Is a septic and well water system a costly/annoying home feature in your opinion?

[6packofun]

We have come to love the little village where we live, but most of the homes have well water and/or septic systems. (Do the two always go together? I have no idea.)  

 

What should we know before committing to another home with these?  We are in the very first stages of considering a home to buy or maybe rent to own.  Love this area, don't love the water.  lol  Is the upkeep on a well and septic system costly?  Could water that tests fine at the time we buy change and become unsafe suddenly?

 

What questions should we ask in the home search process?

 

Thanks!

[Crimson Wife]

I grew up with well water & septic systems. They do tend to go together since they're in places that don't have a town/city sewer system.

 

Make sure that the well has a backup generator on the pump or any time you lose power, you'll lose water. My parents waited YEARS to put a generator on their well even though we had regular blackouts any time there was a major storm (and in New England, that was several times per year). 

 

The septic system needs to be pumped every so often (6 months?) so you'll need to figure that cost into your annual housing maintenance budget.

 

Well water should be tested annually. They did have to install a reverse osmosis system when the EPA under President Clinton tightened the water quality standards and the well was over the more stringent limit for arsenic. So if the house you're looking at already has a RO system, you'll be looking at maintenance costs for that, but then you probably won't have to worry so much about water quality.

[Guest]

If your water source is good quality, it can be cheaper.

With both, people here, east coast so no scarcity, have to treat....all of the very clean water is piped into the big city and those sources arent available to locals. So treatment costs are about the same. Municipal water here always gives commercial low rates and residences high rates. Any additions built for new businesses will have the cost passed to the residential customers. If you are going to garden, and are on municipal water, you need to factor in that cost if you cant use a rainbarrel.

[MEmama]

We had well water once; it definitely wasn't our first choice and I would hesitate to do it again, but it was fine. We never encountered extra costs that I can remember, but do keep in mind they are generally electric so you still won't have water if you lose power.

 

We turned down a house on septic. No thanks, I'm more comfortable with public utilities. That's just personal preference though.

[Scarlett]

We have come to love the little village where we live, but most of the homes have well water and/or septic systems. (Do the two always go together? I have no idea.)

 

What should we know before committing to another home with these? We are in the very first stages of considering a home to buy or maybe rent to own. Love this area, don't love the water. lol Is the upkeep on a well and septic system costly? Could water that tests fine at the time we buy change and become unsafe suddenly?

 

What questions should we ask in the home search process?

 

Thanks!

I had a septic tank and rural water for the last 10 years in two different houses. No problems at all with septic tank. Water quality is an issue in many many places even with rural or city water. I would get a good filter for the well and test it periodically.....a bigger concern would be is the well a good well.....good quantity.

[MEmama]

Oh, and in droughts wells can go dry. That happened all over our state this past summer. It was a really bad situation.

[Anne]

I have lived on well & septic for most of my life.

 

Questions I would ask:

 

How good is the well - what's the flow rate & the recovery rate? Are there pressure/storage tanks in the house? Their presence *might* indicate a well with lower output.

 

Septic system - how old is it? How many more years of life are estimated for it in that area? Is there another good spot for a drain field if needed?

 

Imo, you really need to talk with someone who is knowledgeable about well & septic in your specific area - the kinds of soil & systems used are liable to be quite different from one place to another.

 

Anne

[tm919]

We have a septic system but town water. Growing up we had well water and septic, but we lived close to a stream so the well was always full. But if you live where your well never goes dry and have BOTH, you have the problem of your septic backing up if it floods (AWESOME when your toilet stuff comes up in the water you are using for laundry, etc). It's hard to keep your lawn from looking weird when you have septic. There's always that green circle (my kids call it the fairy potty circle) above the tank that's greener in the summer and melts the snow first in the winter.

 

Plus buying and selling a house with septic is really annoying, you might need to replace the entire system when you sell if it doesn't meet regulations. And you have to have your septic pumped which isn't cheap depending on where you live (my parents seldom pumped theirs but where we live we can TELL every year and a half that the septic needs to be pumped), and can't send crazy things down the drain (like even those trash disposals that say they are septic friendly really can mess things up).

 

That sounds like a laundry list of horrible things but honestly, I'm so used to it now I don't mind. There's opposite annoyances (like when they flush the hydrants in town, being on town water means we have days when we don't know whether we're going to turn on the water to BROWN water and can't do laundry).

