Since we bought our farm in 1983 and drilled a well, I haven't had to worry about a water or sewer bill- - - - -got a well and a septic system! However- - - - - -I've also become my own waterworks, plumber and electrician. Why does the pump pressure switch ALWAYS pick a cold, wet night to fail? I got it going temporarily a few minutes ago, but the first stop in the morning is going to be Home Depot to buy a new switch. I usually buy two, since it's 20 miles to the nearest supplier, but I guess I used the spare the last time this happened! Even with the hassles, I'll bet I'm still money ahead over paying some municipal water system every time I flush a turd!
Jerry

You must need a bath like nobody before.

I just made a payment on my water system. Installed a new pressure tank and water softener. The softener is a Iron Pro KDF-85 type. The final result is 0.0 hardness, 0.0 Iron, 154 ppm tds.

What is causing the pressure switch to go out? Usually they last for years and years. If mine has a problem, all I have to do is clean the contact points with a fine file and it's good to go.

No water bill here either.....................


but the more water we use, the more we pay for electricity............which ain't bad considering our Rural Electrical Co-op has the cheapest rates in the State.

Geno

A 4" hole through 300 feet of limestone means I don't need any sort of Calcium supplement in my multivitamins!
LOL!
Jerry

Ditto so far,

And get the odd spider web out.

Geno

Air bladder is probably bad if your switch is firing all the time, hence burning out.

Mine average about 5 years each. I'm not such a cheapskate that I can't afford 15 bucks for a new one rather than file the points and wonder when it's going to fail again- - - - -on another cold, wet night! Got a new bladder tank, less than 2 years old, and the pressure is correct.
Jerry

My water bill averages about $25/month. It ain't breaking the bank. But having a well is the only option where my mother in law lives.

About $500.. a year for sewer/water where I live. Take a long time to pay for a well and septic system. And I have paid for one 40 years ago.

I get on average 5 years out of a pressure switch, hell I can remember my grandpa getting 15 years out of one.

My house is on town water, and the quality is excellent. My house is right by the largest fresh water supply in the world. My ranch has a well and septic. The pressure and table is excellent.

I really enjoy the convenience of city water but I also like the freedom of my own water supply. It’s a toss up.

When I built my place in '06, the Franklin subdrive system was just coming of age.
This is a system with no external pressure tank, no switch, no fuss. It's all in the well casing.

Recommend to everyone that desires an incredibly unobtrusive, uber-efficient well system.

It may be that our switch is sending a lemming message to the snails here. The little armored slugs get in the gap and short it out.

It is always interesting to be your own plumber, electrician and general contractor. Ahh, yes, the life in the rural lane. There are many good reasons that it is not for everybody.

Replaced the kitchen faucet this weekend, thanks to the calcium and magnesium in the well water. No water bill is nice. Remind me next month.

I’m about to hookup to a well. It’s the best tasting water!

I kinda figure my electric bill is partially my water bill.

Probably about the only way to be truly water bill free would be to have a windmill on your well atop a hill, that feeds a cistern atop the same hill, that gravity feed your needs. House, barn, whatever....
Few of those places around here that still operate like that, but very few.

We were getting bovine fecal coli form bact in our shallow well. (It was a dug spring). That; and my wife’s dumbass cousins were washing their Iroc-Z camaros every day during the warm months. Kept pulling the water down during dry times

There were 5 families on that well.


I had to get me some of that city water brought down the highway

Got to watch out for them water snakes with wells.

The neighbor half a mile down the road has a truly "no cost" water system. His spring is 75 vertical feet uphill from his house, with a storage tank just below the rock outcrop where the water runs out and enough gravity flow to pressurize his plumbing. There's a small spring on our place at approximately the same elevation, but I've never gone to the effort to install the catch tank and 300 yards of pipe that it would need to supply the house.
Jerry

I haven't lived anywhere there wasn't spring or well water since I was a wee yonker....

Indirectly, you would have to prorate the cost of the well, plus the electricity, plus the assessor takes the well and septic system into consideration.

Bet sand is screwing up the switch.

I have had the same jobs that you described for 43 years.

I got tired of the switch going bonkers so i put a 4 micron screen in line before the switch.

Only once have i had a problem and that happened when the power went out when it was in the low 20's with a 35 mph wind.

I also started using stainless steel 1/4 in.pipe in line with the switch.

We run 40-60 lbs of pressure on the system with 3 houses and the pump is a 3 hp Gould it is set at 175 ft. and is in an 8 in.casing.

When everything is doing right the weather is fabulous and well you know the rest.

That bull scat is probably better for you than what’s in the city water you drink.

Our well was drilled in '95 along with installing the septic system. So far the only issue has been the pump going out after 15 years. It's down 200' and cost about $1000 to replace. The cost of pulling it was much lower than I'd expected. Most of that was the price of a 1.5 hp pump.

