Moving to a home on septic and well

[KristenR]

I never would have thought about it myself but a friend just told me I should buy shampoo and conditioner specific for well/hard water. Just curious what you folks use.

Also, is all well water hard? What exactly does that mean anyway?

[MomtoCandJ]

I use a special shampoo once a week for hard water. Not all well water is hard and there are varying degrees of hardness. Hardness is how much lime and other minerals are in the water (like rust) also you can get a whole house water softener or one just for your shower or sinks. Your county extension is able to do a water test but I would check to see if there is one already on file :)

[Erin]

Hard water means that it contains more minerals than soft. It can be more difficult to rinse clothes, hair, etc. Not all wells have hard water.

That said, I've lived for 25 year with well water and septic systems and don't really do anything differently than my town neighbors do...

[snowbeltmom]

We have well water and had to add a water softener because the calcium and lime deposits were ruining our appliances. Also, when the power goes out, so does the water supply. We ended up buying a back-up generator because I can live without AC, but not running water.

[----]

.

[Wheres Toto]

We have a well with extremely hard water. It ruined a couple of appliances (mainly our dishwasher) but I didn't use anything different as far as shampoo and conditioner (Aussie shampoo and Fructis conditioner usually). We did recently get a water softener since we were tired of running through dishwashers.

 

The biggest pain is the no power/no water.

[G5052]

Get your water tested, or ask around to see if neighbors have done that recently. Some areas require water testing before closing (assuming this is not a rental). Every well is a little different, and it depends on how much filtration/softening you have.

 

We recently had to replace our well pump. Ouch ($$$). At least it failed during a period of mild weather. At 250 feet down, we decided that we couldn't handle it ourselves.

[linders]

Our well water is not hard (thanks to a builder who drilled to a lower aquifer), so I don't have the scum/rinse/taste issues that some have. It is somewhat acidic and has reacted badly with certain anti-perspirants and sunscreens to stain clothing. Get your water tested.

 

Also...

 

I wasn't use to having a well. Well pumps run on electricity. So when the electricity is out (frequent here)...no water. To drink, to shower, to flush. After the first few times I finally learned to keep lots of gallon jugs of water on hand.

[Happy]

We have soft well water. I'd lived most of my life with hard water, so the new water felt odd. We don't do much differently than our townie friends. When the weather turns hard cold, we run the water in the house to help keep the well from freezing. Ours is covered nicely, but I don't like frozen pipes. We have a sand filter on ours to protect the appliances. As far as the septic...we do a few things differently there. NO (and I mean NO) feminine products flushed down the toilet. If we have a large group here for a day or two I put a small sign above the toilet paper holder saying feminine products give our septic system indigestion. We also hardly ever use our garbage disposal. The less stuff you put down the septic system, the better.

[Mom4coupons]

I tried one brand for well water and I didn't notice a difference. I do think my curly hair is very different because of our hard water. I love taking showers at the gym with city water - it is so much shinier and softer. My female neighbors do the same thing for rare date nights when we want our hair to be nice.

 

 

[Mommyof4ks]

A water softener will help with well water, and septic systems are not a big deal at all. We have had septic systems for the 13 years, and the old style does not require any maintenance, but the newer aerobic systems require contract maintenance and pumping every 3-5 years. The old style is much easier IMO, and ours still works great after nearly 30 years.

[Parrothead]

My city water is much harder than my mom's well water.

[Denisemomof4]

I *CAN'T* drink water unless it's filtered or well water! Neither can my daughters. I absolutely LOVE well water. Septic? I have to do it but it's not by choice. Our water is hard. We need to get a softener because I think it's making us go through too many dishwashers. Other than that, or buildup around faucets if you don't stay on top of cleaning, we take no precautions, really. I do try to stay away from bleach, and most of my cleaning chemicals are more natural. But we don't restrict anything else, nor does anyone I know who has well water and septic. You won't know if your water is hard until you have it tested.