Edited November 15, 2016 by tm919

[Scarlett]

We have a septic system but town water. Growing up we had well water and septic, but we lived close to a stream so the well was always full. But if you live where your well never goes dry and how have BOTH, you have the problem of your septic backing up if it floods (AWESOME when your toilet stuff comes up in the water you are using for laundry, etc). It's hard to keep your lawn from looking weird when you have septic. There's always that green circle (my kids call it the fairy potty circle) above the tank that's greener in the summer and melts the snow first in the winter.

 

Plus buying and selling a house with septic is really annoying, you might need to replace the entire system when you sell if it doesn't meet regulations. And you have to have your septic pumped which isn't cheap depending on where you live (my parents seldom pumped theirs but where we live we can TELL every year and a half that the septic needs to be pumped), and can't send crazy things down the drain (like even those trash disposals that say they are septic friendly really can mess things up).

 

That sounds like a laundry list of horrible things but honestly, I'm so used to it now I don't mind. There's opposite annoyances (like when they flush the hydrants in town, being on town water means we have days when we don't know whether we're going to turn on the water to BROWN water and can't do laundry).

It must really depend on geography...we have never pumped our septic and never had it back up. But I know people who have. We avoid bleach ( I do one or two loads a week with bleach but I dont clean with it.) and we don't have a garbage disposal...but beyond that we just go about life as normal.

[BlsdMama]

We have come to love the little village where we live, but most of the homes have well water and/or septic systems. (Do the two always go together? I have no idea.)  

 

What should we know before committing to another home with these?  We are in the very first stages of considering a home to buy or maybe rent to own.  Love this area, don't love the water.  lol  Is the upkeep on a well and septic system costly?  Could water that tests fine at the time we buy change and become unsafe suddenly?

 

What questions should we ask in the home search process?

 

Thanks!

 

 

In our state the septic and leach lines must be checked and found good before a sale.  A new bed and tank will cost you $13,000 here approximately.  That said, they last a good long time assuming you didn't plant a willow tree on top of it .  Be wary of trees (especially thirsty ones) planted on your leach bed.  You'll need to find out the size.  Some folks (2-4 people) say they almost never empty their tanks, just about every 3-5 years.  We are home all day long with 11 kiddos - our tank company told us we need to empty every 12 months. Our tank is 1200 gallons.  I'd assume you could go 2 years safely. You have to learn not to put fats down your drain, don't use flushable wipes, and other septic friendly habits.  Emptying the tank costs $300 if you do it regularly and prevent a thick crust.

 

A well is slightly less expensive. For the well you have the exterior well itself, the pump, and then the inside pressure tank.  We just replaced our pressure tank in a DIY job - the tank itself was $350ish and by the time we got done with the pipe, etc. I think it was in the neighborhood of $600?  But it will last a solid 20 years and probably even longer now that they sit on plastic feet instead of metal.

I don't know what a new well pump costs.  A new well can be expensive but.... But I never have a water bill.  I also LOVE my water.  No fluoride, no chlorine, I'm actually very, very grateful.

 

We went ahead and had water tested as part of the buying process.  If you're in a radon area, check that too.

 

I love not having a monthly bill with a large family but what I really love is my water.  It's incredibly hard but I am grateful not to have city water.

[madteaparty]

Well, our well water was full of manganese (??) and iron. I didn't know this, made broth one day and that turned black. Talk about a rude intro to country life :)

The biggest issue was the arsenic, which is naturally occurring. My neighbors did nothing about that (??) but we installed a $$ system that requires maintenance. We've since moved and even more complicated system here.

This is ironic because city water comes from a reservoir next door. Difference of course is ground water vs accumulated surface water. I take the country life any day, though it's one more thing to worry about (but I worried about water, and air, in the city so this is fine).

Edited November 15, 2016 by madteaparty

[BlsdMama]

It must really depend on geography...we have never pumped our septic and never had it back up. But I know people who have. We avoid bleach ( I do one or two loads a week with bleach but I dont clean with it.) and we don't have a garbage disposal...but beyond that we just go about life as normal.

 

 

It really does.  We do about 5-6 loads a day of laundry, 3 of dishwasher, and obviously a lot of flushing potties... No backups.  We *do* have to empty it every year.  However, a lot of back up is caused by a problematic leach bed - either tangled with roots so that the lines become clogged, or is laid in an area heavy with clay and bad drainage.  

