Protect the savings of your Bull Valley private well with timely maintenance

You can avoid the monthly payments for city water when
you have a private well for your Bull Valley home. But, if
you don't maintain it, you could spend more in the long run.

That private well in your Bull Valley backyard quietly provides clean water on demand day and night, 365 days a year. It’s dependable. It’s cost efficient. It’s a marvel of modern science that generally goes unappreciated. However, if it isn’t cared for with proper maintenance, a Bull Valley homeowner can find themselves surprisingly jealous of someone connected to city water in Woodstock next door.

When a home is connected to city water there are connection fees to bring the water supply into the home. Then, each month, there is a water bill. According to The Hamilton Project, the average monthly water bill for someone in a large U.S. city, in 2010, was about $70. Though the price varies from location to location, even at $70 per monthly, that’s $840 per year that someone with a private well saves.

That’s $840 someone can spend to go out for dinner 21 times at $40 per dinner. Or, they could use that to fly to Germany or Asia. They could use the money they save on a city water bill to buy presents for friends and family. But, all those savings are easily lost if you don’t do a good job of maintaining your private well.

Maintaining your private well in Bull Valley breaks down into two categories: 1. Maintaining the mechanical operation of the well and, 2. Maintaining the quality of the water.

Maintaining a Bull Valley private well’s mechanical operation

Maintaining the mechanical operation of the well involves an annual inspection to ensure that the wire connections running to the electrical well equipment are not corroded. It involves checking the operation of the well pump, the well cap and the well tank.

Testing the well tank is critical. Maintenance of the well tank goes beyond checking it; it includes adjusting the pressure in the tank. If the pressure is set wrong, the rubber bladder inside can rip. Once the bladder rips, the well motor will constantly cycle turning on and off as it demands water from the pump trying to keep the unquenchable well tank at its proper pressure. Eventually, the well motor will burn out.

Maintaining the well cap involves checking the seal and to ensure that insects haven’t gotten inside and setup housekeeping. The well cap is also crucial since it helps to ensure that surface water doesn’t contaminate the well.

Maintaining a Bull Valley private well’s water quality

A private well should provide clean, clear and safe water that you can safely use to wash, cook and drink. However, you can’t assume that’s it’s safe. Bacteria is one of the primary culprits when a private well no longer provides water that is safe to use and drink. There are other contaminants, too.

An annual check of water quality is highly advised. Since it’s also a good idea to check the mechanical operation of the well annually, it makes sense to do both of these maintenance checks at the same time.

You can send a sample of the well water to a laboratory for testing. They’ll let you know if there is anything in the water that is troubling. You should also chlorinate the well annually.

Chlorinating the well seems like such a simple process that many people try to do this themselves. Unfortunately, if not done properly, when the chlorine is added, it can cause expensive damage to mechanical parts of the well.

The solution is to hire a qualified well technician to maintain the mechanical operation of your Bull Valley private well and, while they’re at it, to take a sample to send to a laboratory and to chlorinate the well.

Johnsburg resident pays high price for improperly chlorinating his private well

This is a pitless adapter. Improperly chlorinate your well
and you could spend a lot of money replacing the pitless
adapter in your private Johnsburg well.

Bob pulls in the driveway of his Johnsburg home hops out of the car and goes inside. The kids are running and screaming and his youngest, 3-year-old Alyssa, catches him from the side tugging on his jacket. As he tries to make sense of the adolescent mayhem, Alyssa keeps saying, “Daddy. Daddy. Daddy.” Trying to get his attention.

Finally, accepting the idea that there’s just no chance of the house coming under control, he looked down at his daughter and said, “Yes, sweetie? What’s up?”

“The water broke, Daddy,” she said.

One thing Bob knew for sure was that his wife definitely was not expecting; Alyssa’s statement just didn’t make any sense. He looked Brenda, his wife, with a puzzled expression.

“We don’t have any water,” she said with a frown.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Brenda walked to the sink and lifted the handle on the faucet. Nothing happened. “I’ve already called the well guy. He’s out back looking at the well now.”

Almost as though on signal, there was a knock on the door. Bob opened the door and came face to face with another frown, this one from the well technician Bob’s wife had called. “We’ve got a problem,” the well technician said. “Your well pump is bad and it’s going to take some work to get it out of your well.”

“Why is that?” said Bob, a suspicious tone in his voice.

Sensing Bob’s suspicion, the well technician asked a probing question: “Have you chlorinated your own well?”

“Yeah,” barked Bob, as though that was a ridiculous question. He was rather proud of the money he had saved doing it himself and that he had taken the time to do it at all – a lot of homeowners with private wells didn’t seem to bother.

“I’m guessing you just opened the well and poured the chlorine in, right?” asked the well technician.

“Of course,” said Bob with exasperation creeping into his voice. “What’s wrong with that?’

