Wonder Lake well maintenance saves you money and spares you inconvenience

Wonder Lake well maintenance can save you money
and a pain in the neck later.

Is there a problem with the well at your Wonder Lake home or office? You turn or lift a handle or knob and nothing happens? In other words, no water comes out of the faucet as expected. Or, maybe you’ve noticed that the water pressure is weak.

These are indications of a problem with your well. You may also notice that the pump keeps cycling (turning off and on).

What could cause these problems with your well?

• Your well pump may have failed. However, complete failure of the pump would mean no water at all.
• You could have a leak somewhere. This would most likely exhibit itself through lower water pressure and, possibly, cycling of the pump.
• Your well tank could have the wrong pressure or a torn bladder. This will, very likely, result in a cycling well pump. The water pressure may also suffer.
• Your well pressure switch may be failing. This could cause any of these symptoms. 

Whatever the problem with your well system, it’s frustrating when you lift a faucet and the well doesn’t respond in the appropriate manner. You expect that well outside your Wonder Lake home or office to deliver.

The reality is that a well that supplies water to a home or office is a mechanical system. As with anything mechanical, it can break down. Fortunately, well systems are remarkably durable. But, parts of a well system do break, and repairs can be costly.

With wear and tear, it’s even inevitable that parts of a well system will fail. For instance, a well pump will not last forever. But, well pumps have lasted 20 and even 30 years. Keep in mind that, if your Wonder Lake well system as a tank with a torn bladder, or a faulty pressure switch, and is cycling, if not repaired soon, the pump will burn out and long before it might have otherwise.

When the water stops or the pressure falls, it’s inconvenient. And, expensive. With well maintenance, however, your Wonder Lake well will last longer and save you money in the long run.

How important is water? How important is your Lake Barrington well?

How much water do you use in your Lake Barrington home? It's probably more than you think. Clearly, water is important.

If the lights in your home went out, you’d call an electrician, just as you’d call a well technician if your well ceased to flow. But, the lights are either on or off. You could have bacteria in your water but it would still flow. Clearly, your water is important, just as your Lake Barrington well is important.

Think of all the things you do with the water your well brings into your home

You use water to:

• Cook
• Do laundry
• Wash dishes
• Clean the house and floors
• Clean windows
• Water the lawn, plants, and flowers
• Give pets something to drink
• Give pet fish something to swim in
• Wash the car
• Take a bath or shower
• Brush your teeth
• And, of course, to drink

Drinking water is a very good idea. The U.S. Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) recommends that you should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day. This is because it’s healthy to stay hydrated. Consider that 60 percent of the human body is water. Naturally, you’ll want to replenish the water in your body.

Drinking water helps to flush toxins out of your body. It helps you to beat the heat and helps with digestion. In fact, drinking water can help you lose weight. If you drink a glass of water before you eat, your stomach will feel fuller before you start to eat and you probably won’t eat as much.

Water can help protect your joints, ward off headaches and fatigue. It can help you to stay energized and alert while improving your mood.

Considering all the uses and benefits of water, not only is it important to ensure that the water continues to flow in your Lake Barrington home, it’s equally essential that the water is safe and pure. This means that you shouldn’t wait until the water stops before you call a well technician out to look at your well; you should call a well technician well in advance of a problem. They can check the well to make sure the water keeps flowing while making sure the water is healthy and good for your use.

How often should you chlorinate your Port Barrington well?

That’s a good question; how often should you chlorinate your Port Barrington well?

The easy answer to "how often should you chlorinate
your Port Barrington well?" is annually.

The best answer to that question is annually. You could do it yourself but it’s better to have your well chlorinated by a professional.

You should chlorinate your well annually to ensure that you’ve removed any bacterial contaminants from your well water. Chlorinating the well will also help to remove bacteria from the well casings, holding tanks and pipes. This is a pretty darn good reason to chlorinate your well at least once each year. There are more reasons why you should have a well technician perform the chlorination.

One reason to have a well technician perform the chlorination is that, while they’re chlorinating your well, they’ll also inspect your well system and perform some basic well maintenance. For instance, they’ll ensure that your well tank has the proper pressure. This is vital since, if it’s wrong, it could indicate a problem with the well bladder that could lead to the early failure of your well pump.