 

If  you live in a farming community you want to make sure that you have a DEEP well.  The reason is this - if you live near water (like a stream, etc.) you are going to end up with high nitrates/runoff from the fields.  And even if the fields are not directly near you, there is still the potential of runoff if you live near water with a shallower well.  We are surrounded on every side by fields and heavy chemical usage - we had our well tested last year to make sure we didn't have high nitrate count.  It was totally clean - but the well is 325' deep.  So, the answer is - it really depends.  

Edited November 15, 2016 by BlsdMama

[mellifera33]

We are currently house hunting, and have decided to cross houses with septic systems off the list. I am sure that they are fine, since they are the norm in many areas, but I have had experience with too many failing/failed systems to be comfortable with one now. One of the issues here is that lots are tending to get smaller and smaller, and if the primary drainfield fails and there isn't room for a secondary drainfield, then you're looking at an aboveground system and....yuck. I also have lovely childhood memories of a neighbor child playing in a "puddle" in the street then showing up at our doorstep, and the "puddle" was actually the runoff from a full septic tank/failed drainfield and...yuck. 

[Happy]

I've lived with a well and septic for most of my adult life. The house we currently live in for the last 16 years.

 

I LOVE having a well. It means no water bill...and while I'm careful with water, having a well means my trees and shrubs don't die because of water restrictions.

 

My well water is soft and alkaline, neither of which bother me much. It tastes good. In 16 years, we've had the well pump replaced once. Winter means keeping the well covered and warm, but other than that very little maintenance. Someone up thread mentioned a back up generator...we do not have one, nor do we feel the need for one. If an ice storm is coming and we think we might lose power, we gather a few large buckets for drinking and cooking water and fill the bathtubs for flushing needs.

 

People in my neighborhood who have wells twice as deep as mine have nasty tasting water. There are filters and such you can put on it, but I find it interesting mine is good water at a good depth. Even in a severe drought, I have not lost my well.
 

We also have an aerobic septic system....very easy to maintain. We are careful what we put down the pipes--NO feminine products, NO flushable wipes, and I tend to not use the food disposal under the sink. We use regular Cottonelle tissue....

We have our tanks pumped every five years or so. Really. Our system is in great shape. There are some monthly maintenance things to do--chorine tablets--that are easy to do.

 

If an aerobic system smells bad, something is wrong. Usually the aerator.

 

Edited to add....I've never had a back up with any septic system we've had. Even when we get inches and inches of rain in a day. Whoever put in my system, did it right.

 

As a Realtor, I help people buy and sell homes with septic all the time. Do an inspection, pump the tanks, and begin living...

I love living with the freedom and ease of a well and septic.


 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by Happy

[mellifera33]

Well, our well water was full of manganese (??) and iron. I didn't know this, made broth one day and that turned black. Talk about a rude intro to country life :)

The biggest issue was the arsenic, which is naturally occurring. My neighbors did nothing about that (??) but we installed a $$ system that requires maintenance. We've since moved and even more complicated system here.

This is ironic because city water comes from a reservoir next door. Difference of course is ground water vs accumulated surface water. I take the country life any day, though it's one more thing to worry about (but I worried about water, and air, in the city so this is fine).

 

Our city water is full of manganese. All of our porcelain fixtures have a lovely orange buildup. I'd still rather have city water than a well. My mom is in charge of the well for her subdivision and has to test the water every day and is always on the phone with the utilities division for some reason or another. 

SaveSave

[RegGuheert]

Good questions!

 

Title: Is a septic and well water system a costly/annoying home feature in your opinion?

 

It can range from extremely inexpensive and trouble-free to extremely costly and annoying.  This can be true even for adjacent properties.

 

WWhat should we know before committing to another home with these?

 

There are several things you should learn about:

 

Love this area, don't love the water.

 

What do you mean about not loving the water?  What is wrong with it?  Do you not like the taste?

 

 

Is the upkeep on a well and septic system costly?

In general, they are very inexpensive to maintain.  However, when they fail, the repairs are often extremely expensive.

 

Could water that tests fine at the time we buy change and become unsafe suddenly?

 

Generally it will not become *unsafe* all of a sudden unless there is fracking or something similar nearby that is releasing toxins into the groundwater.

 

That said, there are MANY things that could be "wrong" with water and if you do not test for them, you will not catch them.  Some things to test for are: e. coli, other organisms, sulfates (from nearby farming), calcium hardness (in limestone areas), acid, iron, sulfur, etc.

 

There are also many things which can go wrong with the system, and many (most?) of these tend to be discovered "suddenly", even if the issues develop over a very long time.

 

What questions should we ask in the home search process?