“Let me show you something,” the well technician indicating that Bob should follow him outside. He led Bob to the back of his truck where he pulled a crusty old pipe fitting out from under a rack of tools and equipment.

“I keep this to show people when I service their wells,” said the well technician. “I try to show them before they need to replace their well pump. Unfortunately, I’ve never been out here before.”

“What’s this?” asked Bob looking at the pipe fitting in the well technician’s hands.

“This is a pitless adapter I removed from another customer’s house here in Johnsburg a couple years ago,” said the well technician. “I keep it around to show people what happens when they don’t chlorinate their wells properly. See all this corrosion around the thread?”

Bob nodded.

“This is what happens when you simply pour the chlorine into the well. It doesn’t play well with the threads on the pitless adapter,” the well technician said. “It took me quite a bit longer to pull the pump out because of that corrosion. I have to thread a pipe into the pitless adapter to pull the pump out. And, when the threads are all messed up, it cost the customer quite a bit more for me to get the pump out. It can cost $2,000 to replace the pitless adapter.

“It’s good that you chlorinated the well,” the well technician said. “Unfortunately, they didn’t warn you about this before you chlorinated your well.”

There’s no such thing as a maintenance-free private well - in Wonder Lake or anywhere else

A maintenance free well? The water just doesn't flow that way. There is no such
thing as a 'maintenance free well.'

We all know that we have to maintain our cars if we want them to keep running while keeping their value. At least, we should know that. But, there are more people who think that their private well in Wonder Lake is maintenance free.

Why would they think otherwise? Time after time, they turn on a faucet and water comes out on demand. If it works again and again why would it one day stop?

Actually, there is a very real potential that your private well in Wonder Lake would stop working leaving you and your home or office dry. And there is another concern; just because the water comes out when you turn on the faucet doesn’t mean that the water is safe.

Why would the water stop running?

The water comes out of the faucet on demand because your private well is connected to the house by pipes and mechanisms that move the water from the well, through your plumbing pipes and out of the spigot. Those mechanisms include a pump, a pump motor, a pressure tank, wiring and electronics. If any of these breaks you’re out of water.

Why would they break? Your well pump could break because it includes moving parts that pump the water up through the pipes. Moving parts create friction against other parts and that causes wear. Eventually, the wear is too much for the parts and breakage occurs. This isn’t a question of maybe – it’s a question of when.

Fortunately, well pumps are well made. They can generally operate efficiently for years. But, if the well pump doesn’t break, the well pump motor can break. It’s a motor and motors break over time.

The pressure tank can breakdown because it’s more than just a container that holds water; it’s actually a container that holds water and air. Other than the oxygen that’s in the water, the air in the pressure tank is separated from the water by a rubber bladder. If setup properly, the bladder helps the air to keep an appropriate amount of pressure on the water. But, if the bladder doesn’t have the correct pressure the tank won’t work properly.

If the pressure tank has the wrong pressure it can cause wear and tear on other parts, such as the pump and motor. Without the right pressure, the pump may cycle, kicking on and off repeatedly. As we said, the normal operation of a pump causes wear. If it operates repeatedly, not only is there the normal wear but there is also the risk that the mechanism will heat and wear excessively.

Of course, the bladder in the pressure tank can also rip. This is a more frequent problem when the air pressure is set wrong. At that point, the bladder is more susceptible to tearing.

As for the electronics, corrosion is an ever-present risk.

All of these risks are mitigated by proper maintenance – making sure the well has a pump, motor, tank and electronics that are operating correctly.

As for the quality of the water, an annual chlorination is a must to help keep away bacteria and other foreign contaminants and pests that would make the water less than healthy to drink.

This is a substantial list of potential problems with a private well and we didn’t even mention the troubles you could have if the well cap doesn’t seal properly (bugs can make a home in the bottom of the well cap and the well). The lesson is that, if you take care of your private well it will take care of you.

The reality is, whether you live in Wonder Lake or not, there is no such thing as a maintenance free well.

There’s no such thing as a maintenance-free private well

If you don't maintain your private well, you can't take a clean,
fresh water supply for granted. There's no such thing as a
maintenance-free private well.

We all know that we have to maintain our cars if we want them to keep running while keeping their value. At least, we should know that. But, there are more people who think that their private well is maintenance free.

Why would they think otherwise? Time after time, they turn on a faucet and water comes out on demand. If it works again and again why would it one day stop?

Actually, there is a very real potential that your private well would stop working leaving you and your home or office dry. And there is another concern; just because the water comes out when you turn on the faucet doesn’t mean that the water is safe.

Why would the water stop running?

The water comes out of the faucet on demand because your private well is connected to the house by pipes and mechanisms that move the water from the well, through your plumbing pipes and out of the spigot. Those mechanisms include a pump, a pump motor, a pressure tank, wiring and electronics. If any of these breaks you’re out of water.

