Filtration systems for well water--advice, please

[Miffy]

We're pricing out water filtration systems for our home, which has a well. We need sulfur and iron filtered out of the water and the price we've been quoted so far seems steep to us. Does anyone here have any experience with this sort of thing? Price? Maintenance? Et cetera? Thank you for any info. Much appreciated.

 

[dclpluto]

We're pricing out water filtration systems for our home, which has a well. We need sulfur and iron filtered out of the water and the price we've been quoted so far seems steep to us. Does anyone here have any experience with this sort of thing? Price? Maintenance? Et cetera? Thank you for any info. Much appreciated.

im surprised you have a well in New York City. Haven’t got a water softener in years. But remember when people say they paid 3k or whatever for theirs of course in NYC will be a lot more. I get mine serviced yearly. Saves on having to replace the hot water heater as often.

 

[Hikergirl]

We priced out a water softener with filtration plus reverse osmosis filter for kitchen and it was around $6K. That included the plumbing that was needed from one end of the house to the other.
This was years ago and way more than we wanted to spend so we just did it ourselves. The softener itself cost around $600, we just replaced it earlier this year and that one cost around $800.
The only maintenance is the auto "refresh" it does (I have no idea if that is the technical term) and adding salt when needed.
We didn't bother with the reverse osmosis at that time but was just pricing them out last weekend because dh wants to put one in now. I think the one we are looking at is around $300.

 

[Miffy]

im surprised you have a well in New York City. Haven’t got a water softener in years. But remember when people say they paid 3k or whatever for theirs of course in NYC will be a lot more. I get mine serviced yearly. Saves on having to replace the hot water heater as often.

Ah no, the house in question isn't in NYC, it's upstate NY. We were quoted something like $6K to filter our sulfur and iron, including installation, and the filters cost $600/year to replace. The price seemed steep to us, although we are going to contact other vendors to get other estimates. I don't think we need softening, although I'm not entirely sure about that.

 

[SmartyBacon]

.

 

[Hikergirl]

Ah no, the house in question isn't in NYC, it's upstate NY. We were quoted something like $6K to filter our sulfur and iron, including installation, and the filters cost $600/year to replace. The price seemed steep to us, although we are going to contact other vendors to get other estimates. I don't think we need softening, although I'm not entirely sure about that.

If you are handy, you can buy a whole house filter for $500 and just install it yourself, or hire a contractor to do it. Replacement filters are like $50.
You can get the whole system but as you see it is pricey, there are other options you can look into if you need to save the money.

 

[Moliphino]

We needed a radon system, so that was EXPENSIVE. We wound up paying about $7000 for radon plus water softening (our iron was high, which would have caused issues with the radon de-aeration if we didn't also address it). Another place had quoted us $15,000 to fix everything with our water.

 

[Miffy]

If you are handy, you can buy a whole house filter for $500 and just install it yourself, or hire a contractor to do it. Replacement filters are like $50.
You can get the whole system but as you see it is pricey, there are other options you can look into if you need to save the money.

Thanks. DH is handy but he's not plumbing handy, so I think doing it ourselves is probably out of the question. I'm pretty shocked by how much all this costs--and had we known this ahead of time we wouldn't have made such a high offer on the house. But that's another topic entirely.

 

[barkley]

just got a bid from kinetico rep this week-everything i've read, everyone i know with one RAVES that they are the best (and incredible service/warranties). for ours filtration system/double tank softener system-with tax right about $4K.

 

[Miffy]

just got a bid from kinetico rep this week-everything i've read, everyone i know with one RAVES that they are the best (and incredible service/warranties). for ours filtration system/double tank softener system-with tax right about $4K.

Thanks so much. I'll add this to the list!

 

[tvguy]

My parents never had any kind of filter on their well other than a sand filter. When they switched from an above ground turbine pump to a submersible pump the turbulence the pump created stirred up sand for a few years. They took it off when they notice there was no sand in the filter.
I guess not all well water is created equal. Well water is the best tasting drinking water IMHO, and soften water is just gross to drink.

 

[luv2sewtjr]

We have a well and it seems like I need to throw some money at it every 3 to 5 years. My costs were lower than those quoted.

We have a “dirty” well which means lots is sediment as well as iron and a little bit of manganese. We have a filter and a softener. Mine was installed for less than your quote but that could just be a regional difference

 

[_19disnA]

Might also ask some of your neighbors what system they have. Found that to be a good method of getting recommendations from those who had an actual experience using a company. Especially if a new area you just moved to and likely don't know of the local/reputable contractors.

 

[luv2sewtjr]

Forgot to say that my water has an orange tint if it’s untreated. The iron is visible and can be smelled. It’s really hard to clean iron stains out of the shower (they got bad last year when the softener pooped out)

 

[Miffy]

If I had known before buying the house that this was going to be such a major problem . . .

 

[barkley]

If I had known before buying the house that this was going to be such a major problem . . .

i totally get it. we owned other homes prior to our current but have found over the years that owning rural (which is what pretty much designates well vs utility provider water where we live) comes with issues we never realized.

the GOOD thing about dealing with this now vs. later-a quality system will help provide you with good quality water that also will help extend the life of your appliances so that in and of itself will be a savings in the long run. as far as the on-going costs, the kinetico system we are looking at has minimal. the filters are non proprietary so we can get them for the twice yearly change out at a reasonable price and beyond that it's just the salt for water softener. as far as maintenance-the system we are getting has a 10 year warranty which provides me with tremendous peace of mind and the 4 year service warranty the authorized company i'm using provides is icing on the cake (though the folks i know who have had these systems for years report they work like a charm with minimal attention or cost after the initial installation).

 

[Miffy]

i totally get it. we owned other homes prior to our current but have found over the years that owning rural (which is what pretty much designates well vs utility provider water where we live) comes with issues we never realized.

the GOOD thing about dealing with this now vs. later-a quality system will help provide you with good quality water that also will help extend the life of your appliances so that in and of itself will be a savings in the long run. as far as the on-going costs, the kinetico system we are looking at has minimal. the filters are non proprietary so we can get them for the twice yearly change out at a reasonable price and beyond that it's just the salt for water softener. as far as maintenance-the system we are getting has a 10 year warranty which provides me with tremendous peace of mind and the 4 year service warranty the authorized company i'm using provides is icing on the cake (though the folks i know who have had these systems for years report they work like a charm with minimal attention or cost after the initial installation).

Thanks for your insights, @barkley. DH is really in charge of all this and right now we have so many other issues we're dealing with that I'm not sure what exactly we're going to do. The main problem with our water is the sulfur--the odor is unbelievable and if we'd only run the faucet in the tub for a few minutes before we bought the house, we would've known this. Unfortunately, we didn't. It's one of several major problems we now have to fix.

 

[SmartyBacon]

.

 

[luv2sewtjr]

Even though it has some costs, it’s still waaay cheaper than municipal water. But I know how it feels when it seems like all you do is write checks.

 

[Miffy]

Even though it has some costs, it’s still waaay cheaper than municipal water. But I know how it feels when it seems like all you do is write checks.

Seriously? It's cheaper? Even with every time you turn on a faucet, you're using electricity? Also, the filter for the system we're getting installed has to be changed every year--$600, which is $50/month. But maybe municipal water is even more expensive? I am sheltered from the cost of municipal water, since it's a charge to the entire building, not individual apartments.