 

Here are some things I would ask about:

 

- Ask for the well report that was done at the time the well was drilled.  Look for the depth of the pump, the depths at which water was discovered and the flow rate found.  Also note the time of year when the well was drilled (dry or wet season?).  If the pump is not deeper than 100 feet, I recommend doing more extensive water testing since the water is not as well-filtered at lower depths.

- Ask for details about the pump: part number, power rating, manufacturer's data sheet, when was it installed?  Pumps tend to last over 20 years, but beyond that, you might consider your pump to be on "borrowed time".  (Also, a larger pressure tank will make the pump last longer since it will not start and stop as often.)

- Ask for the perc(olation) test for the septic system.  Find out how many bedrooms were approved at the time the drainfield was perc'ed.  Find out if the building codes for the drainfield have changed since this system was built and if repairs can be "grandfathered in".

- Ask if they have ever had brown or yellow water or if the well has ever gone dry.  If so, when and how often.  Ask how they recovered from the issue.

- Ask around the area to see if any neighbors have had a well go dry (permanently) in the past decade or so.  If they have, find out the details of what it cost to drill a new well.

- Ask about the water softener if they have one.  Get the specifications and age, if possible.  Ask how much salt they purchase in a year.

- Note that if there is a water softener, the salt eats away at the concrete in the septic tank and the distribution box.  Those will eventually need to be replaced as a result.

 

Just as a data point: Our house was built in 1995.  It has a well and a septic system along with a water softener.  We purchased the house in 1998 and have therefore been there for 18 years.  In that time, I estimate the expenses as follows:

 

- Pressure tank:  I replaced the tiny pressure tank that came with the house with a larger one from Lowe's: About $250.

- Salt: One $4.00 bag every two weeks or about $100/year for salt.

- Softener:  I replaced the softener once with a unit I purchased at Home Depot for $500.  I did the installation myself.

- Water filter:  I replaced the water filter (for the fridge water and spigot on the sink) with a unit I purchased at Costco for $150.

 

That's it.  I guess we have spent about $150/year on average so far.  But that has to be about the best-case scenario since we have not had to replace the pump, drill a new well or repair the septic system yet.  Our neighbor, OTOH, who had a well which was about 500 feet from ours had it go dry about a decade ago and drilled two dry wells before hitting a massive amount of water.  I think it cost them $15,000 at that time.  Our well has NEVER gone dry.  We even pumped 30,000 gallons over a three-day period to fill our pool one time.  It never even got cloudy doing that.

 

Good luck with your home search!

 

[happypamama]

We have well and septic. No problems with either. Never have had them back up or run dry. We are sitting atop natural springs, which might account for that though. We get the tanks pumped every couple of years for about $300, and because we have a lot of minerals in the water, we do have a water softener. It wasn't terribly expensive (a few hundred) and saves our appliances. The salt for it isn't very expensive either. We do run an unsoftened line to our kitchen sink for drinking/cooking, and we buy jugs of water for the coffee maker because I don't want us consuming softened water regularly, but non-softened water kills the coffee maker, even with special cleaner. I love that we have a little more control over what is or isn't in our water.

 

No super thick toilet paper, extremely limited bleach, and no flushing tampons. The only time we have had any septic issues is when a huge storm fried our pump, and the first tank filled up. That was not a big deal, though, and it was easy to fix quickly. Now, at some point, we may need to replace the septic system because of age, and that's going to be expensive, but in the short term, it's great.

[Pawz4me]

I think I've had every conceivable system possible.

 

Growing up we had a well and a septic system. The only problems we ever had growing up were related to the well pump. It seemed like the thing would always go out at he most inopportune time. We always kept many gallons of extra water on hand. My dad was handy so he could always fix it himself, but it often required finding parts or replacing the pump so it wasn't unusual to not have running water for a few hours or a day. We also had to plan to be w/o water during any power outage. My parents have both passed away but my brother and I still own that house. The septic lines started having trouble a few years ago, but that was largely attributable to my dad having planted too many trees.

 

At the first two houses DH and I owned we were on county water but had septic systems. That's IMO the best of all worlds. Not terribly expensive and not a hassle. Around here most households with four/five people usually have their septic pumped every five to ten years. It's not a big deal at all, Everybody I know uses bleach however they feel necessary. I don't think it's something that most people worry about, as reasonable use isn't going to cause a problem in a healthy septic system

 

Then we moved into the city with city water and sewer. Wow--expensive! So not worth it. You pay for water coming in and going out.