Why would they break? Your well pump could break because it includes moving parts that pump the water up through the pipes. Moving parts create friction against other parts and that causes wear. Eventually, the wear is too much for the parts and breakage occurs. This isn’t a question of maybe – it’s a question of when.

Fortunately, well pumps are well made. They can generally operate efficiently for years. But, if the well pump doesn’t break, the well pump motor can break. It’s a motor and motors break over time.

The pressure tank can breakdown because it’s more than just a container that holds water; it’s actually a container that holds water and air. Other than the oxygen that’s in the water, the air in the pressure tank is separated from the water by a rubber bladder. If setup properly, the bladder helps the air to keep an appropriate amount of pressure on the water. But, if the bladder doesn’t have the correct pressure the tank won’t work properly.

If the pressure tank has the wrong pressure it can cause wear and tear on other parts, such as the pump and motor. Without the right pressure, the pump may cycle, kicking on and off repeatedly. As we said, the normal operation of a pump causes wear. If it operates repeatedly, not only is there the normal wear but there is also the risk that the mechanism will heat and wear excessively.

Of course, the bladder in the pressure tank can also rip. This is a more frequent problem when the air pressure is set wrong. At that point, the bladder is more susceptible to tearing.

As for the electronics, corrosion is an ever-present risk.

All of these risks are mitigated by proper maintenance – making sure the well has a pump, motor, tank and electronics that are operating correctly.

As for the quality of the water, an annual chlorination is a must to help keep away bacteria and other foreign contaminants and pests that would make the water less than healthy to drink.

This is a substantial list of potential problems with a private well and we didn’t even mention the troubles you could have if the well cap doesn’t seal properly (bugs can make a home in the bottom of the well cap and the well). The lesson is that, if you take care of your private well it will take care of you.

There is something wrong with your private Spring Grove well

Without proper care and maintenance, your private Spring
Grove well could stop providing the flow of water you
take for granted.

We have come to take it for granted. You go in the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, or even to the water spigot outside. You turn the faucet on and water comes flowing on demand. But, what if you turn the water on and nothing happens? What is wrong with your private Spring Grove well?

The operative word there is ‘private.’ It means that it’s your well. It’s not Spring Grove’s well. The Spring Grove Public Words Department isn’t going to rush over and get the water flowing again. You can call them but they’ll politely explain that it’s a private well and it’s your responsibility.

Now that we’ve established whose responsibility it is, what are you going to do when you discover there is something wrong with your private Spring Grove well?

Few people are sufficiently knowledgeable about maintenance and repairs to their private wells. That’s certainly the case in Spring Grove, too. Therefore, the next thing we’ve established is that you’ll probably need to bring someone in with the expertise to fix the problem.

You’ll want to choose someone who is qualified and reputable. One of the best ways to find such a well technician is to ask around. Chances are, if you have a private well, the other homeowners and businesses in your Spring Grove neighborhood, also have private wells. Certainly, some of them can steer you towards a viable candidate. You can also check for comments about a well company online.

When the well technician arrives, the first thing they’re going to want to do is to determine what is wrong with your private Spring Grove well. You can help with this process by fully and accurately describing the problem.

If the water simply doesn’t flow anymore, that’s easy to describe. However, the problem could be a little more complex. For instance, you may have noticed that the water pressure isn’t as strong as it was before. You may have noticed the water has a funny odor or discoloration. You may notice that it doesn’t taste the same anymore.

Whatever the problem is, your well technician will quickly track down the problem and will tell you what is wrong with your private Spring Grove well. In the process, they’ll probably put your mind at ease, too. For instance, they may tell you, “No, your well hasn’t gone dry. You just need a new well pump motor.” Or, “We just need to chlorinate the well.” Or, “We can send the water out for testing to make sure it’s safe.”

Drink plenty of water but drink safe water

It's great to stay hydrated, especially when exercising. But,
make sure the water you drink is good, clean, safe water.

Are you drinking enough water? Experts say that you should drink half your weight in ounces of water each day. In other words, if you weigh 140 pounds, you should drink 70 ounces of water each day.

If you’re already doing that, it’s a good thing. If you’re about to turn over a new leaf and make a commitment to drinking more water, that’s also a good thing. But, either way, there is one question you’ll want to ask – is the water you drink safe?

Some people buy their water in plastic bottles. That’s not such a good idea, and it’s expensive when compared to drinking water from the tap.

Water that comes in plastic bottles likely has chemicals from the plastic and processing that have leached into the water you drink. One such chemical is Bisphenol A, which is known by its acronym of BPA. The level of BPAs in water bottles is particularly high when the bottles were exposed to heat, such as when left in your car or, even, while stored in a warehouse before you ever bought them at the store.

