local independent water treatment pro because Culligan may be over-selling you.
ionized_gw
12 years ago
Land Grant universities often have advice about water wells. It is probably the least biased.I suggest that you peruse your State's or maybe some others.
letta
10 years ago
I live in Michigan. Am currently looking at a house to purchase and am mandated to have the well water tested. How much should I expect to pay for the test?
User
10 years ago
letta,

Your question will get the attention you desire if you start a NEW THREAD instead of resurrecting a 2 year old thread.

water testing for old well

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water testing for old well

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