 

We're now in what will probably be our retirement house and one of our requirements when looking for it was to have county water but NOT a sewer system. That's a useless extra expense we don't need heading into retirement!

Edited November 15, 2016 by Pawz4me

[lllll]

nm 

 

Edited December 12, 2016 by ..Kathy..

[G5052]

If your well is deep and has good water, it's not a biggie. We have it tested every year by taking samples to a local lab and about every 10 years the well pump may fail. That's expensive to replace, especially if your well is deep.

 

Septic is also fine as long as it's been properly constructed for the size of house you have and maintained. Neighbors bought a house only to find that they couldn't run a washing machine or dishwasher at all. They had to have it completely redone. We have ours pumped out every three years for about $250-300, and I put in enzymes every month which run about $50/year. We bought the house new and have never had a problem. I'm very careful to space out my loads of laundry, and we don't use bleach on an ongoing basis. Otherwise trouble-free.

[RegGuheert]

We get the tanks pumped every couple of years for about $300,...

 

We have ours pumped out every three years for about $250-300,...

 

FWIW, we have NEVER had our septic tank pumped.  My parents never had this done, either.

[SparklyUnicorn]

It would turn me off for sure, but I would have to also consider what is typical for that area.  Where I live the houses are all older and need TLC (we deal with asbestos, lead pain, iron pipes, sinking foundations, etc.).  That would probably turn a lot of people off, but it's normal for here and, given that, plenty of people know how to deal with it. 

[Hilltopmom]

I always heard that a properly functioning septic should never need to be pumped. (Although I know lots of people who do need their's pumped regularly!

 

Ours is 20 years old & has never been pumped.

 

We don't flush stuff that shouldn't be flushed & our grey water discharges into a dry well, not the septic tank (not code in lots of places though).

 

I like having our own water, no bill. we have 2 wells, one with an electric pump that is deep & sulfur- we use a sink filter on that one, and a shallow hand pump well in our meadow with awesome tasting water.

[Shellydon]

We have septic.  It is about $500 every 3 years to pump out.  If it were to need to be replaced (they last about 30 years) it would be roughly $10,000.

[fairfarmhand]

I know plenty of people who have city water and septic.

 

They don't have to go together. The water lines go out this far, the sewer lines do not.

 

An older septic system can be a headache especially if there's plenty of trees on the property.

 

On the other hand, we had our septic pumped once in 15 yrs. When the dude popped the top, he said it wasn't even clcose to full and really didn't HAVE to be pumped.

 

 

On that note, if the bugs are working properly and you take care to only flush things it's designed for, it should be a fairly self sustaining system.

 

We never flush anything but TP and bodily waste. No feminine products, grease, or food goes down the drain. Our washer and showers hook to the septic but we've never had problems.

 

We have no trees anywhere near our field lines. An advantage of building on a empty lot.

 

I find septic to be a non issue in MY home.

[Amy in NH]

I grew up with well water & septic systems. They do tend to go together since they're in places that don't have a town/city sewer system.

 

Make sure that the well has a backup generator on the pump or any time you lose power, you'll lose water. My parents waited YEARS to put a generator on their well even though we had regular blackouts any time there was a major storm (and in New England, that was several times per year). 

 

The septic system needs to be pumped every so often (6 months?) so you'll need to figure that cost into your annual housing maintenance budget.

 

Well water should be tested annually. They did have to install a reverse osmosis system when the EPA under President Clinton tightened the water quality standards and the well was over the more stringent limit for arsenic. So if the house you're looking at already has a RO system, you'll be looking at maintenance costs for that, but then you probably won't have to worry so much about water quality.

 

Our septic guy says pumping every 3-5 years is fine if your system is healthy, but it also depends on the number of people, the size of your system, and what you put into it.  No garbage disposal, don't dump grease, etc.

 

[EmseB]

We just moved into a house with well/septic about 6 months ago. You don't need to pump the tank every six months.  We have six people in our family and the guy said every two years at the most. I don't use as much bleach as I used to so that the microbes don't get killed off.

 

The biggest annoyance is no garbage disposal.

 

The well water here smells a little different than I'm used to, but tastes fine.

 

I have generally not found it to be a big issue at all, but we're also not the homeowners, so if anything craps out (ha ha) we don't have to pay for it.

 

I like not having a water and sewer bill!