Our well is 100 ft deep, the water level stays at about 60 ft. - and the taste and content are very pure. We are blessed. This has been the case for 30+ years, and the system is still operating on the original submersible pump, pressure tank and switch. We are doubly blessed. The windmill well feeding our pond sits about 150 yards down into the pasture and it is 75 ft. deep with the water level at about 35 ft. That water seems to taste even better than the house well water. We are triply blessed.

Need to add that the RO water folks test the water every 6 months and after going through the system it's about 1200 pmm.

I like to say that it's liquid rock.

We had a Gas and Water head honcho in clarksville.
"Surprisingly" the subdivision he lived in wasnt metered for water for
a considerable amount of time.....

Or just develop a spring on the hill behind the house. The one at my Uncles house produced rainwater soft and was far enough up the hill to make 60 PSI at the house and about 50 GPM. It comes straight out of a basalt mountain and is the best tasting drinking water I have ever found.

Lincoln County (Fayetteville) just recently had some major drama concerning the water system- - - - -financial irregularities of some sort involving several of the good ole boys who ran the show!
Jerry

I have both well and city water here at my house. I also had a septic system but switched to city sewer. Just had a natural gas line run from the street to the house for free as well. Getting rid of the oil boiler and tanks this spring/summer.

Our well water is pure but slightly alkaline, about a pH of 8.0. So is the soil. We don't have any issues but we do have to be sure to never plant anything that requires an acid soil. I sure wish we could grow blueberries but they just won't grow in this soil. Oh, and if you live here, NEVER pay any attention to the garden books that say to add lime.

Currently installing a mini-hydroelectric power generation unit at my son's off-grid place. In winter the solar lags in power production so this water generated trickle charge will help immensely.

We've buried about 400 feet of 4" pvc pipe pen stock which drops down about 150' in elevation and is providing 74 psi water pressure at the generating pelton wheel. Had to run 2" conduit back up the hill pull wire and hook into the battery powerhouse. First test run is tomorrow.

Is it free water? Oh hell no, not with install cost and upkeep, but having engineered water pressure providing power to run a solar well is pretty close to no water bill.

When this project comes to fruition I'll share some pics with y'all if interested.

Our 2 places here on the Kenai with wells both go 110 feet to water. Rental units are 8 miles away from home, and water tastes better, but mine is OK. For the first year after we moved from there to here we hauled water from there to here just for coffee. . We got used to it here....

We have walking water at our remote cabin also....I walk 50 yards to the river, and 20 feet down the bank, scoop it up in 5 gallon buckets and walk back. We keep several 5 gallon buckets of river water on hand, or if it is going to rain and raise the river (silt and beaver poop) , we fill a garbage can beforehand for several days water until the river clears. Because beavers poop on the sandbars, we try never to take water in a rising river, anyway.

We boil all cooking and drinking water there, and add bleach to the rest. Oh, yeah - it is all brown. Tannic in the water. Tastes good tho.

Don't have to deal with all that electronic and filtering/pressure BS. .

We have a well and septic system at the farm and spring water and privy at the cabin

Hotrod Lincoln, For several years I had the same issues. I got rid of my well pit, using a pit-less adapter, and brought all of the electrical into the house. It sure has made life “mo better”! memtb

Ten or twelve years ago the state made us put a sewer system in, it was by God crazy expensive but federal money paid for all but your own hook up, which was 3-4 grand for most folks but the cost is 35 bucks per month , which is dirt cheap if you ever tried paying for a septic tank and a leach field if your would perk. We have our own well with great water so I'm happy with the setup .

I installed a water treatment system with KDF media several years ago.....It worked wonders on my iron water....

For the same reason one only has a flat when he's about to go somewhere. If go out and just do a walk around to check things, the tires are always fine.

Maternal grandmother never had any kind of water in her house but from a well her entire life. Her well was originally outside her back door a few yards and powered by a hand pump only. Her sons upgraded it back in the '70s, piping it into the screened in back porch and put a new hand pump on it, too.

Her well water had a sulphurous 'rotten egg' odor but I guess it was harmless because that's all she drank and cooked with and she lived well into her 90s. Did take some getting used to though but tasted alright once you got past the rotten egg smell. No idea why but when she cooked a big pot of beans with that water they never caused flatulence.

She kept a porcelain bucket of water with a dipper on a little table near the back door for drinking and a porcelain dish pan with a bar of Lave soap beside it for washing hands. She heated water on a wood burning cooking stove for bathing, washing dishes and clothes.

For years the little town we live in had it's own city water system fed by a well. It had varying sodium levels and occasionally had to announce warnings for customers on low sodium diets to not drink it until warning was lifted. It was so high in sodium naturally that it would 'pit' ice cubes made with it. Coffee and drinks made with it tasted like you added salt to it. The ice added to carbonated drinks would go flat in no time. They had to treat the water with all kinds of chemicals to meet government approval. The chemicals were so harsh at times that they eventually would eat through the tanks of water heaters and bottoms of automatic dish washers.