It doesn’t help that those bottles often escape the recycle bins and are found on the sides of streets or in landfills.

Another alternative is to contract with a company to bring you water in five-gallon bottles. Once again, it’s expensive.

The best alternative is the water from the tap, assuming it’s healthy to drink. If you drink city water at your home or office, you may want do a little investigating to ensure that the city is doing a good job of purifying the water you drink. You can also send a sample of the water for testing. You may also want to do this if you have a private well.

Testing of your water will ensure that it doesn’t have dangerous levels of bacteria. They’ll also check the levels of nitrates in the water.

If you do have a private well, it’s up to you to keep the water safe. Since you’re probably not an expert on maintaining safe water, you may want to call someone in for help. A qualified well repair and maintenance expert can help you do this. Think of the well company as your personal works department (as opposed to a public works department).

Your well expert will ensure that your well is properly chlorinated, and that means annually. They’ll also make sure that the well pump, motor, tank, fittings, and electronics are in good repair so that, not only is the water safe, but it’s also available whenever you turn on the faucet.

Lightning strikes Ringwood well – causes additional damage in the home

The inset photo shows what a well

pump should look like. The other 

photo shows the well pump from 

Ringwood that was recently struck

by lightning.

John Matthesius, of McHenry Water Well and Pump, said that, in his 46 years servicing and repairing wells, he’s seen hundreds of wells that were struck by lightning but the well he was called to in Ringwood last Thursday, April 7, was the worst.

“It blew the well cap off. It blew the motor off the pump and the motor fell into the bottom of the well,” he said. “It burnt the pressure switch and fried the components in the control box. There is a little black relay in there and it blew that apart.”

He said that it also appeared to blow apart a welded connection holding the motor shell to the pump.

“It just blew that motor shell right off,” he said.

While the lightning strike devastated the well equipment, it did more damage than that. It also destroyed the motherboard in the home’s furnace, knocked out the television, the internet, a computer and a refrigerator.

Matthesius said that the homeowner was fortunate; he had insurance that will cover the damage.

“When the lightning struck, it knocked all the scale off the inside of the well casing,” said Matthesius. “I had to pump the well over the top to get rid of all the sediment. It took almost a day to pump the well clear before I could turn the water back on in the house.”

The lightning apparently hit about 3 a.m. Thursday. Matthesius said he received the call from the homeowner at about 10 a.m. and was on the job by 11 a.m.

“The well is a perfect lightning rod,” said Matthesius. “But this strike really hit hard.”

For safer water, maintain your well and leave the bottled water alone

Beverly asked her guests if they wanted something to drink. Two glasses of wine, one soda and one water: with their requests memorized, she soon returned with a tray full of drinks, including a plastic, store-bought bottle of water.

“Oh, tap water is fine,” said Judy.

“I’m sorry,” said Beverly, “We have really bad water.” In fact, Beverly and her family had been drinking bottled water for the last couple of years.

At first, they noticed an odor to the water. In time, they also noticed a cloudiness and, eventually, that the water had an unseemly color. After all, water is supposed to be clear.

Some might say it’s just as well that they drank bottled water. Presumptions that bottled water is better or safer, however, are erroneous. Actually, water that comes in a plastic bottle also comes with a serious risk of high levels of BPA or bisphenol A. BPA leaks into the water from the plastic when the bottle is stored in hot temperatures.

Of course, who leaves their bottles of water out in the sun? The problem is that you don’t know how long the bottled water was stored in a warehouse before it was sold, or what the temperature was in the warehouse.

If Beverly lived in the city, with city water, she could simply complain to the city about the condition of her water. She would probably have a lot of company as everyone’s water would have the same odor and the same obnoxious color. But Beverly and her family have a private well.

With a private well, ensuring the safety of the water is their own responsibility. And if the family really knew what was in their water, they might not even take showers in the water coming out of their well.

What they’ve got in their well is bacteria. The bacteria grew because Beverly and her husband never did anything to maintain their well. They had moved out from the city, where everyone had city water, and didn’t realize that their private well is not maintenance free.

The good news is that the solution to their water problem is fairly simple and relatively inexpensive. They need to chlorinate their well. And they need to chlorinate the well every year.

They could do the well chlorination themselves. It seems simple enough, according to what they might read on a bottle of chlorine at the home supply store; you just dump the chlorine into the well. What could be easier?

Actually, though they can do that, they really don’t want to. A better bet is to call a professional. The professional will add the chlorine while carefully avoiding the piping connections and electrical components in the well . Chlorine doesn’t play well with the pipes or electrical connections. It creates corrosion.

The corrosion isn’t a problem today. Rather, the next time their pump goes bad and requires replacement, they’ll discover that the connections are corroded together and very difficult to separate.

A professional will also recommend that they have the water tested to ensure that It’s safe to drink, or to shower in.