[rainbowmama]

We have lived in a house with well water/septic system. We luckily do not have have arsenic in our water. We do have a lot of sulfur in our water. We filter and soften all of our water and then the drinking water goes through a reverse osmosis system. The filters for that system are expensive. This is the first house we've owned, and we previously rented in places where the landlord paid the water bills. I'm guessing that if you factor in how much cheaper our taxes are living in an unincorporated area (literally the tax difference between us living in an unincorporated area vs people living in the subdivision in the incorporated area within walking distance is about $5,000 a year cheaper for houses appraised similar to ours), I'm sure we make it out ahead. 

[6packofun]

 

 

What do you mean about not loving the water?  What is wrong with it?  Do you not like the taste?

 

 

 

 

Yes, we do not like the taste at all.  We rent currently and the house is very old.  We have a water softener which just does not seem to do the trick even though it has been serviced 3x in the 4 years we've lived here and any filters we can afford (not reverse osmosis or anything like that) don't affect the taste much.  So we have to buy our drinking water which is a pain. Our light clothes turn dingy and orange-ish, as do the sinks and toilets.

 

Again, old house and not maintained well, but it doesn't give me a good impression of well water to begin with.  lol  We would not be buying a home this old, though!

 

What an informative thread!  Thank you, everyone!

[RegGuheert]

Yes, we do not like the taste at all.  We rent currently and the house is very old.  We have a water softener which just does not seem to do the trick even though it has been serviced 3x in the 4 years we've lived here and any filters we can afford (not reverse osmosis or anything like that) don't affect the taste much.  So we have to buy our drinking water which is a pain. Our light clothes turn dingy and orange-ish, as do the sinks and toilets.

 

That sounds a bit like iron which could either come from the groundwater or the pipes in the house or both.  You might want to ask others in the area if they have problems with iron.

 

We don't have iron here, so I will let others tell you about their experiences with trying to treat for that.

 

BTW, the reverse-osmosis system which I installed here was only $125 from Costco.  That said, I have not seen a similar system since we bought that ten years ago.  The brand is Watts-Premier.  Our water softener is also that brand.  That company seems to make high-quality, affordable water-treatment products.

[madteaparty]

We have lived in a house with well water/septic system. We luckily do not have have arsenic in our water. We do have a lot of sulfur in our water. We filter and soften all of our water and then the drinking water goes through a reverse osmosis system. The filters for that system are expensive. This is the first house we've owned, and we previously rented in places where the landlord paid the water bills. I'm guessing that if you factor in how much cheaper our taxes are living in an unincorporated area (literally the tax difference between us living in an unincorporated area vs people living in the subdivision in the incorporated area within walking distance is about $5,000 a year cheaper for houses appraised similar to ours), I'm sure we make it out ahead.

Well taxes don't necessarily correlate. We have crazy high taxes and get no municipality services at all. Schools are worth it though.

We have the same system you have (whole house softener and then reverse osmosis--I think? For the sink.). How often do those filters get replaced? Because we were told by the company that makes and services the system that they come once a year...At old house, the water people came every quarter

[Guest]

Not at all - well and septic is the default here, the city water and sewer grids are small and MOST of the state doesn't have them. If you're in a nicer custom home, in particular, those locations almost never have either because of the head pressure issues that go with being up hills. Even in California we had city water but septic. I think this is unusual for people coming from a flat, dense urban area or a small Midwest town where everyone who isn't in the boonies is on the grid but it's the default around here.

 

The property we are trying to buy is a two minute drive directly to the freeway (the bottom of the street is the on ramp) and 1/2 a mile from a fire station, but if still has no water or sewer, just dsl, electric, and natural gas in terms of available utilities. You just assume you'll be putting in a leach field and digging a well and are pleasantly surprised if you're in a zone that you don't have to.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Arctic Mama

[Guest]

It must really depend on geography...we have never pumped our septic and never had it back up. But I know people who have. We avoid bleach ( I do one or two loads a week with bleach but I dont clean with it.) and we don't have a garbage disposal...but beyond that we just go about life as normal.

A LOT of older septic systems are undersized, too shallow, or just plain badly designed. If the soil is poor or you're near bedrock that can also entail pumping. My inlaws have had theirs for 32 years with essentially zero maintenance costs (I'm remembering they've had it pumped every decade or so) but when they put it in they doubled the field size for what they'd need and dug it broader and deeper. We are designing ours similarly and it should not need to be dug up or serviced for decades. It's a design thing. Some residences have to have engineered fields or tanks and those have a much higher cost to maintain than a properly dug one in good, draining till.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Arctic Mama

[Laura Corin]

We have mains water but a septic tank. If you look after the septic tank, which just means being aware if what you put in it and plant round it, it's no trouble. Our one is old but serviceable and gets emptied every two years.

