From piped water to well water

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From piped water to well water
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jettejette

Joined: 01 Jun 2013
Posts: 225

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 14 9:02 pm Post subject: From piped water to well water
Having had a massive water bill following several estimates, I am again, flirting with the idea of ditching this costly, foul tasting, chemical smelling water and making use of our well instead. Does anyone have experience of doing this, how did you go about it and most important of all - how much did it cost to convert?

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4563
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 14 10:33 pm Post subject:
Beings you have the pipework from your mains stop tap,your cost will be piping the water from your well to this existing pipework,plus what ever cost is needed regarding your well,ie .is it gravity flow or a pump needed? Plus of course the testing of the water quality in your well,this used to be done by the council years back,not sure who now.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 14 11:07 pm Post subject:
The council remain legally responsible, but disperse this by telling you to do it yourself.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 14 11:09 pm Post subject:

Ty Gwyn wrote:

Beings you have the pipework from your mains stop tap,your cost will be piping the water from your well to this existing pipework,plus what ever cost is needed regarding your well,ie .is it gravity flow or a pump needed?

Plus of course the testing of the water quality in your well,this used to be done by the council years back,not sure who now.

And changing any part of the system that requires pressure. You'll probably pump to tanks in the loft and have most things gravity fed. Our well pump was around £250 I think. It's all I know about because it's all I've had to replace, except our filtration system, which was around four quid.

Piggyphile

Joined: 02 Apr 2009
Posts: 891
Location: Galicia

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 14 8:00 am Post subject:
Perhaps a stupid question but does your well have deep water in it all year round? Our well level drops with the water table and in a drought goes dry. We have a deeper borehole instead which is reliable and can produce a households water all year round including watering plants as required.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 14 12:03 pm Post subject:

A couple of things:

As a minimum the company should read you meter at least every two years, most try to do it twice a year and will take your own readings if they cant get access to the property. If they haven't read it and you haven't denied access or received a request to provide a reading you might have a complaint worth persuing.

Why is the bill unepextedly large? Do you have a leak that's compounding the issue of the meter not being read? If you have a leak you have grounds for a rebate.

Don't know if you're connected to mains drainage but you would still have to pay that unless you have a spetic tank.

Taste is subjective. The taste will depend on the source. You might not like the taste of the mains supply and there's no guarentee you'll like the tast of your groundwater. If the 'chemical taste/smell relates to chlorine you can get rid of it by letting a jug of water stand in the fridge for a few hours and it will disipate. Its also driven off by boiling. treat is as a perishable product.

Graham Hyde

Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Posts: 365

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 14 12:41 pm Post subject:

Hi Jettejette.
I don't know your location but switching from mains to the well is a good idea but check the water quality first. The mains may be soft water and the well hard.
We have a spring with water draining from igneous rocks producing soft water but the well is on sandstone and the water is very hard producing deposit buildups in kettles and pipes.
This is not a reason for you not to change but you may have to incorporate a softner into your system. Good luck!
Regards,
Graham

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4563
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 14 2:09 pm Post subject:
[quote="Behemoth: Why is the bill unepextedly large? Do you have a leak that's compounding the issue of the meter not being read? If you have a leak you have grounds for a rebate. Does`nt the location of the leak from the meter depend on who`s responsibility it is? ie.from the meter to the property its the property owners responsibility.

kGarden

Joined: 01 Dec 2014
Posts: 178
Location: Suffolk, UK

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 14 2:48 pm Post subject:

We read (and record, in a spreadsheet) our meter readings (Water and Electricity) each week. I am curious to know, over time, if our energy saving measures are improving compared to a baseline, but I am also keen to know if we have a water leak / something left on.

When an estimated bill comes in if it is higher than the meter reading I pay them, if it is lower I submit my own reading. If the price goes up between now-and-next-time I don't want to, then, pay the higher rate for what I used previously. If the company sends me a high reading I pay it - its their problem if the price goes up before the next reading and, as has happened in the past, it appears that I have used almost nothing in that period.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 14 3:29 pm Post subject:

Ty Gwyn wrote:

[quote="Behemoth:

Why is the bill unepextedly large? Do you have a leak that's compounding the issue of the meter not being read? If you have a leak you have grounds for a rebate.

Does`nt the location of the leak from the meter depend on who`s responsibility it is?
ie.from the meter to the property its the property owners responsibility.

Technically a Water company's responsibility ends at the boundary with the property and all the pipe work beyond belongs to the customer. Meters are often sited at this point and you are responsible for all the consumption beyond it. However companies will give a rebate for the first leak on the underground pipe on the grounds that it might not have been immediately obvious and the large meter reading is the first indication of a leak. Only one rebate will be given as the expectation is that if the pipe is old and shonky you replace it.

Of course this only applies to externally sited meters which the company should be able to access and read. If the meter is fitted internally any leak should be fairly apparent in the property.

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 14 8:34 pm Post subject:
We have our own water supply. It's very nice but we have to add a filter tank to it that is changed every two years as the water is acidic. It eats through copper pipes (and invariably causes floods in rooms you have only just decorated).

jettejette

Joined: 01 Jun 2013
Posts: 225

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 14 11:30 pm Post subject:

We do think its a case of several low estimates but will check for leaks. We have had two over the last few years. Our meter is about a mile away in a farm gate, and I do read it on occasions (not as often as I ought), but when the weather has been wet, the hole where the meter is, fills with water so I can't read it anyway.
Apparently we are responsible for the mile of pipe running over two fields and through a farm, from the meter to our house - I checked this with Ofwat. When we had our last leak I contacted the water company to find out the route the pipes ran. They said they didn't know as the pipes had been laid over twenty (or it may have been thirty) years ago. I asked who would have a map, they said try the council. On contacting the council, they didn't have the information either. So you can see why well water looks quite enticing. 😕

Falstaff

Joined: 27 May 2009
Posts: 1014

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 14 11:42 pm Post subject:
A mile of pipe ! runs through a farm you say ! I'd be wondering just how many "unofficial" connections there were to that pipe !

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15600

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 14 9:24 am Post subject:

Sounds as if well water may be an advantage for you Jettejette, but you may want to consider a few things that others have raised. You will need to get your well water analysed to make sure it is potable, and it might be very different from the mains supply. As Graham has said, you might be changing from soft to hard water. There is also the problem of whether the well will run dry. It will not contain the chlorine that the mains water contains, so mustn't be stored static for too long otherwise it can grow things.

Have you tried dowsing to find the route of the pipe? It can be quite effective.

jettejette

Joined: 01 Jun 2013
Posts: 225

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 14 7:32 pm Post subject:
A neighbour used a dowser to find a leak. That worked pretty well in the dry weather. Not sure about when the ground is so saturated aas it is now.

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