Tangram

Did a search and found a couple of threads on this and I think we are ok, but somethings are different on the potential property.

Just got the Well and septic info back and it states that the well is 310ft and the flow of the well is 10 gpm.

It has a conditionaer and softener and I did notice UV lights in the basement furnace room where all the dodads are next to the holding tank.

Does this sound ok to people with wells and septics ?

GavinR

Sounds good.

Atlantic Xpat

310ft gives you around 300 gallons of storage. As a comparison, a shower might take 25-30 gallons, a topload washer 50, a dishwasher 20 or so. With a replenishment rate of 10gpm you should have plenty of water. Likely you well pump can only deliver 10gpm in any event.

A softener/conditioner as fairly standard (at least in this part of the world). UV lights are to kill bacteria. Iaink has these in his place IIRC.

In addition to the well details you should get at least a basic water quality test - total coliforms and fecal coliforms. Here we can get this free through the local public health lab but ymmv.

Tangram

Water tests to be done after offer becomes unconditional; not spending money before we are committed to it. Yes, the well pump pump is what it shows as the gpm.

Greenhill

This should be a condition of sale, that a basic water test is performed prior to sale and, if it fails (E.coli or coliforms exceeding certain thresholds), then the owner has to fix the problem.

The UV lights do have to be replaced often, some say once per year. If the water test does come back as a fail, I'd expect the UV light to be replaced and the whole system to be 'shocked', at the expense of the current owner (and the water obviously retested to prove it's ok).

Some useful info here:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs...-puits-eng.php

Tangram

It is a condition of sale. It is required that I arrange it within 7 days of our sale condition being removed. Sorry I didn't make that clear.

iaink

Sounds good to me. Be carefull though, is that GPM the amount the pump can push, or the rate the well will refresh...you confused me with the second post. The second is harder ($$) to determine, but more important...thats whats normally meant by the flow rate.

Are the dodads filters? A couple of filters to prevent sediment build up in the water softener are a good precaution to prolong its life.

gloveman

Our well is only 38 feet deep and the gpm is 3-4 and goes down to 1.5 in the summer. It has never let us down (except when the pump packed up) so yours sounds pretty wonderful to me.

Atlantic Xpat

Do you have any other water storage e.g. a trickle tank somewhere in the basement? How the hell do you support life on such a low flow/small reserve?

Tangram

I believe there is a tank in the basement furnace room. There is also a second well which feeds the geothermal heat pump.

Edit: Sorry AT, I thought you were replying to mine.... misread quote.

gloveman

There is a fairly small storage tank in the wellhouse but that is it. In the summer we have at least 4 showers a day, washing machine on at least twice a day and we water the garden. The overflow goes into our ornamental pond system and it's never run dry yet even when we have visitors staying and the water useage goes up.

Tangram

I have recieved info that the septic, which will be pumped before closing, is a 500 gallon concrete tank.

Again, I'm not sure whether this is good, bad or ugly.

Atlantic Xpat

Little blue cylindrical tank? (Like this:http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053 Likely to be the pressure tank for the well rather than addtional storage.

500 gallons means that you should only need it emptied every 4-5 years or so. It seems practice in Canada not to bother with a man-hole and man-hole cover over your septic, meaning that you a) have to remember where it is and b) have to pay a man with a JCB to dig it out everytime you want to empty it. Getting it pumped out before closing is a good idea.

iaink

500 gal is on the small size, the minimum legal size for new tanks in ontario is now nearly double that.

Is it a holding tank, or is there a weeping bed? Weeping bed is "normal", but sometimes if there are environmental factors or a lack of space its just a holding tank that needs fairly frequent emptying ($). With a weeping bed you only need to pump every five years or so, so the smaller 500gal size need not be a problem.

Ive never paid a man with a JCB to dig my access cover out, its only about 6 or 12" under the surface, and takes only a few minutes with a shovel (Winter would be a problem though with frozen ground)


The size of the tank is probably less important than the age of the system, over time the beds can get clogged up, affecting performance and needing costly replacement....altough with any luck at all a septic bed should be good for many many years before that becomes an issue, if at all.

CHMC offer some good info:
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/mah...gemare_009.cfm
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/buho/buho_003.cfm

Tangram

There is a weeping field further away from the house on the other side of the tank according to the drawing.