[Guest]

Oh, and wells varies hugely too. We will need to dig about 330 feet st our new location, which isn't cheap (8-10k) but it's pArt of the development cost of the lot and typical for the area. That said though, we are going to pull 10+ gallons of flow rate on excellent water there and the aquifer isn't going to dry up by any indications. Older wells sometimes are too shallow or badly dug, but that's not difficult to test for before buying the property and well logs are public record with the city :)

[The Girls' Mom]

Most of the homes I've lived in have been on septic.  We've had varying degrees of issues/non-issues out of them.

 

The first little trailer we bought together over 20 years ago had septic put in.  BIL put a double-wide on the same system later, and has lived there ever since with no issues.  I don't think they've ever even had to have it pumped.  

 

Dh's parents had their 40+ year old septic pumped for the first time ever about two years ago, mostly because they were having pipe break down problems.

 

We purchased a 40+ year old home around 15 years ago, and had to have the tank and septic line replaced immediately after moving in.  (apparently the drainage pipe had collapsed some time ago, but the single elderly woman that lived there never used enough water to cause back ups...it couldn't handle crushed pipe AND a family of five though..lol.)  We lived there for 10 years with no further problems with the septic.  We did, however, have to periodically dig up and clean out a grease trap that ran from the kitchen to the septic tank.  The house had a garbage disposal, which we've since learned is a no-no with septic.  

Fast forward to this house.  We built it three years ago, on poor soil.  (we knew it wasn't great, and it just barely passed the soil testing required).  Our septic tank and drain field are in thick TN red clay.  We also live at the bottom of a high ridge, so we get a lot of runoff. We've already had to have it pumped once.  If there has been a long rainy season, the ground gets too saturated and it just won't drain.  Most of what they pumped out was backed up water.  The weather has been on the dry side since, and we've not had problems.  We expect to have to pump once a year or so when there has been a prolonged rainy season.  But that is completely due to the poor drainage of the site.  

[TranquilMind]

I've had both septic with city water, and sewer with well water, at various times.

 

I like having both city water and sewer.

 

With septic, you always have to worry if it rains really hard.  If it rains for days, you want to not overuse your septic tank, and you will hear gurgling sounds when you run water.  Scary to me.

We had ours pumped every two years.  It was the original septic from the 60's, but the original couple had no children, and our family was on the smaller side and I'm pretty careful with water.  No problems. 

 

With city sewer, no problem (unless we had a tsunami or something).   Also going on city water cured a back up odor problem I would occasionally have on cool days. Oddly, I only smelled septic odor if the temperature was around 50, but not if really cold or hot.  ??

 

With well water, you have to worry about your pump going out.  I was in the shower one day and the water just stopped.  My pump had blown a fuse.  I got to go to the basement covered in soap to fix the problem.  Annoying.  I'm glad to have city water now. 

Edited November 15, 2016 by TranquilMind

[G5052]

FWIW, we have NEVER had our septic tank pumped.  My parents never had this done, either.

 

It completely depends on your soil and how big your tank is. We have clay soil and a tank that is probably smaller than we should have for being home all day.

 

We have an honest septic guy, and he initially said every five years when my kids were small. He even allowed me to come out and see when it was opened to show me how high it was and demonstrated how he inspected it  :closedeyes: . Then the last two times his recommendation was three years. He showed me again, and indeed we needed it done more often.

[RegGuheert]

With septic, you always have to worry if it rains really hard.  If it rains for days, you want to not overuse your septic tank, and you will hear gurgling sounds when you run water.  Scary to me. 

 

None of that is normal.  It sounds like that system had problems.

 

[RegGuheert]

It completely depends on your soil and how big your tank is. We have clay soil and a tank that is probably smaller than we should have for being home all day.

 

Our drainfield apparently only perc'ed for a three-bedroom home when it was built, so this house has three bedrooms and an "office" which currently has two beds in it.  Nine of us have lived here 24 hours per day for most of 18 years (we are now down to 6).  The soil is clay, but we do have a 1000 gallon tank.

 

I have tried to get the lids off to see what is going on in there, but I have not been successful.  It's probably just as well: I might not like what I find in there! :scared: (As an aside, those lids that I cannot remove are SQUARE!  Don't those people know why manhole covers are round?)