We've been on county water piped in from an adjacent county for several years now. It is relatively expensive but worth it considering what we had to live with before.

roundoak:

Your privy is a lot more scenic than mine, which consists of a pole framework, roofed with scrap metal roofing. When we get there, I take a poly tarp and wrap it (I have dedicated screws in the poles. Quick job!) When we leave, I take the tarp down. It ain't so much for privacy.....no neighbors.

My wife makes me go out first thing in the morning to light some PIC coil on the seat-bench, so she doesn't get bug-bit butt.

The river has been known to flood every few years and wipe out the privy - I haven't had to replace the pole framework since I first built it maybe 15 years ago, and 3 over-the-banks.

We love it there..... :

"She kept a porcelain bucket of water with a dipper on a little table near the back door for drinking and a porcelain dish pan with a bar of Lave soap beside it for washing hands. She heated water on a wood burning cooking stove for bathing, washing dishes and clothes."

Our cabin time.... Our wood cook stove is about 35" X 53". fire box on upper left, with the chimney to the left of that. Draft feeds across the top, down the right, and underneath, then out the chimney. A real trick to get started /drafting without smoking us out! Propane torch through a vent at bottom left is invaluable! Oven makes great bread and cooking tho, with it's surround heat.

We keep a large pan or even a wash-tub on the right side of stove top for ready hot water all day long.



Two years ago we went up-scale. I prefabbed a wash stand for the porcelin wash bowl here in my garage, for next to the cabin door, broke it down, and reassembled there.. Drains into a removable 5-gal bucket.

We are getting waaaay uptown!

Bingo !


We’re gonna have to dig a new well next summer 🤦🏼‍♂️ There’s a hole in the casing & we can’t get the pump to break free 🤷🏻‍♂️

It’s 168 feet down. How do I know ? Me & the well driller friend of mine & his brother hand pulled it to replace a pump 20 years ago.

Problems, problems 🤷🏻‍♂️

More info and pics would be appreciated. I’m planning something similar

I lived the first 65 years of my life on well water.......and most of that was sulfur water. A little over 4 years ago, we decided to bite the bullet and put in county water. Paid a guy to dig an almost half mile of trench, then installed the pipes myself.

One of the best decisions that I've ever made.

Still use the well for some of the animals and for the garden and greenhouse.

I have a 505 foot deep well. Got it drilled 23 years ago, great water flow and great tasting water. Knock on wood still on the original pump.

I haven't paid water or sewage for 56+years,but put in a 350 ft well, pumps, new pumps, septic pumping etc probably make up for it. Water does taste better than city water though

Choices have consequences and there is no free lunch. Since 2001 the well/associated equipment and septic system combined costs in my world are ballpark $15K. Given the choice I would hook up to municipal service in about two heartbeats.

Sounds and looks like my kinda of living.

Not bills as such, we paid out about four thousand on septic troubles late summer, fall.

Several years back a close relative and her former fiance were planning to build a new home on a rather pricey lot he bought in a semi-rural community in Connecticut but quickly changed their mind and backed out after they got the estimate of what just a well and septic systems required to meet codes alone was going to cost. As I recall it totaled in the tens of thousands of dollars. Last I heard he later resold the lot.

Do any of have a storm water run off fee added to your municipal water or sewer fees? Those cost have stifled business and home building in our state.

roundoak - love that photo of your spring - looks delicious - and the picturesque privy. Thanks

I'm on the grid. I'll stick with city water and sewer. If it snows the city snowplow comes down the street. FYI-----most folks around here that are on wells come to town for drinking water and water to make coffee. In the summer when their wells run dry, they are lined up at the city water dock. Hauling water out to their houses. Lots of F250's with a big water tanks in the bed.

CCCC, thanks for the comments.

I have the spring water tested yearly since 1997 and results are always good.

To get the water to the cabin I make the 300 yard round trip on foot or if in a hurry I hop on the Honda.



A privy really adds creature comfort to a permanent camp. This one is on a camp I used to own in northern Wisconsin.


This one is on a Ontario Canada camp.


This one I built last year and hauled 1200 miles to my camp in Montana. It was a replacement.

When I lived on a well(50+yrs) the pressure switch would fail about every 5 years, I realized it was fine sediment causing it to plug up.
Installed one of those glass bowl sediment trap inline and the largest tank I could get in The pump house. The switch would last until the contacts failed. I only flushed the trap bowl every few years.
I depend on the little town and county now to supply water and keep the turds going someplace else.

las, I use portable shower bags at the camps and setup a more permanent shower at camp in Wisconsin.

Tool shed with shower setup.

I haven't paid a water bill in FIFTY YEARS!