Another reason to have a well technician chlorinate your Port Barrington well is that they know how to chlorinate the well without getting chlorine on parts that will corrode when they come into contact with the chlorine. Parts contaminated with chlorine will raise problems, and expenses, when it’s time to replace your well pump.

Another reason is that there are safety factors to consider. If you’re chlorinating your well yourself, you should wear appropriate clothing, such as goggles, a protective apron, rubber gloves and boots. You should mix the chlorine in a well-ventilated area. Additionally, you’ll want to perform the chlorination while minimizing the risk of electrical shock while you work. The well technician is familiar with these necessary safety considerations.

You’ll also want to have an alternative water source for 12 to 24 hours after chlorinating the well.

A well technician will also know when you want to send out a sample of your water for testing. A test can determine if you have coliform or E. coli bacteria in the water.

Yes, you could chlorinate your Port Barrington well yourself. But, why would you when the cost is nominal and the convenience of having a professional do it while you spend your time doing something you’d rather do?

Is your Spring Grove well pump sick and what are the symptoms?

Do you know the symptoms when
your Spring Grove well pump
is sick?

A healthy well pump in your Spring Grove well is a happy well pump. It will silently pump water up into your home, out of your faucets and into intended appliances on demand and without complaint. But, from time to time, a well pump can come down with an illness that can make it operate sadly and unreliably.

If you’re feeling sick, you’ll consider the symptoms and decide whether you can take some aspirin, have some chicken soup and get some bed rest or whether you need to bring your symptoms to a doctor for an expert opinion. In the same sense, when your Spring Grove well pump is sick, you can do your own preliminary diagnosis as long as you realize that you may need to call in a well professional.

So, before you call a well technician for an expert opinion, what should you look for? Here are some of the symptoms of a sick well pump:

• You’re experiencing decreased water pressure in your home or office
• There are loud or funny noises coming from your pipes
• Water is spitting out of faucets rather than providing the regular flow you expect
• The water is dirty
• You may even notice an increase in your electric bill, though there are other things that can cause this

If you find one or more of these symptoms, you may have a sick well pump. But, don’t jump to conclusions. You could have other problems with your well. That qualified well technician can clarify matters for you.

For instance, there are other issues that could cause your well pressure to fall. You could have sediment clogging a filter. You could have a torn bladder inside your well tank. A well technician will sort that out for you. But, at least you’ll know what to look for in general; you’ll know when it’s time to call a well technician to come out and look at your Spring Grove well.

Is there sand in your Inverness well water and what should you do about it?

You expect a little sand in the water when you go to
the beach. But, you don't want sand in your Inverness
well water.

You’ve grown accustomed to the pure, clear water that is delivered by your Inverness well. You’ve even shown it off to friends who visit, who often have homes served by city water. You proudly point out that your private well delivers fresh and delicious water without the monthly invoice from the city. But, lately, you’ve started noticing that there is sand in your water.

The sand in your water will soon clog the aerators of your faucets. Already, the water pressure seems to have dropped at some of the faucets. What’s this all about? Why would sand suddenly find its way into your well water?

There are several reasons why you would find sand in your water, including:

• The well pump is set too close to the bottom of the well and is, therefore, sucking up sand as it pulls in water.
• The well pump isn’t sized correctly; it’s too strong and is pulling sand from the bottom of the well.
• The well screen is beyond its prime and is allowing sand to filter into the well water. The well screen is a casing installed at the time that your well was drilled. It has spaces to allow water into the well but, overtime, it can lose its integrity.
• The well tank is waterlogged, the bladder is ruptured, or the tank has the wrong charge causing the pump to surge the well.

With the first of these issues, the problem was probably apparent early on. In other words, you aren’t as likely to find sand suddenly appearing in your water. However, if the well screen begins to lose its mojo, begins clogging, it’s liable to do so gradually and over time. A problem with the well tank is also liable to come on and get worse over time (it’s vital that you fix this promptly as it’s likely to cause your well pump to burn out quickly).

To address the problem, you can add a screen filter. Depending on the grade of the sand, different filter mesh is available to address the sand prevalent in your well. These filters are generally installed after the well tank. They also have a valve to drain off the sand.

Sand in your Inverness well is a nuisance. But, more than that, the sand can cause problems with your well equipment and your fixtures. It’s a good idea to address the issue of sand in your well water before you have more reason to do so.

Slither and rattle: Bull Valley well maintenance included snake removal

No, this is not one of the snakes John, with McHenry Water Well and Pump, found in a well pit one day. But, at first
glance, it could have been. Well maintenance is more exciting than you might think.