[BlsdMama]

I always heard that a properly functioning septic should never need to be pumped. (Although I know lots of people who do need their's pumped regularly!

 

 

 

It has to do with the health of the bacteria in the pump and whether or not it can adequately handle the solids in your tank and break them down... The more people you have and the smaller your tank, the more you risk pushing solids into your leach lines.  When that happens your liquid won't be able to escape the tank properly and will back up.  Laying new lines is not an inexpensive endeavor, kwim?

 

I am fairly conscientious of having this thing pumped. I hate having to drop $300.  On the other hand, this system should last us many more years and I do not want to cause it's untimely demise. ;)

[Guest]

It completely depends on your soil and how big your tank is. We have clay soil and a tank that is probably smaller than we should have for being home all day.

 

We have an honest septic guy, and he initially said every five years when my kids were small. He even allowed me to come out and see when it was opened to show me how high it was and demonstrated how he inspected it :closedeyes: . Then the last two times his recommendation was three years. He showed me again, and indeed we needed it done more often.

Yes, it really does depend. A good field shouldn't need that sort of maintenance but sometimes your lot is just too small, soil is too poorly draining, or bedrock is too close to do much. Even digging out and building up a retaining wall area for a field only works if your house sits higher. And you don't want to build a house on fill if you can at all help it, because of the massive settlement issues. Getting proper compaction to avoid that is extraordinarily costly and time consuming. Edited November 15, 2016 by Arctic Mama

[happypamama]

Yeah, we've never had trouble even in heavy rains, aside from the pump frying once.

 

Fwiw, we have a garbage disposal with our septic but don't put large amounts of food or any grease down it. Ten years and no problems so far!

[BlsdMama]

It completely depends on your soil and how big your tank is. We have clay soil and a tank that is probably smaller than we should have for being home all day.

 

We have an honest septic guy, and he initially said every five years when my kids were small. He even allowed me to come out and see when it was opened to show me how high it was and demonstrated how he inspected it  :closedeyes: . Then the last two times his recommendation was three years. He showed me again, and indeed we needed it done more often.

 

 

Our septic company insisted that there was no way, even after we told him how many kids we had - lol, that we would have to pump more than every 2 years.  (1200 gallon tank)

We asked them to come out at 12 months and we were told that.  We called again at 18 months and said we would like it emptied and we'll just get a good idea of how often we have to empty it.  He told me every 12 months.

 

 

So, the thing is, your bacteria has to keep up.  Otherwise you get a thick crust of solids that can cause serious problems.  If you're bacteria can keep up, you're good.

With six kids at home everyday, you're probably looking at 24 months, but it depends on the size of the tank and the size of the tank is mandated by bedrooms in the house, unless they decided to splurge and go bigger.

 

Also, the fella was nice enough to add DON'T flush candy wrappers.  They cause problems too.  (DS did in get in trouble for that one!)

[Lanny]

We have a Septic Tank system which I believe was well designed by the company who sold us the various tanks when our house was being built. We moved in during March 2004. We have not had any problems with the Septic Tank system.  We have City Water, so I have no comments about the Well Water system. I would want the 2 separated, if I had both.  GL

[TranquilMind]

None of that is normal.  It sounds like that system had problems.

 

Ok, well, it happened, yet it never overflowed, I'm thankful to say, and everything worked well the entire time in that house, yet when it rained really hard and the field was saturated, this is what happened. 

And I'm thrilled to now be on city sewer. 

[Ausmumof3]

It really depends on the system. Our septic has had to be pumped once in eight years and only cost $200. We aren't on bore/well water but rain water. While we do have to conserve we could buy a new tank every two years for what water rates cost. The only issue is that the way our tanks at set up we use a pump which adds to the power bill. If you have a slope to set up gravity feed you don't need to worry about that though.

[RegGuheert]

I would want the 2 separated, if I had both.

That is required by law around here.  I have had builders tell me that with the latest requirements it is quite difficult to put both on a lot unless it is at least two acres in size.

[Ausmumof3]

I should clarify that was $200 for the pumping cost not for the septic system!!!

[Guest]

That is required by law around here. I have had builders tell me that with the latest requirements it is quite difficult to put both on a lot unless it is at least two acres in size.

Yes they should have about 100 feet between them if you're doing a traditional distribution box and leach field, but for an engineered system the requirements aren't as high. Our lot is 2.5 acres in a nice and tidy square and so we aren't expecting issues but it can be tricky on a smaller city lot if there isn't a well serving several neighbors.