You and your pipes are liable to groan if your Spring Grove well isn’t maintained

You turn the faucet at your Spring Grove home and the pipes bang a bit and groan. Finally, a trickle of brownish water drips from your shower head. This is not what you would call good news when your head is full of lather.

What happened? Where did the water go?

Chances are, the water is right where you left it – in your well. Most likely, the problem isn’t a lack of water but something broken with your water delivery system.

With a private well, as is common with many Spring Grove homes, the ‘delivery system’ includes several integral parts. All of these parts have to complete their intended operations while working in unison. If they do, they’ll move the water through your pipes and out of the faucets and shower head, or into the washer, dishwasher or ice maker.

The parts of your well ‘delivery system’ are common for wells in Spring Grove or almost anywhere else. They include:

• The well – if it was drilled properly, you’ll have years of reliable access to water, assuming the rest of the well works properly.
• The well pump – some well pumps are better than others but, if they’re maintained, they should all provide years of service.
• The well tank and internal bladder – a good quality bladder is essential to the reliability and service of your well.
• Electronic switches and parts
• A sealed well cap – if the well cap doesn’t seal correctly, the water may flow but who knows what’s in it.

These parts will generally operate without failure for quite some time. However, if not maintained properly, that length of time is shortened appreciably. In fact, the likelihood of a problem with your well ‘delivery system’ increases significantly without regular, scheduled maintenance.

In either case, whether you require emergency well repairs, or if you want to maintain your well to avoid emergency well repairs, the key is to do the job right. Your best bet there is to call in a professional.

A qualified, licensed well technician will ensure that your well is operating correctly and, therefore, will do so longer without problem. If you require repairs, they’ll have your well back in running order, and the water flowing, in no time.

A qualified, licensed well technician will also help to ensure that the water your well ‘delivery system’ provides is clean and safe. On an annual basis, they’ll properly chlorinate your well and have the water tested as appropriate.

Is it time to test and chlorinate your well?

What kind of water are you bringing into your home? Is it safe, clean and odor free?

The enemy lurking, waiting for a chance to contaminate your water is known as bacteria. It assaults your water supply and moves through your house in the pipes that carry this vital resource.

Water is an essential element in your home. You use it to bathe, cook and clean. Most importantly, you and your loved ones consume it – allow it to enter your bodies where it plays a vital role in the maintenance of good health. But, what if the water is tainted, if it contains toxic elements? Clearly, that’s not good.

If you have city water, the hope is that the city is doing a good job keeping the water safe and clean. In the process, they probably help to improve the taste while removing any negative odor. But, if you have a private well providing water to your home, you can’t count on municipal workers to do that job. The burden falls on your shoulders.

Where the city falls short, you might call in a water treatment company to help. Through filters and softeners they will help to improve the quality of the water in your home. With a private well, however, a really good place to start is at the source. In other words, proper well maintenance is the first step to ensuring good water quality in your home.

Water well maintenance includes ensuring that your well’s delivery system is up to par – that the pump works properly, the well tank is properly charged, the electronics are in good condition and the well cap is sealed so foreign insects and matter can’t get in. Proper water well maintenance also includes annual tests and chlorination of your well.

You may be tempted to chlorinate your well yourself. A word of caution in this regard: if you don’t do it right you can cause damage to parts of the pump, tank and electronic connections. Your best bet is probably to call in an expert, such as John Matthesius with McHenry Water Well & Pump.

One aspect of John’s job that he enjoys the most is the good feeling he gets knowing he’s helped to ensure that his customers are drinking and using safe and healthy water. Well maintenance is extremely cost effective. On the other hand, avoiding timely well maintenance can prove very expensive.