It was like a scene out of Raiders of the Lost Ark. John Matthesius, the owner of McHenry Water Well & Pump, was called out to a Bull Valley home to repair or replace a well pump that had ceased working. It was an older home with an older well. And it had a well pit. When John looked down into the pit, in the darkness, it seemed that the floor was moving. And then, he heard something rattling.

Going from home to home in Bull Valley you’re liable to see a lot of wellheads protruding from the ground like metallic mushrooms. But, some of these homes have well pits. The wellhead and well cap are found inside the well pit.

Well pits were common years ago as a means of protecting the water in wells from freezing. The well pit allowed the well to operate without extending up above the frost line (typically 32-48 inches). Here in Northern Illinois, such as in Bull Valley, the winter months are times when freezing temperatures could cause problems for the water pumping up from a well.

One problem with well pits was that they required proper drainage and the drains often clogged. Think about well pits as concrete boxes buried into the surface of the ground. If rain and/or groundwater gets into the pit and rises above the well cap, that water can make its way into the well and contaminate the well. Moisture in the well pit can also result in condensation that causes problems with the well’s electronics.

Well pits are also warm areas that can attract wildlife, such as squirrels, chipmunks, and even snakes. As a result, many municipal codes do not allow building well pits anymore. New wells are designed to operate without well pits and without freezing. But, back to the slithering, rattling well pit in Bull Valley.

When John pointed his light down into the well pit, he discovered that it did, in fact, have snakes. Put snakes together with rattles and the logical conclusion is that you’ve got a problem with rattlesnakes. According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, four species of venomous snakes are found in Illinois: cottonmouth, copperhead, timber rattler and eastern massasauga.

The cottonmouth is also known as a water moccasin. The other three are rattlers. Fortunately, the snakes in the Bull Valley well pit were not rattlers. Rather, they were black rat snakes. Black rat snakes are clever snakes, clever enough to simulate a rattler’s rattle to scare off predators.

While John didn’t have to worry about a venomous bite, he still had to clear the snakes out of the well pit. He quickly fashioned a makeshift snake-catching pole by slide some cable through a piece of conduit with a noose on the end. He slipped the noose around each snake’s head and pulled the cable so the snake was caught. Who knew that well maintenance and repair can also fit the description for a zoologist?

Replacing your Lakewood well pump isn’t fun and how to avoid it as long as possible

Imagine running out of water on Memorial Day Weekend.
Anytime you run out of water is a pain. Maintain your
well pump as an alternative to replacing your well pump.

Here’s a great idea – why not replace your Lakewood well pump this weekend? You can shut the water off while the job is done. And, you’ll get to spend the money for that new well pump, as well as the cost of installation. What fun!

Of course, no one in Lakewood replaces their well pump for the fun of it; they replace their well pump because they need a new well pump. For fun, they go out to dinner and a show, they go to a concert, to see a stand-up comedian or visit an art show. There are all kinds of things they can do for fun but replacing their well pump isn’t even on the list.

People don’t replace well pumps for fun because they don’t like it when the water doesn’t flow in their Lakewood homes. They don’t like to replace their well pumps because it’s an inconvenience and an expense they’d rather avoid.

So, since you won’t replace your well pump for fun, replacing it at all is something you’d rather avoid. And, still, people do deal with the inconvenience and expense; they do replace their well pumps.

They replace their well pumps, not because they shut their water off but because the well pump shuts the water off. That’s the opposite of what a well pump is designed to do. A well pump is designed to make the water flow on demand. That’s it. That’s all a well pump does – turn the water flow on and off when you want it.

Considering how little enjoyment is found in the replacement of a well pump, other than the relief people feel when a bad well pump is replaced, it’s amazing people don’t put more effort into ensuring that they don’t have to replace their well pumps as often. Often, of course, is a relative term.

A well pump should last 20 years or more. Some well pumps have lasted three decades. But, the longer a well pump lasts, the more likely it is that someone made some effort to maintain that well pump.

Maintenance involves having a professional take a look at the pump annually to make sure that the well tank has the proper pressure. That professional will also check out the well system, in general, to make sure everything is as it should be. Of course, while checking the well system, a professional will also test and chlorinate the well. That way, you know that the water that flows from your Lakewood well is also safe to drink.