[Beth in OH]

I agree with the others to have your well tested for hardness (and bacteria, etc.). If it tests high for iron, you will have staining problems that you will want to address. High iron can ruin laundry and appliances. It also makes it hard to keep sinks, toilets, and tubs stain free.

[xixstar]

Well water here and the water is fine for us, I think it is a little on the acidic side. We live in an agricultural area and had our water tested thoroughly (it failed first test because of no use for over a year, got treated, tested fine - guess what, treating is just pours a bunch of bleach down, letting it set, and pumping it all back out - more useful to know later if you the DIY type). Septic was tested too. Do a little research on what the numbers and such mean - don't have your water tested by a water treatment company, the kind that sell in home water treatment systems unless you want to buy a system. ;) We just have a filter on water to thin out the dirt and have been happy with it.

 

We do nothing special with our water at all in terms of cleaning and such. Oh and we've replaced the pump ourselves too, pulled it by hand -- that was an adventure but far cheaper than what others wanted to charge us, but again, kinda diy kind of folk (well that and broke folk too).

[Butter]

I didn't even know there was shampoo for well water! We have moderately hard water in our well. I use Pantene currently (I am not brand loyal). Never even thought about using something special.

[dm379]

We just moved to a place with well water for the first time last year. We don't do anything special but it is a rental so the landlord might. One thing that was a pain was that in the winter the well would freeze. So if you live in a place where it gets cold, put a heater on the pipes so that you have water in the morning.

[Donna]

We have well and septic but the people before us put in a water softening system with reverse osmosis filter for the drinking water. We don't do anything special. Dh does have the septic pumped every few years as a precautionary measure. We did in our old home and while a number of our neighbors needed new septic systems during the 15 years we lived there, ours was fine.

[merry gardens]

We have a well with hard water and iron, so we use a water softener. The softened water "feels" different--and we can't use as much soap as recommended normally for dishwasher and such, or it doesn't rinse out.

 

I use Malibu Well Water shampoo. My kids just use regular shampoos, but they don't color their hair. The iron in our water--even with a water softener--alters my hair color to a brassy mess that I dislike and makes it feel like a wire. It only does that on my chemically treated hair, so I'm left with the choice of gray, brass & wire, or more expensive shampoos.

 

Septic: be careful with what you flush. Those "flushable" baby wipes--uh, no. Not unless you like having your tank pumped. We had to call the septic guy after I tried those when potty training. Avoid extra thick toilet paper and too much toilet paper in general. We use single ply toilet paper. Don't flush things with lotions, like some tissues have. Or feminine products. Don't pour oils or fats down the sink, (generally not a good thing to do even if you don't have a septic system.) If in doubt, don't flush it, put it in trash. Avoid anti-bacterial soaps as it kills the good bacteria in your tank. You can buy something to put down the drains to help promote the bacteria that breaks down the junk in the tank.

[happypamama]

We have a well and septic and love them, for the most part. The hard water is terrible; it has killed a few appliances, and we really need a softener, which is expensive. I do stuff like run lemon juice through our coffee maker once a month to keep mineral deposits down (they are what killed our last coffee maker), and I think it's also hard on our clothing. But! Think of what's not in the water -- no fluoride (which I don't want my kids ingesting daily), etc. Our home inspection report included a water test, at our request, which checked lead, iron, hardness, etc.

 

Having well and septic has not been a big deal. We had the pump for the septic die once in a big storm, so that was a bit of an annoyance, because it means the tank fills up, and we had to pay for emergency pumping (which wasn't too terrible, on the scale of things). But we got a better pump, and all is fine. We rarely lose power, though; we were out for about two days with Hurricane Sandy, which is the most we've ever been out in six years. That's something to discuss and consider, whether a generator would be appropriate to buy. We are fairly careful about large amounts of food in the garbage disposal, and we don't use really thick toilet paper, like Charmin, but otherwise, it's not a big deal. Oh, I don't throw large amounts of bleach down the septic system either, but the occasional small use hasn't been a problem.